The Board Game Faith Newsletter, Issue 30
Hello, Board Game Faithful!
Daniel: It is bitterly cold in our corner of the world. Temperatures have dropped to lows that haven’t been around here in about 50 years or so. One day our high was -2 (that’s in Fahrenheit; the Celsius equivalent is -19)! The same day I checked Kevin’s weather and discovered they were a balmy 57 (14 Celsius). Why isn’t everybody living there? I mean, it’s got warm weather AND Kevin!
Kevin: My suntanning session yesterday was dreadful. First off, my cocktail was MISSING its orange rind. Secondly, the sun was TOO BRIGHT and gave me a headache. Finally, the suntan lotion was TOO OILY. And people think they have troubles! Life is terrible.
Behind the Episodes
Daniel: The second part of our Enneagram episodes was fun. The biggest take-away for me was the importance of recognizing our personality differences when approaching games. If I really want a gaming session to be fun for everyone, then it means making the internal decision that the experience of others is more important than the game itself.
Kevin: I’m well pleased with the Enneagram episodes. We were charting new waters, people! It is so helpful to recognize the different styles and personas we all have when it comes to life and gaming. What is comforting to you, and what stretches you? These are such great things to recognize.
Coming Up
Daniel: Our upcoming episode is a return to AV Club! The episodes where we discuss a game-related video have been among our most popular, so we’re hopeful folks will find this one especially engaging. The video? An up-close examination of post-apocalyptic cosplay in the middle of the desert. And then the episode after that will be “death in gaming”! (Unrelated….or it it??)
Kevin: I’ve only recently considered the differences between just desserts and just deserts. A dessert is a sweet treat, a desert is a sandy hot place, and a desert is also what you deserve (from the Old French word deservir). There really should be a TV show that involves criminals condemned to eat sweet desserts in the sandy desert. But … I do love Mad Max themed stuff.
Games We're All About Right Now
Kevin: I busted out Under Falling Skies and that’s such a clever game of planning, mitigation, and variability. Any game with a comic book supplement is awesome. I’ve explored Fliptown which is a cool little flip and write game.
Daniel: The White Castle!! Wow, do I love this game! It’s a wonderful mix of dice placement, worker placement, and resources management that fits nicely together into a neat little package. Plus it’s beautiful! PLUS it has a short playtime! PLUS PLUS it has a great solo mode! I purchased this game because I enjoyed its predecessor The Red Cathedral (from the same design team), but I like this one even more.
Kevin: I didn’t know it was the same designers as Red Cathedral! That game is like Under Falling Skies and they both rank highly in my “lotta game in a small box” awards!
Spirituality
Kevin: I’ve started Bullet Journaling again, and I’m finding it really useful. It is a simple way to document your day’s thoughts and activities, feel good about your accomplishments, and dismiss things that are less significant (see our thoughts below on 4,000 Weeks, as it goes hand in hand). I particularly like giving a name or theme for each day – what is the most important thing? Accumulating those means your weeks and life almost become a screenplay or storyline, and I find that very comforting. We are all stories, and BuJo is one way of journaling that helps document and mirror those stories.
Daniel: I’ve been thinking recently about humanity’s ever-expanding concept of God. The idea originated for me with a piece I read by Rob Bell, who traced the ways that each subsequent revelation of God in human history leads to a wider and wider circle of our understanding of the divine. It is striking–-and hopeful–-how our ideas of God (and who’s included in God’s family) have been on a trajectory of greater expansiveness throughout human history. It seems to me that such a movement in itself is evidence of the divine, as we humans left to our own devices tend to hunker down and constrict our circles rather than widening them.
Media We're Digging Right Now
Daniel: I continue to read through 4,000 Weeks and to enjoy it thoroughly. Kevin’s been reading it too and we’ve been comparing notes. While on the surface it’s a book about time management (it even says so on the cover), in reality it’s more a book more about philosophy, spirituality, and the meaning of life. My most haunting take-away from this past week’s reading is the notion that if we live our lives as if every moment is preparation for something else (do well in high school to get into college, do well in college to get a good job, do well at your work to get a promotion, do well in your career to enjoy a good retirement), then we will never ever actually enjoy the present. And as life in reality consists of nothing but the present, that means such an exclusively future-oriented life is one that we will never really enjoy at all.
Kevin: The idea that accepting life’s incompleteness and finiteness means you enjoy it more richly is so … weird. But it’s so true. I just finished Beef on Netflix, and that is a very thoughtful and even spiritual show – broken, angry, lonely, and unseen people coming to grips with their pain and finding some healing. So good!
Thank You!
Thanks so much for being a part of the BGF community. We are grateful for each of you and the ways you make the world more awesome. And if you haven’t had a chance to tell us a little about yourself yet, we would love it if you could fill out this form please!