Settlers of Catan

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I love games! I grew up playing Nertz, Pit and Rack-o but my all-time favorite game was Monopoly. I could play it all day, everyday if only someone would play it with me. Unfortunately, I was rarely able to rope someone else into playing it with me which I believe has led to this deep-seated, subconscious, unsatisfied need to play marathon-type strategy board games with anyone who will have me. Maybe if I had the time to play every day, I might be able to work this need out of my psyche but since my time is in short supply, I may just have to live with this strange addiction and satisfy it when I can. Over the years, I've instilled a love of games in Zach that rivals my own but time is still an issue. Last week we found the deal to end all deals on EBay and Zach bought 3 Settlers of Catan games with their expansion packs.

We've only played this game a handful of times in the past but it's very addictive and fun so we were very excited when the games finally arrived in the mail. As usual, my week was crazy so I couldn't even sort through the boxes with Zach, much less play the games, but Zach found plenty of ways to play without me.

With neighborhood friends. . .

. . . with imaginary friends. . .

. . . and even Gloria got in on the fun.

I finally had some free time last night and we played one game that was a combination of all three games (Settlers, Knights and Cities and Seafarers) and it took us 5 hours before I barely beat him by 2 points. We were both bummed when it ended and probably could have played for another 3 hours.

I'll be getting another "fix" on Friday night with my very own Catan Party at the church. It should be excellent therapy!