The other day I had dinner at Snakes and Lattes, an establishment that lets you play board games while you dine for a nominal fee. One of the games that I wound up playing was my new all-time #1 favorite game: Patchwork. A two player game where you compete to build a quilt out of oddly shaped Tetris like pieces while collecting buttons. Believe me, it’s a lot more interesting than it sounds.
This got me thinking though. If someone can make a board game about quilting then surely I could make a game out of something equally obscure, yet close to my heart. A game about antiquing.
Here’s how it would work. Each game would come equipped with multiple game boards depicting various settings where one might go antiquing. There might be a house undergoing an estate sale, an actual antique shop, a garage sale, a junk yard, a local swap meet, etc. Whatever the case may be.
Each of these boards would be littered with random items and players would be tasked with collecting items from an assigned shopping list without going over budget as they navigate their way across the board with alternating dice rolls. The key to the game would be to move about the board as efficiently as possible, to collect all the items on your list before your opponent collects all the items on their list.
Now here’s where things get interesting. Also scattered throughout the board would be certain obstacles. You may be forced to sell an item that you already collected in order to pay one of your bills. Or your opponent may have an opportunity to swap out something from your collection for something that they don’t have a need for. You may even be in a race to be the first to collect an item that you both need. But have no fear. If you pass by one of the conveniently located pawn shops you’ll be able to swap or buy back anything you need.
You’d also have an opportunity to use your creativity throughout the game. Let’s say that collecting a bird feeder is on your list. Instead of trying to collect the actual bird feeder on the board, you could instead find a few other smaller items, and assemble them into a bird feeder. This ability to re-purpose items would be what separates the good players from the great players the way that triple word scores separate the wheat from the chaff in Scrabble.
Would this antiquing game be the Greatest Game Ever? Maybe. Maybe not. But surely it can’t be any worse than the game about gardening that I saw in Snakes and Lattes. In a world consisting of thousands upon thousands of obscure games, perhaps there’s room for one more.
Is a board game about antiquing the Greatest Idea Ever?
Leave a comment