Chris Kreuter's Tumblr

So apparently I’m a bit of a nutcase when it comes to board games. After several inquiries as to what’s on my shelf, here’s my attempt:

xx before a game means I’ve never played it 

Top Shelf = Stuff that never gets played
most of this stuff I get for $1-$5 at thrift stores/yard sales/going out of business sales, etc…I tend to buy the ones with lots of bits inside that I can commandeer for my own prototypes, or just to read the rulebook and learn more about the game. Others are old games in great condition that I wanted just for kicks.

xx CSI: The Board Game
Trivial Pursuit x2
xx Roulette Game Night 
Headache  (predecessor to Trouble)
Othello x2
Score Four
xx The Office DVD Game 
xx U-Build Connect 4
xx The Worst Case Scenario Game
Electronic Chess Teacher
Ruk-Shuk Junior
xx NHL Big League Manager Challenge
Sitting Ducks
xx Dancing Dice
Password
Chinese Checkers
xx How to Host a Murder
xx Pirateer
Balderdash
Mah-Jong set
xx Mini Air Hockey Table
xx Weird Japanese marble game
xx Rocky & Bullwinkle Role Playing Game 
xx Vapor’s Gambit
xx Issac Asimov’s Super Quiz II
Cranium
xx Speak Love / Make Love
xx Moods
xx Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Game
Shootin’ Ladders
xx Masters of Venice 
xx Pizza Party
xx Trivial Pursuit: 90’s Edition
xx Sceneit? Star Trek Edition
Monopoly
Monopoly: NHL Edition
Guess Who
xx Where’s Waldo Memory Game
xx Risk: Middle Earth Edition
xx Journey to Sevenpold
Carmen Sandiego USA: Junior Edition
xx Careers
xx Game of the States 
xx On Assignment with National Geographic
xx Masterpiece: The Art Auction Game
Pente
xx Introduction to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
The Game of LIFE

Shelf 1
Most of the stuff on this shelf is good games that see a lot of play.

Epigo
7 Wonders (with Leaders expansion)
Magic: The Gatering - EDH Deck
Ticket to Ride: Europe
Ticket to Ride: Asia expansion
Dominion
Dominion: Intrigue
Dominion: Seaside
Dragon Delta
xx Ideology: The War of Ideas 
Revolution!
Dixit (with 2 & Odyssey expansions)
xx Bombay
xx Age of Gods
Code 777
xx Phoenicia
Settlers of Catan
Kill Doctor Lucky
Telestrations
Blokus 3D
Tichu
xx Impossible Machine
Innovation
Jaipur
Sutakku
Haggis
Friday 

Shelf 2
More good stuff, just in smaller boxes.

Carcassone  including these expansions:
     Princess & The Dragon
     Abbey & Mayor
     The River I
     Inns & Cathedrals 
     The Phantom
Race for the Galaxy (with The Gathering Storm expansion)
Alhambra
Gheos
Infinite City
xx Carpe Astra
Star Trek: Deck Building Game (with 1st Expansion)
Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot (with all 11 expansions) 
Leaping Lemmings
Thurn and Taxis
Eminent Domain 
Mirror, Mirror x2
Forbidden Island
xx Jab: Realtime Boxing
Lost Cities
Blokus Duo
xx Set Cubed
Rivals of Catan: Card Game
Travel Scrabble
Chess
Rummikub
Quarriors
Polarity
Simpletons
Jungle Speed

The Basket = Tiny Games
Most of this stuff I picked up as promos at different cons.

Bananagrams
Rush Hour Jr.
xx Hit the Deck
xx ASAP The Quick-Think Game
Bandits
Looney Pyramids
xx Mini Travel Checker Rug Game
xx Say Cheese!
xx Phase 10
xx Lucca Citta
xx Spot it!
Sim City: The Card Game - New York City deck
Tangeos
Take the Train
Skip-Bo
Yahtzee: M&M Edition
xx Crazy Japanese Train Card Game
Star Trek: Tribbles CCG
Playoff Hockey One on One Challenge CCG
Toops: Puck Attax CCG
xx Swish
xx Aquarius
Atomic
xx Sturgeon

A total of 146 games (including expansions in that count)

Underneath all of that, there are tons of prototype materials, copies of Masquerade Games products, and game prototypes. 

This isn’t to mention all of the board games I have downloaded onto my iPad (which is a great way to learn about a game or explore mechanics at a cheap cost!)

- chris

I consider myself pretty fortunate to have grown up in the era I did. My generation was the first to be exposed to computer technology at an early age - and to grow comfortable with them as they completely revolutionized how we live and work. When I was about 7 years old, we were using computers in school - mostly by playing learning games. I still have faint memories of sitting in second grade playing a maze game where you were a mouse chasing after cheese. 

