When I was very little I played a dozen or more games, Monopoly, checkers, Connect-4, Sorry, etc. When I was about 10years old I started to play Chess more than the other games, and about 13 y.o. I started playing a chess-like games called “Ploy” and “Feudal” but I only had a few friends who would play those games with me, so I probably played them less than 15 times, and instead we played Poker (the card game) or Risk when we had 5 guys together. Also about that time one of my best friends and I started building working/flying models of WWI airplanes and we started playing a strategy board game called “Dog-Fight” which was a Chess-like game with like 6 pieces for each player but you moved all 6 pieces on each turn. The playing pieces looked like WWI airplanes, and at a very very basic level (like for 10 year old children) simulated WWI air-combat. From there I learned about other simulation war games which were much more detailed such as Panzer-Blitz and “Squad Leader” which I played through High-School. These games took a lot of time to play, and I stopped playing them for the most part when I graduated from High-School, but continued to sometimes play a fast game of Chess. And when the guys got together to hang-out and drink beer and eat pizza (and maybe watch a game on TV) we would again play Poker (or sometimes Risk). I had heard about the game of Go a few times, but only had a very basic understanding of it and didn’t know anybody who had a better understanding than me, so I only experimented with it… but then I discovered a Go Club and also a cafe where it (and more often Chess) was played (in Chicago) and I became infatuated with the Game of Go. Then I moved to Los Angeles and found there was a bigger Go Communiity here, and (before the pandemic) THREE (3!) tournaments every year so I became even more interested. Also at that time I started an interest in rock-climbing so that (and exploring the LA area nightclubs) took up most of my spare time, and since I was new to LA and had few friends here I didn’t have anybody to play games with anyway… oh, and also I discovered people played Go online, so that increased my interest. I never played Chess on-line, or any other games… When I was in my young teens I had played the most basic video games such as the classic “Space Invaders” and “Asteroids” if that counts, and pinball machine games if that counts, but I never played any other video/computer games because they seemed too time-consuming and addictive to me… and as I developed new interests and commitments (I got married, etc.) I have decided that my time spent on Go (playing games, and writing about it on Facebook and here on the OGS forum) takes up too much time already - LOL - so I just have no time for other games although I’m interested in alternative-Go-variants such as “Toroidal Go” which I play on the “Little Golem” Game Server (where many games such as Chess, Twixt, Hex, and “word games” are played, BTW)… So in summary, I would play other games if the situation was right (about 2 years ago I played a game of Chess with a guy who didn’t know how to play Go) but my current situation has me only playing Go, only online.
I play Arimaa and enjoy it at least as much as Go, maybe more. The past few days I’ve been checking out Tumbleweed. Not maybe quite on the level of Go and Arimaa, but still a very good abstract.
I also joined a Diplomacy Game a week and a half ago.
Jacynth is a really interesting territory-control game played with a Decktet. It feels a bit more like an abstract than most card games despite still having a luck factor. Maybe that’s what eurogames are like? I’ve never played one.
For better or worse, I’ve always had games (of one kind or another) as one of my main hobbies/pastimes:
As a child, I had a Super Nintendo (with both Super Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong Country) and a PS1, and those provided me with countless hours of fun.
I grew up playing Chess, first with my father, and later in high school. I think it will remain a lifetime enjoyable activity for me.
In high school, I also got my first laptop. I played many flash games, but I never really had one game I stuck with for longer than a year or so. I also played some Xiangqi and Arimaa with my friends during this time. I remember spending one year playing Minesweeper.
When I started university, I played more Tetris, and also started playing the games of the Touhou Project bullet hell series. I also remember dedicating some time to playing “I Wanna Be The Guy”.
I also played Stepmania, and later Osu!. Osu! has been one of the games I’ve stuck with, even though I’m terrible at it.
Right now, I’d say my main four games are Go, Osu!, Chess and Tetris, in that order. I do play some other things from time to time, but I find I can reliably use those four to pass my free time.
I just had a black and white TV and later a tennis game running on it.
As a child I had a bunch of board games monopoly style but I founded them too simplistic so I created more rules. Sadly it turned to be a solo game activities, as there was no one to join.
Many years later with friends we put all our knowledge in creating a new game. Went to be a great experience it was complex but playable (even we played it.)
This month Samraku and I have been discussing the idea of a multi-game tournament.
The conversation is at Exploring other board games -- a challenge - #113 by bugcat