Howdy everyone! I’m Kent, Bill’s husband! My page is devoted to games. As I grew up, my family played a LOT of games (and I mean that in a very good way!). My parents played bridge and canasta almost every week. I watched my parents play and I played Monopoly and Clue with anyone I could find. I eventually discovered my aunt and uncle had entire closet full of games! Every time we visited I would l play the multitude of games that they had. I fell in love with Risk. (To this day I want to go to Siberia and visit Irkutsk just because that was the name of one of the countries in the game) I didn’t understand the rules until we played and I lost quickly. So I played a lot of Parker Brother board games…until a friend introduced me to a new kind of game.
He called it a “role-playing game’ called Dungeons and Dragons. I instantly fell in love with the Magic-User class. I soon discovered other role playing games: Traveler, Gamma World, and then there was the Star Trek Role Playing Game. Yes, I learned quickest way for me to part with my money is to slap “Star Trek” on the label of a game. I coasted while in high school, just sticking with the game I knew, and besides I didn’t have the money to pay for new games!
Christmas of my senior year of high school, my brother gave me the greatest gift anyone has ever given me. He got me a game called “Star Fleet Battles”. Star Fleet Battles technically isn’t Star Trek. That means it’s not licensed by CBS, the network that owned the original Star Trek series. The game began from a book called The Star Fleet Technical Manual, which skirted under the eye of CBS and Paramount. In the book, there were other ships besides the Enterprise we all know and love. Based on the drawings provided, someone created a game where each person flew a starship and that damage inflicted during the game by other players was represented by a picture of the ship with boxes that were checked off as damage was given.
The rules of this game are incredibly complex as they were written by a copyright lawyer. You could play as a member of the Federation, Klingons, Romulans, or Gorn. I loved it! It remains one of my favorite games of all time and I had just the first set (which, if it wasn’t worn out from use, would be amazingly valuable!). There was more to the game—expansions designed to broaden the scope of the game AND to make more money for the producers—and I had to go buy each and everyone one! That’s when gaming for me became a hobby. From that I now have a closet filled with games (much to my husband’s dismay). I have games in there that I’ve never played, which I discovered is a way to differentiate a casual gamer from an avid gamer. I still play both role playing and board games. I did have a brief flirtation with collectable card games. I’ll even bet you can guess the game. I’ll give you a hint – it has the word “Star Trek” and “Card Game” in it. I still have the cards, I’m sure they will be worth something in the far future. Actually, I just want to burden the kids with what to do with them after I die. That’s the Pakled in me. (Pakleds were a humanoid race that were in an episode of “Star Trek Next Generation” but it’s also a play on words that I am a PACK RAT! 😊 )
Now that you met me and know a bit about me, let me tell you want I want to do with this blog. I want to explore new games and share with you some games that I love. I want to share my view of the gaming industry from the games themselves to conventions. I want you to share my journey.
In other words–I want to get you to love games as much as I do!
Please come back here often. Like the other pages in this site, content will be updated often, and if you have questions of comments, please leave one.
And if any of you are going to GenCon in Indianapolis—let me know! I’d love to meet you!
Kent
Money–Making it, saving it, giving it
