Game Nights



Warhammer: Chaos in the Old World
The Boss: It Was Not I



Usually, every Friday we have a game night at our house. This involves a board/videogame, enough cigarettes, something to drink and VH1.

We've developed quite the selection of things to play but, ultimately, it falls to Cat, my best friend and a rising star in the field of lawyering, as she's the most picky of the four. I don't care what we play, I never win. The boys will usually be too busy screwing each other over to pay us any attention and the both of us cheat her way to victory. Once in a while I'll say "can I check the rules" and everybody groans because I'll find something they missed. Good times are had by all.

We started out simple, when we first moved in together. Catan was our first big addiction. Mike even made his own out of notebook covers once. I wonder where that went... Eventually we started buying more and more board games. We're now at the point where we're at a loss as to where to store it all. From Risk to Zargos, we've got an abundance of boxes filled with little plastic pieces, all of which deserve a post and will probably get one in time.

Ultimately, our choice of what to play depends highly on how drunk we intend to get. Tipsy means we can go for some Chaos In The Old World or Arkham Horror (not to be confused with Arkham Asylum). If we intend to end the night under the table we'll probably go for Pictionary or, idealy, Rock Band. I can proud myself of having finished Rock Band (the first) on Expert difficulty mode. Singing, of course. I can only finish it in Hard when it comes to the guitar. We, as most players surely do, have a nemesis; several, in fact, but there's always a song we go back to, thinking enough time has passed that we are now somehow magically able to beat it. Deep Purple's Highway Star has, imho, the trickiest Expert guitar solo in the game. It's not the only one I can't do but it's the most frustrating one. Every once in a while I guird my loins and have at it again to no avail. I have a wonderful time until 0:45. Then I die and someone needs to rez me up.

Bur I digress. Lately we've succumbed to the lusty charms of Citadels, a card based game. The point of the game is simple: have eight districts before anyone else. The one with the most valuable districts when someone builds the eighth one wins. Along the turns you pick a different characer that gives you a certain right: either you earn more money or you "kill" another player or get to be the first to chose characters in the next round. It's more fun than it sounds.

We've been meaning to pick up Twilight Imperium again as well. We call it "the game to be finished the day after tomorrow" and that fact alone keeps us away from it. People with cats are wary of leaving small game pieces out for it to play with during the night. But the game is so worth it that I have to step on a few toes to get us to play it again. And the box is big enough for me to feel bad about never playing it.