Memoirs of a Board Gamer

It was late. I was bored. It was cold outside. Christmas was still two weeks away. Monotony drove me to launch a silly little Common Feature Chain Geeklist. It blossomed well in the beginning recording game postings from many BGG members. As I expected, the number of posting began to decline after a few days and I was set to award my measly offering of GeekGold. The list, however, had secured its claws into a few die-hard members who kept it alive.

The only hard and fast rule for the list was that games cannot repeat. The connecting 'feature', although required, has no such stipulation. The features range from simple connections like a common designer or publishing company to common mechanics. Some go so far as to relate aspects of the artwork, game bits, etc.

The list grew and received many GeekGold tips destined for the member who remained in the last position on the list for 48 hours. My baby was growing up and several fans including myself were using personal spreadsheets to keep track of the posted games. As the list grew it became difficult to determine if a game had been posted to the list. When the list reached 1000 games I felt my baby was fully grown and was poised to go off to college and I could retire and enjoy my time filled with fond memories of the early years.

The list however, has returned from college and is now living in my basement. It's become the wayward child that has now broken the 2000 games limit with no end in sight.

I will continue to track the games on the list, and make the occasional deletion when duplicates pop up. I will still track the games in my personal spreadsheet and update Marquand.net with the alphabetical list. Rest assured that I will award the final payout of GeekGold (if I'm still alive) but in the interim, I think the list needs to get up off the couch and go out in the real world and get a job!

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Eurogames, Boardgames