Every once in a while my father would bring home this massive laptop from work. It was the size of a suitcase and had a small 2 color screen, but I would love to throw commands at it and play some rudimentary games with it. My father paid attention to this interest in computers, and he jumped at the opportunity to take ownership of an old computer his firm was getting rid of. When he brought it home, I was so excited to have my own computer to mess with!

It was a well-used IBM XT 386. (http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=286) It came equipped with a VGA monitor and 5-1/4” floppy drive, and some basic programs. This computer was made before Microsoft Windows were widely used - so all commands had to be entered into DOS. It took me several months to grow comfortable navigating through the system and making it work. I loved going down into the den and sitting in front of the massive machine on the equally massive yellow table and clacking on those loud keys.

I have fond memories of our weekly trip to the Jefferson Valley Mall. Cathy, Matt and I would each get our weekly allowance of $10 and we could go nuts with it. Being the budget-conscious youth we were, we often wanted to stretch that $10 as best we can. Now that I had a computer - I found myself going to the dollar store. I lived for a small bin in the back corner of the store that was chock full of those coveted 5-1/4” discs, containing shareware games and programs for $1 each. I loved playing those games with only white, teal and purple colors, entering commands with the loud clicks of the massive keyboard.

(I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the gratitude I have for my mother in limiting my “geek time” and forcing me to go outside and pay in the dirt. Some of my fondest memories took place outside of house on Dahlia Drive.)

As I toyed with the computer, I started to become very interested in how to program it. The computer came with a programming interface called BASIC - which you could type out programs using line numbers as a reference. I was able to quickly pick up the logic of how programs worked, thanks to Aaron. Aaron was a fellow geek who was four grades ahead of me and lived down the street.  We would soften sit together on the bus and he would tutor me on things I could try with programming the computer. I only had his advice for about a year, as he went off to Middle School the following year and took a different bus. When I got a little older I was allowed to walk down to his house and learn more from him, and we became better friends four years later, once I got to Middle School and we were on the same bus again.

I would get a used upgraded computer from my dad’s office every few years - so I got incremental upgrades to the technology. VGA graphics, with their 16 beautiful colors. 3-1/2” diskettes. Windows. A Mouse. Always behind the state of the art, but it never mattered to me. But the best upgrade was QBASIC. The successor to the BASIC programming language, it had a Windows interface and was a huge step up in power and user friendliness. It was through QBASIC that I truly learned how to program. Over the next few years, I would drool at the awesome games that Aaron and his friends were making, and use that inspiration to make my own games. 

In retrospect, I see now that my programming exploits had a profound effect on my life. It was teaching me the details of computer logic – understanding how computers worked, and with my programming knowledge I developed an innate ability to know how programs SHOULD function - making it a breeze to learn how new programs worked. Computer technology was growing more complex by the day, but the underlying logic was still the same - giving me a leg up on most of my peers. Programming my own computer games was also one of the first canvases I had to show my creativity to my family. I would work on a game for weeks or months, and both my parents and I would be proud when I unveiled my latest creation. I would even go as far as creating packaging for my game, pasting white paper over a disk box and coloring it.

Ultimately the games themselves weren’t very good, but I still take great pride in RACEWAY, YOU’RE THE COACH HOCKEY, BABY WARS, and I even had this game where it looked like you were in the cockpit of a ship fighting another ship off in the distance. (The graphics weren’t simple, so it wasn’t very convincing – but it was a neat idea). I was always a few years behind with regards to technology, so it was hard keeping up with my fellow computer-using friends who had better machines with fancier graphics. It wasn’t until I got to high school when I had access to state of the art computers, but I think this ultimately was a blessing more than a curse. I think if I was always on the cutting edge, I would have found myself digesting all the new software and games other people were creating, instead of being “stuck” messing around programming my own.

In the early 90’s, the Internet became accessible to the public, and I remember dialing into Prodigy with a 28K baud modem. My mother always sat beside me when I used the internet, because she heard horror stories of all these creeps out there. It was also probably costing a lot, so she could limit my usage by doing this. I didn’t use the internet too much until I got into high school in the late 90’s when the internet really started to explode.

My first year of high school, I was reunited with Aaron - and became the youngest member of a small group of computer aficionados. I always had the “lamest” technology in the group, and the weakest skills (after all, most of them were three or four years older than me). Most of them were gearing up for college, mostly in computer technology. I looked up to that group, and for that first year of high school I learned a lot about computers and life. I was one of the only freshmen in the computer science class, and I was also the only freshman remotely interested in joining the computer programming team. The “team” was only a couple of kids, but it was led by Aaron.

