I’ve always been a fan of board games.

I remember playing – and loving – Candy Land and Chutes & Ladder when I was a real little kid.  Later on – still pre-teen – my favorites were Stratego, Twister, Monopoly, Life and chess.   Stratego was the best … I still play it via a phone app called “the General.”

When I was in my late teens and 20’s, I became a big fan of Risk.  I really liked the battles, strategy and premise:  conquer the world!  I’d play this with my friends for hours which is literally how long it takes to finish it.  Grammy HATES this game!

When your Mom was a little girl, we’d play a wide range of board games, but her favorite was Mall Madness (which I’ve since introduced you to).  It was right up her alley… “There’s a sale at the Fashion boutique and a clearance at the Department store.”  Be the first player to buy something at four different stores and return to the parking lot!

In the 1980’s, a unique board game was launched called Dark Tower.  I bought it and couldn’t get enough.  It’s a battle game, but unlike traditional board games, it featured an electronic Tower that automatically kept track of each player’s assets (food, warriors, weapons, gold) and managed ongoing battles and supply purchases at the Bazzaar.

The object is to take your warrior, go around the board through four kindgdoms and return back to your original home location, while winning battles (sometimes losing) and accumulating three keys. 

Once back in your home kindgdom, having accumulated a big enough but well-fed army, you launch a final attack against the Dark Tower brigands having first solved “the riddle of the keys.”  If your warriors defeat the brigands, you win the game.

Around Thanksgiving, I taught you and Camden the basics and we played for awhile.  But you had to leave before we finished and you guys were NOT happy about it.  I promised to play with you again soon and finish an entire game. I told you to get in touch with me (“you never call me,” I said) so we could set up a Dark Tower get together.

The following weekend, I got a text from your Mom’s phone – I thought it was her, but I found out later it was you – reaching out to set up a game day at my house.

“that was me texting you Papa!”

The next day I picked up you, Emma and Molly late morning and soon we were engaged in a Dark Tower adventure. You caught on quickly – it’s a fairly complicated game with 40+ pages of instructions – and we moved around the board.  You really enjoyed the battles (which is the only way to win gold and keys), the ongoing sound effects and strategy. We were both disappointed every time the Dark Tower randomly “cursed” us, giving some of our warriors and gold to the other player!

Nearly two hours later you had assembled a large enough army to attack the Dark Tower and fight the brigands.   Luckily, you had enough Warriors to battle successfully, and as the countdown continued (“27 brigands, 27 warriors… 25 warriors, 24 brigands… 24 brigands, 23 warriors… 23 warriors, 20 brigands… and so on) you finally were announced the Dark tower winner as the monitor displayed a warrior holding a sword above his head.

Here’s a photo of you and me taken by Emma during the game.  We had lots of fun and I hope we get to do it again soon.