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Mi CASA Es Su CASA SPOT THE DIFFERENCE CHALLENGE: Sarah Jane Photography Mamma Mia Pizzeria Coney's Cookies Visual Guide to Fairy Gardens Art Speak: Go to Learn! FREE Apr2012 Decatur Gamers Featuring: The Decatur area’s handiest Events Calendar

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Page 1: Decatur Gamers - files.meetup.comRole playing games - Dungeons and Dragons, Hollow Earth Expedition, Mutants and Masterminds, Savage Worlds, Pathfinder Fantasy-style games - Munchkin,

Mi CASAEs Su CASA

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE CHALLENGE: Sarah Jane Photography

Mamma Mia PizzeriaConey's Cookies

Visual Guide toFairy Gardens

Art Speak: Go to Learn!

FREEAp r 2012

DecaturGamers

Featuring: The Decatur area’s handiest Events Calendar

Page 2: Decatur Gamers - files.meetup.comRole playing games - Dungeons and Dragons, Hollow Earth Expedition, Mutants and Masterminds, Savage Worlds, Pathfinder Fantasy-style games - Munchkin,

april 2012 | 1514 | april 2012

I don’t want to dignify the stereotype, but I also want your attention. So let’s knock down some misconceptions: The “gamer” in Decatur Gamers isn’t a euphemism. It isn’t a secret code for Dungeons & Dragons or Magic: The Gathering. Both games are part of the larger Decatur Gamer schedule, but they are also confined to their nights on the calendar. When considering open game nights, the word “gamer” is code for people who play games. Here’s how open game night works. Visit decaturgamers.com to find a date and time that works for you. Then arrive at the specified location at the specified time, and play an available game. That’s it. If you want to play Monopoly or Risk, bring your copy along. You might get a game going, but you might find yourself playing one

board games, can evoke intimate moments of your childhood. It might be off-putting to think about the unchecked competitiveness of knock-down, drag-out games of Monopoly with your siblings or Sequence with your parents, juxtaposed against re-playing those games in public with people you barely know. You might be surprised to know, however, that not all games are competitive. In fact, you can choose from many cooperative games. For example, in Forbidden Island, players must work together to retrieve a treasure chest and then get off a sinking island safely. “There are actually a lot more ways to lose to this game than there are to win it,” says Wells. Open game night is also not a euphemism for a tight-knit group who

of the challenging games brought by a regular member. There are board games, strategy games, and war simulation games. You can wage war along the entire Eastern front of World War II if you’d like, in the aptly titled, War in the East.Another misconception to confront: gamer is not code for a maladjusted man-child living in his mother’s basement. “As a kid I played sports and went outdoors, says Jeff Wells. “We played board games if it rained.”“I was really into sports as a kid,” says Steve Sanders. “I played soccer. Baseball too, but mostly soccer. I still coach soccer. I work for the school district. We just blend into society, and you can’t really tell who are gamers and who aren’t.” Sanders has been coming to the open game night since its second night, about three years ago.The idea of playing games, especially

DecaturGamers

words: Todd Hauser photos: Alida Duff Sullivan

continued on page 16Some of the Decatur Gamers' tools of the trade: 20, 12, 10, 8, 6 and 4 sided die.

Cards from Poo - the Card Game, a fast-paced game for two to eight players. Each player takes on the role of a monkey

and the winner is, how do we put this, the cleanest.

Reprinted with permission from the Thrive Entertainment Guide. Layout from “Decatur Gamers” by Showcard Studio, Issue #35. Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.

Page 3: Decatur Gamers - files.meetup.comRole playing games - Dungeons and Dragons, Hollow Earth Expedition, Mutants and Masterminds, Savage Worlds, Pathfinder Fantasy-style games - Munchkin,

april 2012 | 1716 | april 2012

will exclude you because they know the rules forward and back and don’t have time for n00bs. Of the twelve people gathered, three were there for the first time. Open game night is usually an opportunity for people to try out a new game they’ve just bought, which means everyone at the table is learning to play at the same time. “Once we had to restart a game five times because we kept getting it wrong,” says Kathleen Dudley. While the Decatur Gamers hosts four open nights of games, they also have game-specific events sprinkled through their calendar. That’s how Bob Jonquet found himself at his first open game night. He joined Decatur Gamers to play Pathfinder, an extension of Dungeons & Dragons, but on this Tuesday night, he finds himself playing BANG, a strategy based on a

Monopoly, Risk, Yahtzee, Scrabble, Othello, Trivial Pursuit.Popular board games you may not know - Blokus, Bananagrams, Pictureka, Apples to Apples, Fluxx"Euro Style" games - Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride, Agricola, Puerto RicoRole playing games - Dungeons and Dragons, Hollow Earth Expedition, Mutants and Masterminds, Savage Worlds, PathfinderFantasy-style games - Munchkin, Descent, Red Dragon Inn, Talisman, Killer Bunnies, LootMiniature wargames - Warhammer, Warhammer 40K, Warmachine, The Lord of the Rings, Flames of War, Axis and AlliesCollectible card games - Magic: The Gathering, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh

western cowboy theme. What struck me most was the lack of hipster attitude. No one looked down their nose at The Game of Life or Sorry, and the regulars were happy when games they’ve been playing become popular. “It’s really fun to see Settlers of Catan becoming mainstream and, in some ways, the new Monopoly,” says Sanders. Decatur Gamers meet for their open game night the last Tuesday of the month at the Godfather’s Pizza in the Airport Plaza near Route 36 and the second Thursday of month at Wildflour Bakery. They also meet on the first Saturday of the month in the Salvation Army Community Center and have a standing date at the Decatur Club on the third Wednesday of every month. TYPICAL GAME NIGHT GAMESClassic board games - Sorry, Life,

Decatur Gamers continued from page 15 Decatur Gamer Ben Williams playing

LEGO Heroica, a game of building and adventuring.