BGA in IRL
Back in July 2020, I camped with old family friends in a pandemic bubble along the Big Sur coast in California.
It was a tipping point, as it was as the inspiration for SpielMas, a holiday festival celebrated by playing a tabletop game each night between December 26-31.
In real life
For this year’s trip, I wanted those friends, who are founding members of an online gaming group we began in April 2020, to physically experience the games we have enjoyed playing online at Board Game Arena.
I packed my game bag with as many of the titles I already had along with a few I special ordered for the camping trip.
We were able to play Can’t Stop, Abandon All Artichokes, King of Tokyo, Hanabi, Splendor, Railroad Ink, and Solo.
We also got in games of Settlers of Catan, Codenames, Illimat, and Ticket to Ride,. I even taught Wingspan to non-gamer birders who went home and bought the game!
Games we never got to try were Tichu, Bohnanza, and Bang. I also got to unbox The Search for Planet X, because one of my friends works for the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute.
Published Aug.. 8, 2021.
