Julia’s arrival made a difference

With a background in psychology, and a current pre-occupation with price-modeling in Germany, Juliane was in town recently. She learnt English just a few years ago and I was grateful for her surprisingly fluency. It’s not very often that I meet someone genuinely excited by board games. She insisted on playing through each game, not

content with a token exchange of moves. Insatiably she moved from game to game, quickly grasping the rules and earnestly playing to win. Happier still, after trying a raft of games, Juliane asked to play Quarto again. And again!
Sadly, the Gigamic games are never in stock. Instead, I persuaded Juliane to buy Othello (Funskool) at the store — readily available and a sure-shot classic. Delightfully, she was as keen as I, to try the game immediately, rather than wait till she was back in Germany. Set up took a few minutes at the restaurant. But the food arrived too quickly to play. A little later, we played in dim light cast by a distant street lamp at the beach. Fabulous! She got the hang of it immediately, and despite a flight to catch in a few hours, insisted on playing through to the bitter end, and a terrible rout where most of her white coins flipped to my black!
Finding quick-witted and passionately engaged opponents is a critical part of enjoying the many wonderful games available today. Juliane spotted Karo from Dr Wood at the store, and thought it looked interesting. As it turns out, Karo is spectacular. She would have loved it. A deceptively simple game (three variations in this case), that involve getting four in a row, moving all your pieces to the opposite side, and being the first to get your pieces off the board. In the first of the variations, the game board is dynamic, making it an extraordinary experience. A few hours of Karo is essential this Sunday. Fortunately, I am in excellent gaming company with Usha and Neha, and will have mastered the game by the time I meet Juliane again!

—The author may be contacted at arup_kavan@yahoo.com [1]