seenontabletop:

When I first heard about International Tabletop Day, I was very excited. Every day I typed the postcode of my nearest city into the page and was thrilled when I found an event listed. Growing up in regional Australia meant that I wasn’t exposed to gamer culture growing up - as an adult living in a city means there are opportunities to find other like-minded people and to share the joy of gaming with friends and family.

But when the date drew near I realised that International Tabletop Day was on Holy Saturday. I couldn’t attend the big function I was so excited about. The Easter Holidays have always been spent at my parent’s house in a small coastal town. And this Easter was going to be a particularly difficult one. My father passed away suddenly and unexpectedly in December, just before Christmas He was only in his early 60’s, and seemed healthy. His death has devastated our family, especially my mother. She has really struggled to come to terms with his death. There have been a lot of challenges in the past few months, especially with my younger sister leaving for a semester studying abroad in America just three weeks after Dad’s funeral. So this Easter would not only be spent without Dad, but without my sister as well.

The rest of the family all headed down to Mum’s house for Easter. I wondered what could be done to make it less of a gloomy occasion. Inspiration struck - International Tabletop Day could still be marked. After dinner everyone sat around the dining room table and played Fluxx. It was suitably chaotic (I was the only person who had played Fluxx before) but soon everyone was laughing and groaning when the rules got more and more complex. Even though Mum had never played the game before, she won every game but two. I hadn’t seen her laugh so much or so hard since before Dad died. It helped bring everyone together for something joyous, a fitting was to pass the Vigil before the joys of Easter Day.

So thank you, International Tabletop Day, for helping make our first Easter without Dad that little bit easier.

I’ll be right back. I have something in both of my eyes.

seenontabletop:

Do you love Settlers of Catan? Do you love Star Trek? Well have the best of both with Star Trek Catan. Right now it’s a four player game but I hope they develop expansions for it. This picture was taken after I had won the game. Great fun!

I can not overstate how great this game is. I was skeptical, but it’s way way way more than Catan in cosplay. If you like Catan, you’re going to love Star Trek Catan. You don’t even have to like Star Trek, but it helps.

seenontabletop:

My 8 y.o. doing his best Wil as we prepare to start our Descent (2nd ed.) campaign.  We have it set up on our DIY game table that is built in underneath the dining surface (best. wife. ever.). Also pictured is our homemade dice tower.  My wife calls me a Martha Stewart of geek.  

Playing games has become a big part of our family and social life, and I love seeing it celebrated here! 

seenontabletop:

Whew that was close! We found the final cure before our last outbreak on Pandemic!

The best games of Pandemic are the ones that are won or lost on the final turn.

seenontabletop:

I’m not sharing a photo just to show off my small but growing game collection. I’m posting a picture of the collection to point out to the game companies that when TableTop first came online, I had only half of these games dust-covered and hibernating in a closet.  Now we have regular game nights with family and friends and have even gone to game nights at a local comic store.  Yes, some of the “classics” still do not get played often but the gaming bug has bit and we are starting to figure out what games we really like and are trying more and more.

So, to the game designers & publishers, make sure to support TableTop and make sure they get a second season.  It’s been a great thing for my family and I am sure many more.

Games purchased directly influences by TableTop or bonus videos/comments include: Ticket to Ride & expansions, Munchkin and many many expansions, Dixit, Gloom, Forbidden Island & Star Fluxx. Indirectly by TableTop due to increased gaming and looking for a local store include Civilization & expansion, Descent 2nd Edition, Poo, Nuts, & Sequence.

So, please support a second season and thank you to everyone who makes such a cool show.

seenontabletop:

Homemade brains tokens for Zombie Dice inspired by Tabletop

geekandsundry:

Chez Geek Gag Reel!

seenontabletop:

Great way to celebrate New Year’s in Alaska! Defeated the mythos in Arkham Horror with four expansions, five players, eighteen points. Take that, Cthuga!

Fun as a long game that is still a one shot to play with family and friends as they visit for the holidays. I first played this visiting family overseas - and it was worth taking up some of the tour time!

I love this game so much. If it didn’t take 3 hours (when it’s quick, more like 5 in reality) to play, we’d put it on Tabletop.

Yes, a 900 dollar table and Lalaloopsy playhouse would go great with Roborally. Thanks, Amazon.

seenontabletop:

When I first found out from Wil’s twitter that he was going to start a web show about gaming, I was incredibly happy. I watched them religiously and shortly after the casual games episode (Tsuro, Zombie Dice, and Get Bit) aired I had begun dating my girlfriend. She wasn’t really a gamer in the same sense that the show pushed for, she was a bit more of a video game geek who didn’t like to show her colors too often.

When I would hang out with her at one of our apartments, I would sometimes be watching the newest episode of Tabletop, which she became interested in. She is a long time TNG fan and thought that a show hosted by Wil would be worth watching. I think I got her hooked when we watched the episode with Ticket to Ride and Munchkin. The gaming bug was starting to bite and I even bought her the book “Confessions of a Part Time Sorceress” to help infect her more with tabletop gaming.

I’m just going to say that it worked. We now are a part of a fairly large gaming group that meets on Fridays. We started off playing Pathfinder and Munchkin, though we used my old, beat up copy of Munchkin (a third print copy that has seen at least ten years of wear and tear), and we also played other games, like Pandemic, Fluxx, Gloom, Say Anything, and Settlers of Catan.

I’m happy to say that the gaming bug has definitely settled into my girlfriend, and we can’t wait for new episodes of Tabletop to expand our gaming catalog.