Game store meetup changed my opinion on abstract games

I went to a weekly game night at The Tabletop Tavern in Portland last Tuesday. There was a guy playing Yinsh with this intense focus, but he kept explaining his moves to anyone watching. I always thought abstract games were just dry strategy puzzles with no social element. Watching him teach three new players the rules and still have a close game changed my mind. The way he tied each move back to a real life decision made it click for me. Now I'm looking at my shelf of heavy euros differently. Anyone else have a surprise change of heart after watching someone else play?

3 comments

3 Comments

cameron_owens496d ago

But actually... Go is way older than checkers, like thousands of years older, so comparing it to checkers kind of gets the timeline backwards. I get what Kevin meant though, abstract games can feel that way until you see someone who really knows how to bring the energy to them. That Yinsh player sounds a lot like the Go guy, just proving that the game is only as dry as the person playing it.

aaron_ellis4222d agoMost Upvoted

My friend Kevin had the same thing happen with Go at a con last year, he watched this older guy play ten games in a row with no break and still took time to explain his openings. Kevin always said abstract games were "just checkers with pretension" but after seeing how much trash talk and social energy came out of that one table he went out and bought a board the next week. Now he's the guy teaching it to everyone at our local game night and it's the loudest table in the room.

wood.john21d ago

Wait, ten games in a row with no break? That guy must have been running on pure caffeine and spite.