There was a couple of programming competitions hosted by local colleges, where similar groups of kids from area schools competed for prizes. The competitions were a great way for colleges to promote their computer science programsm and make a pitch the best talent in the area. It was truly an incredible experience for a young kid like me. The competitions would take most of a day, and each team would be put in a classroom without a computer. We would be given a set of 8-10 challenges, each worth a certain number of points. Only one team member was allowed at the computer at a time, so the other team members would have to work out the process of how the program should work on paper before it was programmed. It also involved a lot of teamwork to strategize which programs best fit each of our skill sets. Most of my skills weren’t up to the tasks for a lot of these challenges, so I would be tasked with the easiest or more straightforward programs in the packet. When I finished those, I would often watch the other guys working on their programs, and offering my brainstorms of commands or techniques that might work for a specific problem.

The Mahopac Team often did fairy well at these events, mostly due to the seniors’ talents. In one competition we all even won a one-year scholarship at the local community college. (It wasn’t a particularly good school, but it was pretty cool to be able to say that as a lowly freshman I already had a scholarship). The frantic pace of the competitions, and being able to see how the seniors approached the event were so instrumental in teaching me how to function in teams, and gave me my first project management skills. Computers have played a vital role in my life on so many levels for much of my life, and I am forever thankful for having them in my life.

I recalled a recent conversation while I watched a playoff hockey game live at the Staples Center in Los Angeles last Thursday night. It was game three of a best-of-seven series between my beloved St. Louis Blues and the Los Angeles Kings. Ever since I bought the tickets last week, I anxiously awaited the game. As I sat there as an enemy within the castle walls, I anxiously pined for a victory for “my” team.

The recalled conversation revolved around what drives people to cheer for a particular team, why they identify with the team and act as if they are part of it. (refer to my use of the word “my” in the last paragraph) Why do I put so much emotional investment on the men on the Blues team being more successful than the men comprising the Kings squad?

Sports are by every definition a form of entertainment, regardless of the level at which they are played. You could make the same silly phrasing about every other form of entertainment: movies, television, theater, board games, etc… You could probable go even further and add religion to that list. Sports seems to create fanatics of a sort unseen in other forms of entertainment. Being a fan of the Blues is a part of my ego in way that feels viscerally different from other forms of entertainment I enjoy. I have always loved Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, and consider myself a huge fan. However, I don’t check imdb.com to see if there’s any new photos of Oompa Loompas the same way I scour espn daily for the latest on “my” Blues.

I can name most of the Blues roster and their jersey numbers from memory - but I can’t remember my wife’s cell phone # without looking it up in my contacts. When the Blues put one of those rubber discs in their opponent’s goal, it causes pure and sudden elation - barely controllable, almost instinctual. I feel senses of pride and commaraderie when I wear their logo on my clothing. I have even been seriously considering a Blues logo be permanently inked into my skin. Why all of this - in the abstract it certainly seems silly, even absurd - right?

Even after I have now put all of this in such a critical light, it doesn’t make me think less of my fandom one iota. Ever since I was a young kid, I have loved hockey - the way others develop a love (or multiple loves) for film, dance, music, books, or a myriad of other activities that are artificial constructs. They are not necessary for the survival of ourselves or our species. Certainly then, this love must contradict something inherent in our biological makeup.

I don’t think so. Being a fan of a team gives us an enormous sense of connection to other humans. Rooting for a sports team gives someone the sense of belonging to a tribe. The success of the tribe results in feeling that WE succeeded, even if we had no control over the outcome.

(A quick aside about control: Even though there was nothing I could physically do about the outcome of Thursday’s game, I still consider myself a contributor to the tribe of the St. Louis Blues. I support the efforts of the tribe by buying jerseys, tickets to their games, displaying my support in the form of cheers and helping to convince others to join the tribe. The focal point of the tribe may be the 24 men wearing those white jerseys and putting their sweat & blood into the contest - but to neglect the entire prism of the tribe is short-sighted. Without enough support, any tribe would wither and cease to be. This happens in sports all the time when teams fold, or pack up and move to another location in hopes of generating the support necessary to survive. I whole-heartedly believe that there was a part of me on that ice Thursday night, even though it is a part immensely small.)

Getting back to the need for connection - it’s fundamental to our biology. Who didn’t benefit from connecting to the tribe of Neanderthals that figured out fire? You certainly benefitted from the connection to the tribe of your parents and extended family when you were too young and weak to defend themselves from all the bad things that could befall you. I posit that the need for connection is deeply inbedded in our biology and undeniable.

I would be remiss to point out that through membership in any tribe, sports or otherwise, opportunities to be inspired are created. It was my fandom of the Blues that propelled me out of the house to play street hockey with my brother and neighbors, playing as Brett Hull or Curtis Joseph (famous Blues from the early 90’s for those of you not familiar with hockey). Those moments on the streets of Dahlia Drive taught me just as much about life as any book I have ever read. Hockey has been such a driving force in my life, creating countless growth experiences and connections with other members of my tribe. Many of those opportunities blossomed outside the confines of the tribe. (By the way, go read my comic: The Story of the Dahlia Hockey League when you’re done reading this for added perspective on this point)

So in closing: When you see a guy on the other end of the bar cheering and pumping his fists because some guy in a blue jersey on a TV playing in a game thousands of miles away puts a rubber disc in a net - don’t judge him as a fool. Consider for a moment that if he saw you watching that latest cupcake show you love so much, he might just think you’re just as equal a fool.

