Board game shelves around the world #40

Hello there traveller, take a seat and I shall begin. My name is Ross or for the social media types amongst you @moregamesplease. I live in England in a city called Nottingham, famous for everyone’s favourite thief, Robin Hood. I’m lucky enough to have lived in several different countries including Australia (g’day) and New Zealand (kia ora) and spend as much time trying to fill in the pages of my passport. I studied film at university, am looking to start a masters in Psychology later this year, work a regular office job and volunteer with AgeUK as a befriender helping old people combat loneliness in their later years.

How did you get into this world of non-digital games?
I’ve always loved games and have been playing them for as long as I can remember. As a small child I played games mainly with my family. The strongest memories are of classics like ‘Old Maid’, ‘Happy Families’, ‘Mastermind’ and my grandma absolutely thrashing me at Yahtzee. She was an unbeatable dice roller. In more recent years I have had friends that really opened my eyes to what was on offer in modern board gaming. Since I started collecting myself it’s safe to say I’ve gotten a bit carried away with my purchases.

How often do you play?
I’m lucky to have a large group of friends who are into playing board games so I’ll play a few different games a week. It didn’t happen overnight and as most of my friends had never played much beyond Monopoly or Cluedo it took a bit of work on my part. Like any good dealer I got them hooked on a quick fix first. 7 Wonders, Codenames, Love Letter and One Night Ultimate Werewolf have all been great gateway games for me and since then I’ve moved them onto the harder stuff. The breakthrough though was Dead of Winter and it’s safe to say they’re all addicts too now.

Can you tell us something about your shelves?
As my boardgame collection has expanded it has forced pretty much everything else from them. My shelves used to be a delicate balance of vinyl, books and cameras like some kind of display in a hipster high street store. Not anymore. It’s safe to say because of boardgames they’re now overflowing and I should really look into buying something a bit more suitable to house them before I start moving everything else onto the floor.

What is your favorite game at the moment?
I’ll be honest, I hate picking favourites, mainly because I change my mind so much. When friends ask me this question I’ll be difficult and say ‘Playing with who?’ ‘How many people?’ ‘How long do we have?’ but the game I am really itching to play most at the moment is T.I.M.E. Stories. I’ve only completed the base scenario Asylum and the 4 expansion packs have been mocking me from my bookshelf for months now.

What is your most special or obscure game?
As I don’t have anything particularly obscure or special in my collection I’d have to probably say the now sadly out of print third edition of Fury of Dracula. It was the kind of game I’d imagined playing for years and also contains the first set of miniatures I’ve ever painted. As it took so long to get to table (15 months) it gained some kind of mythical status with my friends, so much so that when one was moving away his only request was that we played this before he left. It didn’t disappoint.

Thank you so much for sharing your story! Something you would like to add?
In my short time being involved in the online community I have to say I’ve never experienced a more supportive and knowledgeable group of individuals. Such positivity and enthusiasm are rare to see online and it makes me glad to be part of it.

If you’d like to see more of me and my stuff check me out on Facebook, Instagram and my website (which will launch in the summer).

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