Settlers of Catan and theStory

I was trying to withhold this post for quite a while now. I didn’t think it would ever get to the point. But we are here, and I’m happy we are.

Last October, a few friends of mine from FRWY taught me this game. We played it one time and it was a lot of fun. It sat there at the back of my mind for a number of months and then I decided along with Rachel that we just had to play it again. So we decided that for my birthday, on Oct 06, we would ask for it. So an entire year later, we played it for the second time. Since that day, October 6, 2006, life has been very different for many people here in Sarnia. Settlers of Catan Board Game it is called, and it is building community all by itself. It started with Rachel’s family. We played and played and played, sometimes four games a night (these can run up to two hours a game). We had the expansion pack, so we could get up to six players at once playing.

Then I brought it to the boys at the apartment. I’ve learned a lesson in my life: if I want a trend to catch on, get Darryl hooked. He is so obsessive about everything that people start to follow him in his obsessions. So with him beside me, we started to take over Sarnia. Within a week, we found a few of our friends coming over till sometimes 4am to play this game a few nights a week. Dave, who has played before, our friend Tim myself and Darryl would redefine what it meant to do shift work.

Then we brought in the families. I think I play this game at least 4 nights a week, and I play it with almost everyone. There has been four families that I know of now who have purchased the game, and if I ever need a fix, I know one of them will be playing. I’ve seen mom’s abandon children, husbands sacrifice sex and a community grow out of this that I never thought possible.

Who would have thought that theStory would be partially built on the back of a board game. We even clear the tables after church on Sunday to play a few games. It’s interesting what brings people together. Friendly competition, awesome guacamole dip and 4-6 players at a time could slowly bring a community of people together that I never thought possible. We were worried for a bit about how we were going to build community and get people to know each other, well I think we have found our answer.