Game(boy) II: The Sequel

And A Scrabble Game Gone Wrong

Welcome (back) to my first-ever part two of a Gay Buffet! After yesterday's long-form thinkpiece, I wanted to give y'all a follow-up of short delicacies, a fun palate cleanser if you will. And it ultimately gives me a chance to talk more about one of my favorite things: tabletop games! So, without further ado, let's get to the good stuff. PS Make sure you scroll all the way down to the bottom for a bit of fun!  

Casey and I love to play games. We have an entire cabinet at home dedicated to them, and there's nothing I love more than opening up said cabinet and seeing the smorgasbord of brightly colored boxes just waiting to be taken out and played. Below is a mix of some of our favorites and why you should play them!

Strawberry Sunset

This simple two-player game consists of building a garden over three phases: morning, noon, and sunset. You take turns picking up cards and placing them in your garden and whoever has the most developed garden at the end gets the most points. The game is honestly very relaxing and great for two players, which is important for me and Casey.

Doomlings

Casey and I picked up this game at random on our recent road trip, and boy, was it a great grab. In the game, you create life on a distant planet in the form of trait cards for the titular Doomlings. You have three ages, each with its own set of rules, and each ending in a catastrophe. The third catastrophe ends the world and ends the game, cueing the points tabulation. It's good for 2-6 players but works great with any number. 

Skull King

This was the go-to game for the offstage swings during North Country on Broadway. Since then, I've brought it to so many friends, and everyone has gone out to buy it after playing it. It's similar to hearts, spades, or eucher in that there is trick taking and betting, but this one has pirates! I truly cannot recommend it enough. This game isn't as fun with two players and, in my opinion, works best with 4-6.

Quiddler

Quiddler has been a staple of the Wharton family for as long as I can remember. It's perfect for the casual game player who wants to love Scrabble but doesn't. It progresses from 3 card hands up to 10, and all you have to do is make words with your cards before your opponents do (and for the most points, of course). Super simple to learn and endlessly playable. Great for all numbers of players.

Wingspan

This is the only true board game of the group, but it is so beautiful and unique that I couldn't not include it. You play as a birdwatcher trying to collect as many birds as possible. You're playing on your own mat but tally against your opponent's points at the end. What really sets this game apart is the stunning art and its low-stakes yet still competitive nature. In 2020, Wingspan outsold every other game its publisher made combined, and if that isn't enough of a recommendation, I don't know what is. I have only played this with two players, and it works great! It also has a dragons spin-off, Wyrmspan, that Casey and I are very excited to play.

Based on Gurwinder's article, I've been thinking a lot about what makes good, engaging material and what pushes that over the edge into addictive and manipulative content. When it comes to my writing, I want to make good, informative, creative pieces that people want to come back to and continue to read. But I don't want to make that happen through nefarious means. I could add games, surveys, and more interactive content. I subscribe to a chart newsletter that puts out an old chart with some of the words blocked out, and it's a quiz to get you to click on their link and see what the old chart was about. Is that an effective use of interactive recall or a way for them to get me to click out of email and get more traffic for their website? 

Then, of course, there's the social media aspect of writing. Substack tries to be a corner of the internet for writers, a place devoid of algorithms and content. But they exist in the same world we do, and each update adds a few more features that they try to push on their writers. Within the past year, they've introduced a feed similar to Twitter, video support, podcast support, AI-generated videos made from articles, and more. And, of course, they're always trying to get me to make these newsletters paid. So there's a pressure to apply yourself to succeed in their system. If I was 'really passionate' about growing my writing, I'd then market Gay Buffet on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, etc. The act of marketing the writing becomes more time-intensive and exhausting than the writing itself. But I’m okay with the slow-growth analog pathway. I may not make money off of this newsletter or buy into all the features I should, but I'd rather play this particular game in a way that brings me joy and doesn't burn me out. 

Dear GB: On a third date that was going really well, I thought it might be fun to play Scrabble after making a lovely dinner together. He jumped on the opportunity but insisted we keep score and then was aggressively competitive. I feel like I saw a new, different, and honestly unpleasant side of him. Is this a red flag for something larger, or am I reading too much into this? 

Dear friend, Games can be an incredible way to bring people together. Unfortunately, they can also be a way to see hitherto unknown darker sides of those you love (or are just getting to know). It sounds like the latter is true for you here and so I’d advise two potential pathways for you here. 

If you feel as though the gameplay illuminated a new personality trait in this guy, then there's an opportunity for patience. There's the chance that what happened was purely a fluke. Maybe he had a bad day, and the stress of the game led to him being a less-than-ideal game partner. Maybe he just wanted to impress you, and that led to competitiveness or even frustration. And there are many other options for what could have happened. So, if you feel like that might be the case, ask him out again, see if you still vibe, and maybe next time, choose a different game. It could be fun to pick up Quiddler. It's a smaller commitment than Scrabble and could be good for that next date, and will definitely still scratch that Scrabble itch for ya!

But if you feel as though Scrabble illuminated a personality trait that you'd seen glimpses of before, then you may want to proceed with caution. Like I said yesterday, games are deeply connected to status. There's a chance that his desire to win was also connected somehow to his desire to gain or establish status, which can be tricky to navigate in a new relationship. Ideally, you want someone who can play with enough competitiveness to make the game fun but who is able to leave that behind when the game is over. So, if you feel as though this was an indicator of a deeper problem, then it might be time to bid this fella a polite goodbye. 

---

And as promised, here’s a little game for y’all! But only play it if you want to. I hope you have a week filled with fun and joy and I’ll write you in a week!

All my love, Aidan