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Girlfriend Interview : Board Games : Yes, Videogames : No
My girlfriend Kymberly has a weird quirk in that she does not ever like to play video games but she loves to play board games. She loves to play Scrabble, Monopoly, Sorry, Clue and we have a copy of Mancala but we haven't opened it yet.
We have gotten pretty competitive in playing Scrabble but in nine games in the past month She has won every single game.
I've tried keeping score myself and I've been really close some time including a one point margin of victory.
Q: Why do you like to play board games and not videogames?
A: Part of the playing the game is human interaction and you just don't get that kind of face to face interaction from videogames. I just came from another generation and when videogames came out I was just at a different stage of my life.
Q: So you don't think you can get that kind face to face interaction playing videogames in the same room?
A: When you play a board game in the flesh with someone you get and experience that i haven't had with videogames. Conversations evolve and I just enjoy the face to face interaction.
Q: So has Nintendo ever tempted you with the Wii?
A: At this age no.. I mean it looks fun but I would never get exposed to it if it was not for you. And the weird thing is that the features that I really like on the Wii are the non-game information features and I like that I can take polls and look up the weather in Brazil.
Q: So what are some of the videogames that you really liked in the past.
A: Well Space Invaders, Galaga, I am more of a pinball girl, I am more of a girl from the generation of air-hockey, ping-pong and pinball. I am also a mean Gin Rummy and Canasta player. Plus one of the advantages I have in playing board game over you is that I know how you think?
Q: Oh how so?
A: Because I know how you strategize, I know how you approach the game, See you approach all of your games with an offensive perspective I approach all of the games from a defensive perspective. the best way to describe is is that when we play a game you play to beat me and I play to block you. So technically you beat yourself.
Q: So do you think I am ever going to beat you in a game of Scrabble.
A: With that kind of attitude, No.
Jake at January 13, 2008 
Rants
Comments
My wife and I play Scrabble- she pretty much beats me every time. But I just say it's luck. I get stuck with the three and four letter word combinations, when she gets 5+ ones.
Luck, that's all it is.
She beats me at Monopoly too, but I blame that on being English and playing the American version. I know sod all about sports at the best of times, but every other question is about baseball!
Have you tried to get her to play a videogame version of a boardgame? I know they suck sometimes, but just as an experiment...
Posted by: HellblazerUSA at January 14, 2008 5:04 AM
Wow, that's great that you play boardgames with Kymberly. Have you ever played Skipbo--it's one of our favorites. There's some skill involved but not too much so we never know who's going to win. Sometimes it's Ernie and sometimes it's me. Grandma's favorite game is Rummikub. It's a game like gin rummy except you use tiles, which is easier for 93 year old hands. When Aunt Carolyn came she and mom played together against me. Mom can't quite come up with all the combinations so needs some help. Although she does pretty well still. She and Dad loved playing the card game pitch but I think it must be a midwest game because I've never run into anyone is WA that knows how to play and I can't remember how....Haven't read your site for a while Jake but I loved the interview with Kymberly. Sure wish you guys lived closer.
Posted by: mom at January 14, 2008 11:43 AM
Hi Mom. She said Kymberly learned to play Canasta from her grandma. She is really good and the only games that I can beat her at is Chess and Checkers. She has beaten me in Scrabble every time.
I also interviewed her about the game Rock Band that I like
Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at January 14, 2008 9:28 PM
Hey Jake, just out of interest:
has a board game called 'Carcassonne' yet emerged in the States ? It's a tactical board game that gets its weird name from a historical city in the south of France.
Since it came out in 2001, Carcassonne has garnered pretty much all the awards there are for board games in Europe, gotten rave reviews and was at some stage completely sold out for weeks, or it was when I got it in 2004. IMO it is up there among the best 5 modern board games with Scrabble and Risk.
Carcassonne doesn't really have a board: you build the board each game by joining tiles together. The tiles have features that determine how they can be joined, eg. walls, roads, junctions, rivers. You get points eg. by building completely surrounded cities or taking fields into your possession. The gameplay is difficult to explain because it differs so much from anything else, but the game is easy to learn once you see it live. Another really cool thing about Carcassonne is that it has expansion packs that bring new features into the tiles and change the nature of the gameplay. You can join any of the expansion packs in any combination you want. Carcassonne is one of those games that ranks very high in replayability.
I know the game is also available for PC and Xbox 360, but I advise to look at the board game first: the game logic is similar to the Japanese GO in a way that it is almost impossible to write a decent AI opponent. It requires too much human intuition to implement properly on a computer.
If you have not seen this game, I seriously suggest you should give it a try.
Posted by: Jonathan at January 17, 2008 1:01 AM
I got Carcasonne on Xbox Live arcade when it was free for their anniversary of Live. I have yet to play it.
Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at January 19, 2008 3:42 PM
