My aunt at a family BBQ said board games are just for kids now

We were grilling in her backyard in Fresno last weekend and she saw my copy of Gloomhaven in the car. She laughed and said, "You still play with little plastic pieces?" I tried to explain the 95 hour campaign and legacy mechanics, but she just shook her head. It hit different because she used to play Monopoly with me as a kid. Made me realize how much the hobby has grown up while some people's view of it hasn't. Anyone else have a family member who just doesn't get it?

3 comments

3 Comments

jake18924d ago

Man that's so real. My dad still calls my game shelf the "toy box" and it drives me up the wall. He saw me setting up a game of Scythe once and asked if it was a new version of Risk. Tried to explain the resource management and area control, but his eyes just glazed over. It's wild how they remember the simple stuff from when we were kids but can't see how complex the games have gotten. Feels like talking to a brick wall sometimes.

taylor_hayes2519d ago

Ugh, tell me about it. My own dad saw my copy of Gloomhaven and called it a "fancy coloring book" because of the map tiles. I tried to explain the campaign system and he just nodded and asked if I'd fixed his gutters yet. Laura_black31 has a point about them trying to connect, but man, it's rough. Sometimes I just lean into it. Now I tell him I'm going to play with my toys, and then I spend four hours running a complex euro game economy. Let him think I'm pushing little plastic cars around.

laura_black3124d ago

Parents just have a different frame of reference from their own childhoods. My mom still asks if I'm playing with my "little men" when I paint miniatures. It used to bug me, but now I see it as her trying to connect in her own way. Maybe your dad comparing Scythe to Risk is his attempt to understand something new by linking it to something he knows. The glazed look might just mean it's a lot to take in at once.