Over the last 5+ years, I’ve had more than one person ask “why a game store?” To me it was completely logical. Gino and I met at Games Club and it’s been part of our life since we started. Gaming goes back even further than that for me. I remember sitting in the booth at my Grandma C’s house watching my uncles work through the rules for games like Panzer Blitz and Squadron Leader. My sister and I were playing Risk before we could read all the rules. Which was fine with us, we made our own. Cards, dice, board games, checkers with Grandpa H, games were a constant growing up.

It hasn’t gone away either. I went to the lake this weekend. After supper and a boat ride, Carcasonne was brought out. My family loves this game. They’ve bought every expansion, and I think there are two of some of them. But they’ve developed a few of their own rules. Actually what they’ve done is ditched a lot of the expansions rules because they don’t like what they do to the game, but they like the extra playing pieces. They felt one section of scoring was off balance, so they altered it. They’ve changed the game just enough to let it remain a game that they enjoy without completely making their own game.

So what? You’re thinking. We have “house rules” in a lot of games. Take Monopoly’s Free Parking. I’ll bet a lot of you put the Community Chest and Chance fee’s in Free Parking. That’s an optional rule. So is putting a 20 down every time someone lands on Free Parking and cleans it out. Some people don’t use Free Parking for anything other than, well, Free Parking. My family isn’t unusual in using House rules, although they may have quite a few of them for that particular game.

Here’s the point. My family really enjoys that game. They are really good at explaining the House Rules to anyone playing, and they are more than willing to negotiate on which ones they use. Because the point is to enjoy the game. It’s also to enjoy the time you are spending with the people that you’re gaming with. When rules get in the way of that enjoyment, don’t be afraid to alter them. Maybe the rules are a bit too complex for some of the younger players. You can change scoring rules, or victory conditions so that the younger players can be competitive and not feel that there is no point playing because they don’t have a chance. Maybe you team up and play teams instead of solo play. Do what you have to in order to get as many people playing and having fun as possible.

If you aren’t enjoying the game, you are less likely to play. If you are less likely to play, that’s less time spent with people, family or friends, and really, socializing is one of the biggest reason that we play games. We want to have fun with other people. Games are the vehicle for that.