Board Games + Bars

Sometimes you and your friends go to a bar. You always have fun because you're with your friends but sometimes (no matter how much you or may not consume) you end up sitting around the table staring at each other, searching for conversation.

I once heard that the weather is what people talk about when they have nothing else to talk about. I believe that. Sometimes it's a good way to start a conversation, like a simple pleasantry (beautiful day out today, Bob, don'tcha think?) but more often than not I've noticed people using when they truly have nothing else to talk about. "How bout that rain storm last night?"

It makes me uncomfortable when you're hanging out with your friends, people you like and choose to be around, and the conversation turns to weather. I take it as a personal failure. Maybe you will too now that I've shared my wisdom with you.

So my point is this...

Last night, in honor of St. Patrick's Day we went out with Jennifer. Normally we don't go out on Tuesday's because it's Tuesday, but it was a holiday and Jennifer had the night off and Johanna was with Mike. So, where to go... We went to Mellow Mushroom first to see Katie at work. There we were, the three of us (Katie was actually busy working) sitting around a table. I was grasping for conversation topics, anything that wasn't weather related (so, Jennifer, I'm glad the weekend of rain is over). Much to my chagrin, I looked up and both Jamie and Jennifer were on their phones. Jennifer texting and Jamie playing some game on his phone. Not only do I consider this rude behavior, but we are three FRIENDS sitting around a table ignoring each other. We might as well have been three strangers sitting at a bus stop. Of course I would've been the wacko that upon the bus arriving the other two would've gone out of their way to sit as far away from me as possible.

We finally blew that Popsicle (pizza parlor) stand and headed to The Independent. For some reason the conversation there didn't seemed as strained, although it was pretty much me and Jennifer gossiping and talking about girly things (but Jamie pretended to be interested). Then good ol' Matthew showed up. Let me back up, upon entering The Independent I noticed a large bookshelf full of nothing but board games next to the door. This peaked my interest. I love board games. I'm the president of the Board Game Night Club (I'm the only member, and we've never actually had a "Night" but one day I'll find some believers and my dream will come true). I wanted to suggest we play, but I wasn't sure how.

Ok, so then Matthew shows up. I made sure to point out to him the shelves of games only a few feet away from us. I knew Matthew would be on board (pun totally intended). Matthew is a charter member of the Board Game Night Club because one time he came over and we got so engaged in playing The 90's Game that both Jennifer and Jamie (how ironic that the four of us were back together around board games, fate probably) threatened to leave and go out without us. The game that night was declared a draw because we weren't allowed to finish.

I promptly went over to the board game shelves and selected The 80's Game (just like The 90's Game but about a different decade). We split into teams (me and Jamie verse Jennifer and Matthew) and had the best time playing. It's so fun to play trivia games like that (maybe that's why bars started doing trivia nights) because you get to test your friends on their knowledge of important and not important things. You can coach them on answers when you know they know them but are struggling and you get to make fun of them when they screw up an easy one. Jamie and I ended up winning (we are the smartest people in the world) but for the hour or so that it took to complete the game there was never a dull moment, never a thought of even having to result to bringing up the weather.

So, if I ever owned a bar I would make sure that I had an ample supply of board games on hand for my patrons to play. It probably keeps people in their seats longer too (thus spending more money).

I feel obligated to mention two things on this topic...

1. Manuel's has games too. About eight of us got into a crazy game of Cranium one night and had a blast.

2. If you do the right thing and stock your bar with board games make sure all the pieces are there. I know people do rotten things like steal and sometimes things get lost, but we can't play Balderdash without a die and and we can't play Pictionary without the clue cards. Nothing sucks more than selecting a game, getting stoked, explaining the rules and then discovering that pivotal pieces of the game are MIA.

Board games forever! Except Monopoly, because Monopoly takes too damn long. And too further my case, I present you with a quote from The Simpson's, but let me set it up for you first. The Simpson's are playing Monopoly and Lisa discovers Bart is cheating because he made most of the houses on Marvin Gardens out of Lego's and he's charging Homer a lot of money. So Homer chokes Bart and Marge and Lisa intervene but get caught up in a family "rumble." So Maggie calls the police. Lou is a police officer and if you don't know who Lisa is then you should leave.

Lisa: It seems every week the Simpson's go through a situation like this.

Lou: Looks like another case of Monopoly related violence, chief.