Welcome to Boardgameness!

Hello! My name is Donovan. I am a husband of a beautiful, intelligent, and incredibly patient woman and the father of two awesome boys. As I'm sure many guys do, I enjoy spending time with my family. There are certain activities we do together, like running, throwing the Frisbee, hiking and backpacking, and visiting museums and landmarks. I like doing these things, but my favorite activity to do with my family is playing board games. Initially, I started out with Balloon Lagoon, Sorry Sliders, Monopoly Deal, and Ticket to Ride, but we have stepped gradually into progressively more demanding games, such as Agricola, Core Worlds, Puerto Rico, and 7 Wonders. Yes, we play what hobbyists call "European board games," which is about what I will write for this blog.

As we go, I will explain more about European board games, especially the increasingly blurry dichotomy that exists between Euro games, which was considered heavy with mechanics, and American games, which are often regarded as thematically-driven games. However, I want to start off by stating simply that my intent with this blog is to bring family and friends together over a table where they are face-to-face, interacting without the assistance of a computer or mobile phone. My goal is to win back families and friends through board games. Now, there are an innumerable amount of game review sites, blogs, vlogs, podcasts, books, and other resources out there.

Yet, what I have found lacking is a blog that not only reviews board games with families in mind, but also reviews games with a critical eye towards elements that I don't consider "family friendly," such as graphic violence and blood, harsh language (i.e. profanity), and the depictions and innuendos of adult themes, such as sexuality. If anything, I play games with my family to create a relatively safe environment of competition and strategic thought development; I don't want to bring in much of those elements into game time and then have to explain them away.

Fair notice to you, the reader: I am a Christian, so many of my opinions are shaped by my beliefs. You are welcome to disagree. Believe it or not, though, I feel that I have opinions that uniquely my own; for example, I think that there is a role for certain kinds of violence in a game, such as warfare simulations. After all, I believe that we are called to stand up against tyranny and injustice with strength and purpose; sometimes, warfare is necessary to defend one's borders or the peace of citizens within those borders. Of course, over time, I will elaborate. In any case, I always invite disagreement, but I will not respond to trolling or slander. Respectfully stated dissent is fine, but debasing others is not fine. I hope you enjoy this blog.

God bless, and happy gaming!