Do you ever wonder about a game while you are playing it.?… Thinking wow, this is so wonderful, I just cannot wait to play again!

Then later that day or maybe that night, you lay in bed, re playing a favorite turn, double checking your approach, mentally refreshing your actions to ensure you did it ‘just so’, perhaps realizing “DOAH”, you played a rule wrong then frantically (mentally mind you, so as not to awaken the significant other (SO)) mentally review rules, your actions, what you think you did….how you think the rule works.

A hand creeps to the edge of the blanket. The SO stirs…mumbling ” Are you ok?” “shh honey its late” you reply.

Things settle down.

You however then think, wow…YES! That is how I break thru, or win or surround or similar! You gracefully and artfully slink from the bed, You had better check this brilliant piece of strategy out in person. Buck naked you tip toe to the bedroom door. Floor boards creak, furniture moves (Hmm, I need to lose weight you think..dam Tofu….) however you leave the room without awakening the SO.

In the command center, naked. A bare bulb above your head you gleefully turn to the task at hand, ignoring the temperature the feel of chair fabric on your butt, the cold of the floor. You check several rules, assess the map once more, double check your stacks. Realign your game partners pieces, he really is such a sloppy player. While you are there you look ahead to the reinforcements for the next turn.

Ha! You have him. You check his schedule….what? 3 turns out the opponent receives what? OVER THERE!!!
No! Your bare knee bumps the table. Pieces fly….Shit.

55 minutes later you to stumble back to bed, weary, deflated. Your stubbed toe throbs. You scratch your ass, flop into bed. Awakening the SO. “Shhh you say. I thought I heard prowlers” It mumbles and takes all the sheets.

You lay awake…re configuring. Re planning. Considering options. Glorious outcomes flit thru your sleepy eyes. But something is wrong.

It will soon be over.

WHAT?

Over?

But.
The Fun. The fun is just starting. Months in the making. The reading, the rules, the background books on e-readers and even hardbacks! Charts sorted, counters stacked, clipped, arranged by arrival and departure time on pre printed custom made sheets. Your freshly printed rules summaries arranged for each player…OVER.

NO.

Over.

Your heart races…then settles. It is ok. We will play again soon. You drift off to a restless sleep.

In the morning the alarm rings seemingly too early. But no. It is right as always. The internet is never wrong. The hasty routine begins. The three S’s whiz by. The commute begins. Your recall your ‘crazy actions’ rather sheepishly. Blushing inwardly. People stare..it is not so inward I guess.

Then it hits you.

BAM. Kapow. Like a shot to the jaw from Batman himself.

Play again? Play again? When? How?

What the hell?

This game is too ‘big’, too much, too…too..an opponent will be hard to find! This wont happen. That would be tragic!

Even Solo you realize the task is too much. New games beckon. Old games demand love. Classics cry for recognition.

This is it. The end is nigh. The last turns, the culmination of play, the climax of interaction of enemies in conflict. About to end in a blaze of gloriousness only you can appreciate.

It will soon be no more.

Resigned. You replay the turns in your mind. Your heart says it will be ok. But your mind knows this game has seen it’s best days.

Your hands and it’s rules shall no longer be one.

Something special was just lost, and found.