Born in Detroit, raised in Omaha, and living in Chicago for the last 25 years, I’ve mostly spent my time growing up in the Midwest playing video games, watching sports on TV, building my movie collection, and listening to records, so tabletop gaming came pretty naturally to me. You can have the beach, I’m staying indoors. I love all types of games but tend to lean toward
heavyweight Euros and war/historical games, especially ones that deal with uncommon conflicts or provide a unique perspective. Outside of my hobbies, I work as a video producer and editor in the commercial and academic fields. I’m also raising two loud, large, and obnoxious (but infinitely lovable) rescue mutts and am married to an amazing wife who occasionally lets me win in Lost Cities.
My 3 Favorite Games (in no particular order)
Twilight Struggle: I absolutely love multi-purpose cards and this game utilizes them to perfection. The stress on every turn, as you are forced to play cards that can benefit your opponent as much as yourself, leads to some excruciating decisions. Every action is examined as you balance slow (but steady) influence building, powerful events, and big,
risky swings in the form of coups. For me, there’s just no other strategy game more engaging or that captures the tension of the theme it covers so dramatically.
Cosmic Encounter: This game has simple rules, but every player has a unique power designed to break them in wild and, usually, hilarious ways. Alliances are shattered as quickly as they’re formed, failed negotiations are punished, and space becomes littered with dead
ships. It’s absolute chaos. Between the base game and its expansions, there are over 200 aliens to choose from, so no game ever plays the same. There’s a reason it’s been in production since 1977.
El Grande: They say “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. In the past few years, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve said “Oh, they stole this from El Grande”. Such is the influence this game has on modern board game design. So many of its mechanics are commonplace now, but I still think that Wolfgang Kramer and Richard Ulrich’s Spiel des Jahres-winning masterpiece remains alone at the top. Who’s hiding in the Castillo?
