Game,set,match

In no other universe would one be able to buy a house in Park Avenue,own a railroad company,win the lottery and then,proceed to lose it all at the next roll of the dice. And it’s a fantasy world indeed where you can lead some of the world’s leading detectives on a wild goose chase around Kensington Gardens,Waterloo Station and the Fulton Fish Market. But that’s the great thing about Monopoly,The Game of Life and Scotland Yard — they let us live our lives vicariously; so what if it’s with the help of plastic tokens and a large gaming board?

It’s usually the wet weather that brings out the board game enthusiast in all of us. Stuck indoors,one of the few pleasures from our childhood which carry over into the adult world is that of board games. Almost everyone has a favourite board game and some fond memories of bonding and fighting over games like Scrabble,Pictionary and Business. TV personality and self-confessed board game addict Roshan Abbas recalls rainy days spent indoors,squabbling with friends like Maria Goretti,Arshad Warsi,Mini Mathur and Cyrus Sahukar over a game of Boggle. “It’s a great excuse to get people together,especially on gloomy,overcast days. And playing games like Pass the Bomb,which has husbands and wives questioning each other always have such unexpected and hilarious results.” Abbas’s friend and fellow gamer Goretti,confesses that she loves Taboo so much that she’s even taken it to parties. “Taboo and Trivial Pursuit are eternal party favourites with us. Playing is not just a pleasure in itself; it ensures that everyone gets involved and is thus a great conversation starter as well.”

Gamers are a loyal lot—it’s not just rain that drives them to board games. In fact,game nights have become one of the ‘must-dos’ on the lists of many groups of friends. Journalist Aveek Chatterjee has regular Monopoly nights with his friends. “We used to talk about how much we all enjoyed Monopoly as kids and then we decided to just get a set and start playing. It’s amazing how much fun it is and how the game has evolved. The latest version uses credit cards,with a special battery-charged credit card reader instead of cash and it’s quite an experience—familiar yet novel.”

Another fan is Tarun Durga,creative head of Zapak Games,who hosts the fortnightly Board Games Bash in the city. “I got into board gaming because I got so tired of playing with pixels. I set out to find other people who shared my enthusiasm and publicised the idea on Facebook. I found lots of takers and now we have over 20 regulars,who also keep bringing their friends along.” Durga organises events for the “masses” with games like Scrabble and Taboo and special nights for hard-core fans with lesser known games like Zombies and Fluxx.

Whether it’s a high-strategy game like Risk or a straightforward one like Snakes and Ladders,board gaming becomes much more than about winning and losing. As Chatterjee points out,“Board games are fun because there’s something to argue about,which means there’s always something to talk about and bond over.” In the world of games,it would seem,friction strengthens friendships.