At the Tri-Valley Boardgamers (SF Bay Area), we're doing that as well, though we're only going with one letter per week. We weren't sure if we'd be able to keep a favorite game off the table for 10 months just because its title begins with a 'S', for example. But last week was Atlantic Star, which was quite enjoyable, and this week the 'B's hit the table. I'll be bringing Bean Trader, Burn Rate, and Before I Kill You, Mr. Bond. (Note that not all games brought will be played. Heh.)

Atlantic Star (okay, Showmanager) was okay when I played it. I could see there was a game there, and it entertained most of us. I just wasn't that thrilled by it.

Before I Kill You, Mr. Bond has been re-released recently, with full-color nice cards, and a couple of rules tweaks that make me willing to give it a second try. Last time I tried it, oh, four, five years ago, we were all over the map, with ratings from 4 to 9.

Burn Rate is a lot of fun with the right crowd, and I was happy to trade for a copy. I gave it to a buddy at work who was incredibly stoked about the theme.

I read Lewis Pulsifer's essay and enjoyed it. On PC vs. console: Consoles don't crash. PC's do. Console games are tradeable, PC games less so (yes, a function of the market).

As for the games unplayed on my shelf (Hare and Tortoise, Aladdin's Dragons, Dragonland, Jacob Marley Esq., etc.), I am going to resist buying anything new, hopefully until June or so. I have been aching to get Ticket To Ride, but my wife and I are playing San Juan four or five times a week, and Christmas is over, so no need for a novice-friendly game.

It is kind of funny. When I was a kid I could play Monopoly, Risk, Rummy or some such crud over and over, even though there was no real strategy to explore. Didn't even realize the games were crud.

Now, I find a gem like T&E and I'm lucky to play 3-4 times a year. Puerto Rico is better, probably averaged a game a month for the last couple years. I've had Blokus and Taj Mahal sitting unplayed for months now.

Many More Games

Indeed, 30 years ago there were about 750 board wargames. My count from Pimper's All the World's Wargames I-VI (I confess. I cheat; I have the draft of the last two available) shows that there are now around 3800 board wargames, of which I can directly verify from my collection the existence of perhaps 3200 of them.

There is a lot of comment about the Pulsipher at Chris Farrell's blog.

http://homepage.mac.com/c_farrell/iblog/C733338860/E1858480502/index.html

Chris Farrell's comments are very interesting. He is looking at the article from a totally different perspective than me, which isn't surprising. I've never been part of the wargame scene and know practically nothing about it. So, I can't comment about how and why it in particular has changed.

I look at Lewis'comments in a much broader way, to include not just "gamers" (however you define that term), but people in general in today's society. Video games are enormously popular, but there are only a handful of us who prefer board games. Why? I thought Lewis gave some compelling reasons. Remember, I am including the general population here, not just gamers. I certainly didn't agree with all of his reasons, particularly the sweeping generational differences.

The whole article did sound like an old geezer rant, but he did make some good points, IMHO.