- Chris

I often ask myself why I bother to write on the internet. Why do I enjoy reading about what friends and other people are doing, making, thinking, etc? For me, the problem is confounded by the fact that there are many millions of other people also doing the same thing. For the first time in human history, the barrier of entry to sharing your voice with the world has been removed for the masses. With this comes the fact that there are so many voices and messages, with a finite time to listen to them. So we filter. We follow people we know and/or like, we check out blogs, websites, tumblrs, RSS feeds, magazines that cater to the carefully curated interests that fit the mold we desire ourselves to fit into. Which brings me back to my starting point: why write when only a handful of pelople are (probably) going to read it?

And I guess that’s ultimately what held me back from writing more, sharing more. Everytime I think a thought, read something profound, or have some realization that I feel the need to share - the introvert in me harkens to the fact that nobody really cares. Many people don’t have the means to even hear the message over all the noise.

Sometimes I take a quick look down the road anyway, but abandon it quickly on the advice of the introverted critic. Other times, I’ll travel down the road a for a while, naive in the conviction that my blog entry, piece of art, board game design, etc…is vital to the world and must come to frutition. Yet often, I appease that critic yet again. I can’t say that these projects are stopped by a fear. Melancholy on the reality of all that noise might be a better term to use. As a project comes into clearer focus, it becomes easier to see that the idea itself is imperfect, deeply flawed, or not the game-changer I originaly tought. Especially when I compare it to so many daily works of brilliance our race creates on a daily basis.

Lucky enough, I can be stubborn sometimes - and for all those deleted blog entries, half-finished sketches, unfinished prototype games on the shelf - projects do get finished. Each one means a lot to me, regardless of how few copies are sold, or the critical perceptions of others (even those of you close to me). I have such a sense of pride when I look at Sick Day, Stray Thoughts, Epigo, Upwards In Fall. They always stand as reminders of why I create. Why I NEED to create.

Back to writing, back to the fact that I’m posting this on a tumblr. One that is followed by less than a dozen people, who probably won’t even get this far into the post. I understan, because they have a hundred more facebook updates, reddits, txts, and e-mails to “catch up on”, in order to stay connected to their curated personality. I don’t recall who said it, but recently I heard the quote that “you are who you pretend to be” - and those words are oh so true. So I’m left wondering, who am I pretending to be? Why do I feel the uncontrollable urge to share this with whomever might listen?

Earlier today, I read a quote from the Bhagavad Gita - and ancient Indian text that I plan on reading very soon…as it keeps being referenced in many of the books I have read recently.

“The world is imprisoned in its own activity, except when actions are performed as worship of God. Therefore you must perform every action sacramentally, and be free from all attachment to results. … You have the right to work, but for the work’s sake only. You have no right to the fruits of work. Desire for the fruits of work must never be your motive in working.” - Bhagavad Gita

For me, this passage has a profound impact. It’s a way of seeing this whole problem of creation and sharing that I hadn’t considered before. Write for the sake of writing, draw for the sake of drawing, express yourself for the sake of…you get the point. Sure it may be one voice amongst a growing delugs of voices - another set of 1’s and 0’s on some unknown server many miles away. But it is in the action itself where my world is purest. The moment that I spend writing these very words are all the reason I need. To throw them out would be an insult to the sacramental nature of creating them. It would be to deny the conditions of the universe that creates them.

So who do I pretending to be? I am a man walking down a spiritual path, full of road side opportunities to create, share, witness, read, learn. There are rest areas along the path to sit and contemplate all of these things that. To deny myself the urge to put my true feelings to paper (regardless of my style of writing or the limitations of words), would do a disservice to the thoughts and feelings that are true to who I am.

Whether one person or a million people read this - I can no longer concern myself with. I write this to explore who I pretend to be.

- Chris

My cat…

Has never barked incessantly while my neighbor was on a conference call

Has never peed in the middle of a sidewalk

Has never kept half of my street up at 2am because she was nervous her owner wasn’t coming back

Has never bit a stranger walking past it on the street

Has never given someone an allergy attack in a subway car

Has never eaten garbage off the sidewalk and gotten sick

Has never disobeyed a “no pets” sign in a restaurant

Has never required me to be home thrice daily so it can relieve itself

Has never fouled the inside of a taxi

Has never been tied up and left alone on the street outside a convenience store

My cat has always been better than a dog