In 2017, I played a lot of board games in person, and online, with @boardgamearena. My favorites: Codenames, Noir, Outlaws, Secret Moon, Pandemic (especially Legacy), Quantum, + an old favorite, chess.
I used to think playing games was: wasted time, guilty pleasure. Now I let myself enjoy them, + I also think there are benefits. @soryuforall says sports are life minus everything important. You can mess up + experiment. Even if you lose, you learn. Same is true w/ games.
The more board games you’ve played, the faster you are at picking them up. People who don't play a lot of games are slow to learn new games, people who do are surprisingly quick.
Cross-transference applies not only to rules, but also to strategy. The most recent game I learned was Quantum (my current favorite). I'm pretty good at it, and I suspect this is partially because of my skill at chess. Quantum is harder for me though.
When you play a lot of games, you start to appreciate game design, its intricacies, complexities, tradeoffs, possibilities. Designing a whole game seems harder than you might think. Seems to me that custom expansions or house rules are a good starting place.
Hermann Hesse's The Glass Bead Game is a wonderful novel, my favorite of his and likely his best, and incredibly prescient. That is all.
Curious about others thoughts on this thread: @rwhe @kgholmen @outis @HieronymusBonn @holygrailgames @funforge @czechgames #glassbeadgame #chess
