Grab your pins – here comes genius

Amongst my life goals – best friendship with Kate Middleton. We’ll play Monopoly, and I’ll ensure she slums it.

While renovating, board games were a distant ideal – things for people with excesses of wine and perfectly patched walls and ceilings. Having the time – and the table – to play them would certify all the ugly stuff was complete. (Otherwise, “Paolo! Want to play a game!?” was a tricky way of asking whether he wanted to roll paint or cut in).

We have eleven board games – one for every month of Vancouver’s rainy season. Shoved in one of our two closets, it meant we had a Clothes Closet and a Board Game Closet… sorry, shoes. A 700-square-foot apartment should have no such thing – not unless Yahtzee’s your greatest mortal pleasure.

And Yahtzee actually sucks. I wouldn’t keep clothes I used this infrequently… how could Uno (and dos, tres, to diez, and once) earn free rent?

The stack:

• Monopoly in English
• Monopoly in Chinese
• Uno
• Jenga
• 2x unused DVD quiz games
• Outburst
• Taboo
• Scattegories
• 2x Trivial Pursuit versions

For starters – out went the DVD games… we didn’t even like them. (Or Paolo did, until I ruined the sports edition by shouting WAYNE GRETSKY!!!!! at every turn). Some games are classics for a reason, and something tells me DVD quiz shows won’t hold up like my Cold War edition Trivial Pursuit  (where every answer isn’t Gretzky but is Khrushchev). The set of games were last seen headed off down an alley with a man and his shopping cart. I hope he’s winning.

And we were winning – our closet back! Next – the ugliest, duplicate version of both Monopoly & Trivial Pursuit went camping in the prettier box. (We kept only 1 board per game & the extra pieces and cards easily fit). I dragged the rest out to the kitchen table, and began dissection. Outburst, Scattergories, Taboo, Uno, and a few packs of cards.

Ruling law of board games: no matter which box you open, you’re going to have to open a second or third to find a timer, a die, or a tiny pencil. Especially if there’s an aggravating bi-fold closet door in the way.

Guys? Brilliance struck. Check it ooooout.

Parker Bros got better packaging – a tiny wooden box my parents gave me. We actually use our games now – you’ll never notice them, but they’re right behind the couch. No need for an entire rainy Saturday – just the 20 minutes my attention span allows.

Sneaky and pretty… the two traits Kate looks for in a future friend’s board game storage.

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Photo credit to JD Hancock (top photo) and Patrick Q (2nd photo) via Flickr Creative Commons. And loads of credit to PAOLO for the bottom two photos.