Way to Go, Beth!

I love playing board games. I always have, ever since my mother provoked my competitive tabletop tendencies by being the most ruthless, cutthroat Monopoly player I've ever met. (I love ya, Ma!) Over the past few years, my favorite boardgame has become Settlers of Catan, along with its various expansions.
I'm pretty good at Catan. My wife and kids have been known to call me ruthless and cutthroat, too. (Of course, they're wrong; I'm usually a very nice guy and offer really good advice to other players, but you know what happens when you get an idea stuck in your head. *grin*) I probably win more than two-thirds of the games I play.

But tonight was by far the best game of Catan ever. Becky was over at a friend's house, and Ben was occupied with other interests. So Margo, Beth, and I decided to go for a three-way game. We set up the board, placed the tokens randomly, and got going. The dice were pretty odd tonight; 6 and 8 hardly ever came up, but I made a killing in wheat with a crummy 11 space, and Beth smoked us all every time a 10 was rolled. Early in the game, Margo was able to switch her 3 on ore for the 9 on ore that Beth and I shared, which really cramped my plans.

For most of the game, I was up by 1 point. But then we started rolling 7s and the Robber became a real annoyance. All three of us kept bumping him around (and, of course, whatever he blocked became the next number rolled), and we wasted way too much wheat activating and de-activating our Knights.

When I was just 1 point away from victory, suddenly Beth made a sweeping comeback, snatched the cards I needed to win, and we were dead even. On Margo's next turn, she almost caught up with us. It was anyone's game. But, in the end, Beth made a great trade with Margo and snagged that final point to win. We've been playing the game for years, and it was the first time Beth has won. Her victory was even sweeter since it came in one of the tightest, most competitive games we've ever played. Way to go, Beth!

Someday, I dream of starting a monthly boardgame club or something. It'd be open to the community, and people would bring their favorite games to introduce to others. Oh, sure, there'd be room for the old standbys -- from Monopoly to Risk -- but it'd be fun to share games like Bohnanza, Carcassone, or The Princes of Florence. I've never had a chance to try out Puerto Rico or Ticket to Ride, but this would be a great sense to discover them and make new friends. Maybe someday...

In he meantime, what a blast to have a family that enjoys games together. Man, I'm gonna miss this when the kids are grown and gone!