You are going to think differently of me after you read this. Frankly, you’re going to realize that under this cool, SPM-tattoo wearing, downtown-chic, California-traveling façade, I am such a nerd. I love board games, and, oddly enough, I come from a big group of friends that love board games too. Sober, in fact.
Yes, the art of board-gaming has changed now that I’m 21. As Lauren Cusimano explains in her story, “Inebriated Smebriated” on page 15, some gaming just gets better when you’re a little tipsy. Catch Phrase, in fact, may be my personal favorite. Getting people to say something coherent under a timer is hard enough as is, but when their brains are fuzzy, true hilarity ensues.
But while now there might be a glass of wine next to my Cranium figure, I’m playing for the game itself. I’m lucky enough to still be close friends with people I was friends with in elementary and junior high school. Oddly enough, we didn’t really play board games back then. It’s definitely a ritual now.
My roommate, Ashley, is honestly the picture of sweetness. I don’t think she has ever had a hurtful thought in her life, and she is basically the epitome of caring and niceness. However, when the game boards come out, Ashley is a changed woman – one that I am afraid of. Her poison is Risk, a game I had never heard of until one night I was nodding off after watching my friends form and break alliances for over three hours. It wasn’t even close to being finished – South America still had a chance of being invaded, and the only thing keeping me awake was the occasional piercing death threat thrown across the coffee table.
On a lighter note, that summer I also discovered Cataan, a much more light-hearted version of town-building. I also discovered my friend Michael cannot be trusted.
Best of all, though, is the humming. I have to hand it to the makers of Cranium for creating a game situation that no one can win. NO ONE can discern “Pretty Woman” from “Row Row Row Your Boat” when it is hummed. No matter the intensity. After a decade of best-friendship with my partner in crime but never in Cranium, Jaren, it’s strange to say that I have never seen him as focused as when he is vehemently and desperately trying to hum an Aretha Franklin tune so that his partner can guess it. It doesn’t matter how close you get to someone’s ear or how many times you shout, “NO. JUST LISTEN.” It’s just that damn humdinger.
Well, I’ve thoroughly embarrassed myself and a few of my friends to boot. But seriously, put down the beer pong ball for a second and you might just rediscover your childhood, or that your childhood friends have a whole other side, one hour and three drinks into a tough game of Scattergories.
Reach the reporter at amanda.fruzynski@asu.edu.
