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FDQ: Do You Have a Gaming Quirk?

4

Some have to sit always facing a door. For others, it’s a monkey in their pocket or a security blanket dragged around. We all have idiosyncrasies that charm our friends and puzzle outsiders. Which brings us to today’s question: do you have any quirks specifically related to gaming? Answer in the comments!

@FarmerLenny answers:
To get a full reading on my quirks, you’d probably have to ask @Futurewolfie. The one that stands out the most to me is that if green is an option for playing pieces, I will probably choose it. And if someone else chooses it, I will passive aggressively make them regret choosing it. (Okay, not really; I’m just green so often that when I’m not green, I have a tendency to move the green player’s pieces…)

As an editor and lover of words, I also occasionally get caught up in a funny idea or way of saying something. Note: this may be funny to me, but not to others. A case in point is the game of Small World I played on Monday. There was a race called the White Ladies, and for whatever reason, when they came on the board or were talked about, I had to say their name in a sing-songy voice. I had a friend who whenever we’d play Acquire and America was talked about would say, “America’s strong” in his best G-dub voice. Now I have a tendency to do the same thing.

So, thanks to all who play games with me on a regular basis. I’d like to think these quirks are charming…but I know the truth.

@Futurewolfie answers:
Quirks? Me? That’s quite the accusation.  Is it quirky to intentionally mispronounce key terms in a game so they sound like different words?  Is it quirky to come up with my own silly-sounding terms for items and tokens in a game?  Is it quirky to force mini-figures, meeples, and sometimes even cubies to act out the action they’re supposed to be taking in the game, usually complete with “pkow! Pshaaa! Booosh!” sound effects?  Is it quirky to immediately sit inside the boxtop of a game as soon as I set aside?  Yes?  Well, for that last one at least, my cat must be the quirky one.

Oh, and for the record, the monkey’s name is Vincent.  And he lives in my pocket all the time, since high school, and it has nothing to do with games.  He’s awesome:

I'll try anything once, but my favorite games are generally middleweight Euros.

Discussion4 Comments

  1. I have two. Like FarmerLenny, I have a particular color preference. It’s Red. I’m Red so often that when other players get to that color first, I’ll often move their scoring marker or pieces by accident.

    The other one is that I’m always touching pieces. If I have cubes, I’ll pick them up and fiddle with them. Same with my unused meeples. Always fidgety with my stockpile.

  2. GeekInsight: Are you afraid that your stockpile will be taken from you?

    Futurewolfie: We seem to be making a strong case for no one ever wanting to play games with us. Ever.

  3. 🙂 I, strangely enough, have almost the same mannerisms when gaming that GeekInsight does. I almost always play with red (and default to Blue if that’s taken). I also almost always have to have something touching my fingers. I fiddle with chits or dice or whatnot whenever playing.

  4. I play as Yellow, but I think we’re getting a bit off topic, here. ; ) At Unpub I played a couple of games as other colors, and it was quite strange.

    And, I like Vincent. More people should have their own Vincent… assuming that they’re willing to let small children play with them when needed.

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