Krista and I have listened through Mark Driscoll's sermon's on marriage recently and now we're listening to them again with our community group. The second sermon in the series is all about being friends and so I thought I'd share how my wife and I have been using gaming to be friends. If you've never listened to the sermons, you should, but specifically the one titled "Friend with Benefits."
Back in the fall, while in the midst of playing through every board game in my collection, I asked Krista if she'd like to do a Best of Five series for a particular game. I was really being burnt out on playing a game once, then not playing it again for another year, and wanted a chance to play them more and get to learn the game more. So we began playing games, first person to 3 wins takes the series, and then the loser selects the next game in the series. This has been a great way for us to be friends, as we have some competition and fun to look forward to in an evening, and at the same time get better at our games.
I realize that this is more "shoulder to shoulder" friendship, which lines up with my friendship style more than Krista's, but at the same time it is good for us to spend time just the two of us and interacting, in this case over a game, rather than just sitting and watching a movie or reading in the same room together.
As for the games that we've played, we just finished our 15th series, which has included 14 unique games. We played Castles of Burgundy twice. The only game that we'd not suggest as a two-player game anymore, after playing it 5 times, is Tobago. It's an okay two player game, but really shines more with 3 or 4 players. I'm looking forward to our series continuing, though I'm currently on top, so Krista gets to pick the next game.
I'll leave you with a quick list of the games we've played (feel free to guess who won what series), which you might enjoy with your spouse or kids in a one on one situation, and also a quick fact about my wonderful wife who is my friend. Krista is really particular (read anal here) about how the frosting is spread on cinnamon rolls. I love her for that.
The Games (You'll notice, these names tend to be places in the world, which is weird):
The Castles of Burgundy
Agricola
Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries
Jaipur
Macao
Carcassonne
Warhammer: Invasion
Sid Meier's Civilization (2010)
Traders of Carthage
Le Havre
Santiago de Cuba
Dominion
Tobago
San Juan
Back in the fall, while in the midst of playing through every board game in my collection, I asked Krista if she'd like to do a Best of Five series for a particular game. I was really being burnt out on playing a game once, then not playing it again for another year, and wanted a chance to play them more and get to learn the game more. So we began playing games, first person to 3 wins takes the series, and then the loser selects the next game in the series. This has been a great way for us to be friends, as we have some competition and fun to look forward to in an evening, and at the same time get better at our games.
I realize that this is more "shoulder to shoulder" friendship, which lines up with my friendship style more than Krista's, but at the same time it is good for us to spend time just the two of us and interacting, in this case over a game, rather than just sitting and watching a movie or reading in the same room together.
As for the games that we've played, we just finished our 15th series, which has included 14 unique games. We played Castles of Burgundy twice. The only game that we'd not suggest as a two-player game anymore, after playing it 5 times, is Tobago. It's an okay two player game, but really shines more with 3 or 4 players. I'm looking forward to our series continuing, though I'm currently on top, so Krista gets to pick the next game.
I'll leave you with a quick list of the games we've played (feel free to guess who won what series), which you might enjoy with your spouse or kids in a one on one situation, and also a quick fact about my wonderful wife who is my friend. Krista is really particular (read anal here) about how the frosting is spread on cinnamon rolls. I love her for that.
The Games (You'll notice, these names tend to be places in the world, which is weird):
The Castles of Burgundy
Agricola
Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries
Jaipur
Macao
Carcassonne
Warhammer: Invasion
Sid Meier's Civilization (2010)
Traders of Carthage
Le Havre
Santiago de Cuba
Dominion
Tobago
San Juan
Thanks for the website referral to the Marriage sermon series.
ReplyDeleteAnd also the gaming idea.