I recently had what I would call a tear-jerker moment in my board gaming life, and, because board gaming is all about sharing moments with people, I thought I would share this moment with you. My wife and I, in anticipation of the descent of dreaded Old Saint Nick during the winter times when he checks to make sure you are sleeping, stalks you to find out if you've been good or bad, breaks into your house via the chimney and leaves you gifts in an attempt to gain your trust, we made a purchase for our daughter, age 3. We bought No Thank You, Evil from Monte Cook Games. And I'll admit, my eyes did that thing where they produce enough moisture to create sufficient surface tension to form a droplet and vacate my eye. If that wasn't the most boring way to describe shedding a tear... read on to laugh at my overly excitable sappiness.
For those who don't know or didn't click the link (why do I even include those if no one is going to click them) No Thank You, Evil is basically a My First DnD, in which you and your children will create characters with classes such as Ninja, Pirate, etc and go on adventures where they will make choices, overcome obstacles, and say No Thank You to Evil. Now, this isn't the first game we've purchased for our kids. We also have the fabulous Animal Upon Animal from Haba Games and while it is of course our daughter's favorite game, it didn't illicit the same response from yours truly that No Thank You, Evil did, and I think that was due to a couple of reasons the most prominent being that it was such a natural, normal, every-kid-has-wooden-animals kind of purchase for us. We knew we wanted it for our family, we had no specific reason in purchasing it other than we knew it would be enjoyable and easy for our children to learn. But No Thank You, Evil was different.
We knew we wanted to get it from the first time we heard about it. Then, when our local game store was having a moving sale, even though our daughter is probably not old enough yet to play, we purchased it as an investment in our children's board gaming future. We took it home and opened it up to see if we could somehow justify giving it to her early. Here are some of the justifications we came up with.
"She's very mature for her age; she'd probably catch on to decision making real quick." - We then asked her what she would do if the room was full of water. She replied she would open the door. 1 point for giving it to her early!
"She loves reading books. I'm sure she would be able to form a cohesive story in her head." - We then asked her to tell us a story. She proceeded to babble incoherently while spinning around in circles. It's amazing what little children can get away with that would land adults in an insane asylum. 1 point for institutionalization!
"She was a mean old bitty who probably deserved to be yelled at." - Wait sorry, that justification was for something else. Not No Thank You, Evil. Please ignore.
But as we perused the box, looking at the cards, the classes, the rulebook, etc, I looked up at my wife and saw something magical. She had that wide-eyed look on her face that is usually reserved for something either deep-fried, or dipped in chocolate. Or both. Explanation: she was pregnant at the time we purchased it. I say "was" because we just had our third child, another girl, like ten days ago. I'm still a bit in shock and we are now outnumbered, send for help. This overabundance of joy she was displaying was clearly written on my face as well. And it was because we held in our hands something we wanted desperately to share with our children, not just a bunch of scraps of paper.
We knew we wanted to get it from the first time we heard about it. Then, when our local game store was having a moving sale, even though our daughter is probably not old enough yet to play, we purchased it as an investment in our children's board gaming future. We took it home and opened it up to see if we could somehow justify giving it to her early. Here are some of the justifications we came up with.
"She's very mature for her age; she'd probably catch on to decision making real quick." - We then asked her what she would do if the room was full of water. She replied she would open the door. 1 point for giving it to her early!
"She loves reading books. I'm sure she would be able to form a cohesive story in her head." - We then asked her to tell us a story. She proceeded to babble incoherently while spinning around in circles. It's amazing what little children can get away with that would land adults in an insane asylum. 1 point for institutionalization!
"She was a mean old bitty who probably deserved to be yelled at." - Wait sorry, that justification was for something else. Not No Thank You, Evil. Please ignore.
But as we perused the box, looking at the cards, the classes, the rulebook, etc, I looked up at my wife and saw something magical. She had that wide-eyed look on her face that is usually reserved for something either deep-fried, or dipped in chocolate. Or both. Explanation: she was pregnant at the time we purchased it. I say "was" because we just had our third child, another girl, like ten days ago. I'm still a bit in shock and we are now outnumbered, send for help. This overabundance of joy she was displaying was clearly written on my face as well. And it was because we held in our hands something we wanted desperately to share with our children, not just a bunch of scraps of paper.
These components we were holding would conjure up stories for our children, would teach them valuable life skills and lessons, and most importantly, would help us connect with our children and share something special with them, something unique that no one else will. And yes, alright. It made me cry. Just a little. I love my family; they are why I do everything that I do. And to look forward on the fun times that these pieces of paper, these dice, would bring to my wife, to our children, and to me filled me with enough joy for a little bit of it to seep out of my eyes. And it made me realize that we will share those joys, those experiences with our children in every other game that we play. If gaming, as I said before, is all about sharing moments with people, who better to share with than my family?
If you've got something seeping from your eyes, check us out on Twitter (and then, unless the seepage is tears, you should probably visit a doctor). If you have the propensity to tear up at board games (or even if you just like board games, no pressure to be sentimental) like our Facebook page! If you want to get involved in 2 To 4 Players' Community Supported Reviews, or are just feeling generous, check out our Patreon page. And remember: Don't Stop Playing.
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