[edit: this post quickly changed tack into a thank you note for my father, hence Part 0. I'm not apologising for this, just informing you. Still has game stuff but more game stuff in parts 1 and 2 soon]
Firstly, these are posts about how and why *I* game. You may have entirely different methods and madness and find yourself thinking 'that's stupid!'; I don't mind, not that I'll know unless you tell me. But we all know that won't happen for at least two reasons. First: hardly anyone reads this. Second: internet people are too polite to tell others that their opinions are wrong-it simply doesn't happen!
Anyway, that *I* looks like some kind of suspect emoticon. I'm showing my age saying 'emoticon'.
So here's the Why. One of my earliest memories (preschool) is finding a chess set and a monopoly set whilst exploring at home. I opened them up and knew that they weren't just toys; there was some higher purpose to these collections of bits and pieces. The chess set was wooden pieces in a small wooden box which had been made by my grandfather. There were horses in pairs and castles in pairs and a two pieces that were taller than the others and lots of pieces that were shortest. And all of the black pieces had a matching white piece and vice versa. The other box didn't have the symmetry of the chess set; besides the bunch of wee houses there were only a few pieces and they didn't seem to be connected at all. But there were cards that matched the board and other cards that had their places, and … pretend money. Mum, dad, teach me! Now!
Please?
I got taught neither chess nor monopoly but draughts (checkers) and games like snakes and ladders. I got told that I could be taught chess once I started school (which was a few days before 5th birthday). Funnily enough, I seemed to be okay with that; maybe because draughts and dice games seemed exciting enough for now. True to their word though, I got taught chess etc at 5 (ish). Within a few years I also discovered that some other friends/classmates also knew how to play, and play we would (on rainy days).
When I was 11 dad brought me along to a chess club and asked if I could join. I was by far the youngest in the room (I don't think that anyone else was under 18) and I was only allowed to join if I was accompanied, so dad also joined. Dad did shift work, so was unable to attend some nights but a school friend (Paul) was also allowed to join and the club organisers had assessed both of us as being sensible enough to attend some nights without parental guidance. I guess we didn't dribble all over the pieces or throw them down the toilet or whatever normal preteens do, also Paul and I were good enough to sometimes beat some of the lower ranked players and we were improving. We got to know some of the 'old men' (some of whom would have been younger than my current age) and a few years later my high school maths teacher joined. I ended up playing him once in an epic 4 hour match. Despite being slightly distracted by the pulsing forehead vein, I ended up only just winning by having that 1 extra pawn in the endgame. I would have enjoyed the game even if I'd lost because it was tense and never certain until the end, when I managed to force a rook for rook exchange.
Anyway, dad continued to attend when he could and although I was thankful at the time, now that I'm a grown up and have a child and job etc, I appreciate much more what he did for me; as well as all the usual fatherly stuff, here's a breakdown of the board games-specific things:
*taught me and my sisters
*played with me and my sisters
*recognised my interest and slight ability
*encouraged (not in a pushy way at all) me to pursue my interest
*researched (pre-internet) and told me about an interest-related club
*attended club so that I too could attend and very probably had to do some negotiation re: shift work
*celebrated in my successes and encouraged me in my failures
Hmm, I removed board games from the above list and now it's more like a checklist for Things That A Good Dad Does. So there you go.
Thanks, dad.
If you've read this far, I don't apologise but I do promise that Parts 1 and 2 (the How and Why) will be more gamey.
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