Can we play?

It became pretty clear pretty quickly that to fit in with most of the staff at church, we need to learn to play Settlers of Catan. As Toben would say, it's what all the cool kids are playing.

I first played when I went to Seattle for Sarah's wedding. I had no idea what I was doing, but there were enough people around the table and the company was so terrific that I didn't really care that I lost. Badly.

So we invited our friends CJ and Renee and Mike and Patty for dinner last night. (And everyone actually showed up--no crossed wires this week!) CJ and Renee brought their friends JT and Ashley along--they are in the process of moving to Phoenix. And they brought along their baby girl, Azzi, who's only six weeks old. So sweet!

(Toben told me it makes him want another one while we were doing dishes after everyone went home. WHAT?! Don't think that's gonna happen.)

We figured out how to seat 10 people by putting our tables together. It was tight, but it worked great. We could have put the girls in the kitchen at a kids' table, but they wanted to be part of the evening, and who can blame them?

We ate, laughed, drank a gallon of iced tea, polished off a loaf of bread that had just come out of the oven, and had napoleons for dessert. (Recipes and such coming soon!)

Then we gathered around the coffee table to play.

(I have to stop and say that it was Toben's idea for them to bring the game and teach us. My husband who HATES to play games. No cards, no board games, no video games. I was astounded and this proves that even after 18 years of marriage, your spouse can totally surprise you. So keep the hope alive!)

CJ taught us how to play, and then undermined every decision we made. "Are you sure you really want to do that?" See that fiendish look in his eye? He didn't really want to help; he wanted to WIN. (Which he didn't. Shout out to Ashley who won for the first time! We decided we need some sort of a trophy to pass around; I'll have to think about that.)

Poor Mike. He's allergic to cats and forgot to take allergy medicine (oops!) and had to sit next to CJ who yelled at him through the whole game: "Just build something!" And he would have, but kept rolling sevens and losing half his cards.

 

It was so much fun. Something tells me this night will be repeated a lot in the next year. Are you a "Settler"? Is there even a name for people who play this game? Seems like there must be because the people who play, really PLAY. Like all the time.

It was a late night (for us, anyway). But it was worth it to stay up and finish cleaning up the kitchen so I could wake up to order this morning. The girls stayed up late too, so we'll have having our first "one-hour delay" for school today. 

***

Thanks, by the way, for all the homeschool info, encouragement, and wisdom. I'm still way behind on my email--I'll catch up over the weekend.

Comments

[Traci]

We love playing that game! My husband had heard about it, bought it, and it was a hit with all of us, including our 20 y/o son and 18 y/o daughter. =) It's nice because you aren't really competing against the other players, you're just trying to do the best things for yourself.

I know I don't comment very often, but I love reading about your lives every day, and have been so inspired by so many things you've written! Thank you!!

[Lisa in ME]

I had to come out of lurkdom to tell you how much we love Settlers here!!! ;-) My oldest son has been playing since he was about 10 & we just started letting our 8 year old son play too. They love it. We use some of the add-ons (Seafarers which adds in more water spaces & boats plus Knights & Cities which gets pretty complicated but way more fun IMHO). We've even had "Settlers Parties" & to top that - my hubby & his co-workers play the game every Friday during lunch. The one with the most points after an hour wins. LOL

[Kate]

I loooove that game. I've only just learned to play it a couple weeks ago. I have been wanting to play ever since! I am adding it to my Christmas wish list. I think my husband would actually like it too!

[Holly B.]

Fun game! We really like a similar game called Puerto Rico, too.

[Kristy]

I have heard about this game from another blogger friend, but don't actually know anyone who plays it (unless they do but don't talk about it!). I have never even seen it in the stores. But, I wouldn't really be looking there, because my hubby of 18 yrs. won't play board games either! I may have to try this one!

[Angie]

I know I commented about this on FB, but am popping in again to share the Settlers love. And to say that we must have the "old school" game because our box and water pieces look different! When I was pregnant with Emma, a friend was living with us. He worked at the church with us, and I'm surprised I didn't get fired because we'd squeeze in a game of Settlers every morning before heading to work (it made me late!). Man, I love that game!