Just to get things out of the way - an introduction

hey all !

welcome to the official website for the Push.Ur.Luck.Podcast ! ( shall hence forth be known as P.U.L.P )

just wanted to kick off my first post with a slight introduction and then i can start bombarding the site with nonsense and what not. :P

well, since you are reading this, i suppose you already know that i am a board gamer ( was going to say avid but erm, i dont really get the chance to play that often. i'll let Eric take the tag as avid gamer ).
and really, boardgaming is my number one hobby. my number two hobby would possibly be SCUBA, but that i havent done in nearly 3 years. *sad face*


Younger Days / Getting into the Hobby

i starting gaming in 2007 when i stepped into a board game cafe ( locally known as Mind Cafe ) for a friend's birthday and got introduced to party games such as Balderdash and Pig Pile.
and during that same year, i walked into another board game cafe ( locally known as Settlers ) with my secondary school friends and then got to learn Bang!, Saboteur, and Ca$h & Gun$.

that's pretty much when it all went downhill ( or uphill if you would like )
the game that really drew me in was Ca$h & Gun$.
it was a smashing good time just pointing Styrofoam guns around and bluffing and calling others' bluffs. it is a simple mechanic with great props that till this day ( 6 years later ) still brings a smile to my face and one that my friends still enjoy immensely.

i subsequently made it my first board game purchase and it remains in my collection with no intention of ever letting it go.

well, in actual fact, i did board game quite a bit when i was a teeny weeny boy. i played Cluedo a whole lot when i was about 9 or 10 years old. i loved it in all its forms, board game and card game alike. i even played it by myself a few times ( how that worked i really dont know )
and of course, i also grew up with the game everyone possibly grew up with - Monopoly.

i did dabble with Magic the Gathering together with my brother when i was 14 or so. my brother was 17 then. it was pretty fun too. the deck building aspect was interesting and the vast differences in the card types and abilities were pretty fascinating.
but broke as we were, we only played it for a year or two, which, on hindsight, is certainly a blessing in disguise. i cant imagine having to spend monies upon monies for that game right now.
just a side note, my bro had a kick ass goblin deck then. and if i ever go back into Magic, i think i would try to create that just for nostalgia sake. not sure how effective a Goblin deck would be in the Magic circle these days.


Right here, Right now

well, back to present time, i'm still in the hobby, more so than i was in 2007.
in fact i think right now is when i am most into the hobby. some would call it the peak.
i started very slow, very. like, in 2007, that was it, 2 trips to a board game cafe.
2008 - 2009 possibly saw me gaming once in 2 to 3 months.
2010 was a turning point for me when i joined the meetup group here in Singapore, and then i managed to get my gaming fix nearly twice a month. Woo Hoo !
and till present day, i guess i would safely say i am able to game on a weekly basis. which for me, is a real joy and to ask for more is maybe being slightly too greedy. would i play more ? sure ! but i would like to have some balance in life.


Game Collection

looking back at my early years' game purchases, most of them were bordering the party game line
( Ca$h & Gun$, Bang!, Saboteur, Time's Up )
i had some surprising choices too like Galaxy Trucker and Snow Tails. most of which no longer are in my collection. Ticket to Ride came slightly later but has stood the test of time.
but right now, well, things have changed pretty quickly.

i'm not really an Euro gamer nor an Ameritrash gamer. i dont really like to classify someone under those 2 terms to begin with.
i just find that my taste skews more towards games that are Thematic, Quick and Easy to teach, and plays faster than 3 hours. i love games with tough choices and multiple paths to victory that are distinct and balanced. and of course, i love games that have a Push Your Luck element to it. i'm not a gambler in real life, but put that game in front of me and i will test my luck till Kingdom comes. ;)




well, thats possibly all i would like to share to begin the site and my first post.
too much and i will have nothing new to talk about in the upcoming months. :P

hope you got to know more about me ( if you were even interested in the first place ) and hopefully you will stick around as Eric and myself talk about the games we play and our thoughts & opinions on them.

until then, happy gaming !







Handsome*
Awesome*
Jonathan


* none of it is true, but i just love saying it. heh