How Board Games Helped Me Make New Friends

Making friends as an adult is tough. When you're in college, you're in an environment that lends itself to connections. It's easier to meet people your age who share your interests. As an adult working full-time, I've had to make more of a concerted effort to connect with people. I have made friends at work, but it is different to meet people completely outside of any context you have like work or class.

I've mingled in some social meetup groups in my community recently and have made some awesome friends in the process. When we hang out, we typically have game nights where we play different card or board games together as a social activity for our small group. It's been a fun way to help get to know each other and just have fun outside our normal routines. While I was not one to play a lot when I was younger, board games have helped me solidify my first adult friendships, and I'm eternally grateful for that.

Some of the games that my friends and I play have been Cards Against Humanity (a common favorite), We Didn't Playtest This At All, Geek Battle, Man Bites Dog, and various others as well as just other random card games that some of us know of that we use a regular deck of playing cards for. It's been a lot of fun to discover new games like these since board games are experiencing a bit of a Renaissance now it feels like. Games like these just help us put down our phones and interact with each other through a simple and fun activity. Some of the games are mindless fun, others are competition based. A bit of friendly competition though is never a bad thing!

I highly recommend exploring this world of board games with your friends, if they're old or new, you can find a fun game to engage with. There are so many different types now that you can definitely find something you'll enjoy.

Thanks for stopping by!

What I'm Geeking Out About This Week - 10/03/14

Welcome to another edition of my week in geek!

Hey everybody, here is what is going on in my world lately!

• The Color Run

My partner Jenn and I completed The Color Run here in Bangor, ME this past weekend, and it was a blast! The run is 5K that has a great energy and a overarching theme of positivity. There is color galore, awesome jams, and great people all around. I'm not a runner by any stretch of the imagination and the run has a great vibe that is about the fun of the event and not about the competition. There are no winners and you can run or walk. They do events all over the country and even are going international. I highly recommend checking it out and you can see a few pictures of the event on my Instagram!

• Drunk History

I was perusing Hulu the other day and stumbled upon Comedy Central's Drunk History, one of its many solid new programs like Broad City, @midnight, & Nathan for You. This show has a simple premise, they get a friend drunk and they make them describe a historical event, to obviously humorous results. The catch is that the drunken stories are reenacted exactly as they are told by famous actors. You have to see it to truly appreciate it but there is a solid slate of episodes available from the show's two seasons (it is also coming back for a third season next year). The show was also originally on Funny or Die, so there is a whole other swath of episodes posted there to check out. As a history major and one who appreciates absurd comedy, this show is perfect.

• Cards Against Humanity

I've been playing this game with friends for a while now, and it is always a fun, fresh, and crazy time. I just got the fourth expansion and look forward to getting the recently released fifth expansion as well as a '90s theme pack that I had no idea existed (check the site for details on all the expansion packs). It's a simple card game like Apples to Apples where one player puts down a prompt and everyone else puts down their best answers but with a little more absurdity and crassness than it's more family oriented counterpart. It's a great way to get friends laughing together when you have a large group and I look forward to getting some more board games to share as great party activities.

Thanks for stopping by!