Gaming spouses support

[cktc]

You guys, DH has spent a good 30 minutes rolling dice. When questioned, he said he has a tournament Saturday, he'd be remiss not to. When I finished laughing, he informed me the guy who runs his group took a micrometer to his dice. Are they all this crazy?

[justme]

Oh dear lord. Not spouse, but I've only dealt with video gaming roommates. My sympathies with you because I'm not sure I could not laugh my ass off at someone testing rolling dice. I mean isn't the whole point they're equally weighted so there's nothing you can do?

Fwiw I would yell at my roommates to stop yelling at animated things when they got to serious about a game.

[billisonboard]

Gaming spouse's support

My ex did this to me all the time.

[azucena]

cktc - thanks for starting this as I dropped the ball

I couldn't help but laugh picturing him practicing rolling the dice or vetting the dice or whatever he thought he was accomplishing.

I can relate because I find dice everywhere around our house - luckily our kids are way past the toddler years because some of them are tiny.  I can sort of get needing to have different varieties by face count (ie. 6, 10, 20, 25, whatever counts they come in).  But after that, I don't see the need for all of the color varieties, material varieties, and I about lost my sh-t over the dice footstool that one of his friends bought for the kids.  It's only allowed in the basement.

He also has what I call a dice rolling tower that one of his friends had 3d printed - basically you put the dice in and shake them and they tumble out the bottom.  You know, kinda like the cup accomplishes in yahztee, but he didn't seem to like that comparison.  And then if his own 3 towers weren't enough, he got the girls each one in pink and purple.

[TheOtherMe]

Jan 24, 2019 22:36:19 GMT -5 cktc said:

You guys, DH has spent a good 30 minutes rolling dice. When questioned, he said he has a tournament Saturday, he'd be remiss not to. When I finished laughing, he informed me the guy who runs his group took a micrometer to his dice. Are they all this crazy?

Yes.  Ex used to measure the dice.  

[cktc]

Jan 25, 2019 10:02:28 GMT -5 azucena said:

cktc - thanks for starting this as I dropped the ball

I couldn't help but laugh picturing him practicing rolling the dice or vetting the dice or whatever he thought he was accomplishing.

I can relate because I find dice everywhere around our house - luckily our kids are way past the toddler years because some of them are tiny.  I can sort of get needing to have different varieties by face count (ie. 6, 10, 20, 25, whatever counts they come in).  But after that, I don't see the need for all of the color varieties, material varieties, and I about lost my sh-t over the dice footstool that one of his friends bought for the kids.  It's only allowed in the basement.

He also has what I call a dice rolling tower that one of his friends had 3d printed - basically you put the dice in and shake them and they tumble out the bottom.  You know, kinda like the cup accomplishes in yahztee, but he didn't seem to like that comparison.  And then if his own 3 towers weren't enough, he got the girls each one in pink and purple.

What on earth is a dice footstool? Is it for storage? 

The 3d printed dice tower sounds hilarious too. 

[azucena]

Jan 25, 2019 10:15:48 GMT -5 cktc said:

Jan 25, 2019 10:02:28 GMT -5 azucena said:

cktc - thanks for starting this as I dropped the ball

I couldn't help but laugh picturing him practicing rolling the dice or vetting the dice or whatever he thought he was accomplishing.

I can relate because I find dice everywhere around our house - luckily our kids are way past the toddler years because some of them are tiny.  I can sort of get needing to have different varieties by face count (ie. 6, 10, 20, 25, whatever counts they come in).  But after that, I don't see the need for all of the color varieties, material varieties, and I about lost my sh-t over the dice footstool that one of his friends bought for the kids.  It's only allowed in the basement.

He also has what I call a dice rolling tower that one of his friends had 3d printed - basically you put the dice in and shake them and they tumble out the bottom.  You know, kinda like the cup accomplishes in yahztee, but he didn't seem to like that comparison.  And then if his own 3 towers weren't enough, he got the girls each one in pink and purple.

What on earth is a dice footstool? Is it for storage? 

The 3d printed dice tower sounds hilarious too. 

It's this 2 feet by 2 feet sturdy foam regular dice that's probably meant to be used for yard games or something that one of the nerd herd thought would be cool for my kids to have.  Did I mention it's an obnoxious shade of blue?  When I try to remove it from the house, they find it and say but Carl gave that to us.

[azucena]

For Christmas, I got DH two embroidered hand towels off etsy.  The embroidery is one of the bigger dice and it says roll the dice to determine your fate.  They were DH's favorite gift, and I think he sees it as supporting his hobby. 

My secret motivation was that with a cool towel, he will be more likely to make sure it's hanging in the basement bathroom.  You don't want to know how often I've gone down there to discover that there is no towel.  It only really gets used on game night, but still ew, ew, ew.  It's been a month and one of the towels is always up so far.  I saw one come through the wash, and he must have put up the second in the meantime.  So, my plan is working mwahahahahaha.

[shanendoah]

cktc - ooh, what tournament?

I'm probably not the best member here, as I am also a gamer. C and I have both been gaming since elementary school. We met through gaming. He used to own a game store with a friend of ours. Dice are the easy part. They are small and can be stashed in many places. And they come in really pretty colors, so they can be piled in empty vases or glass containers and be used for decoration purposes.

Miniatures, on the other hand, miniatures are the current bane of my existence. We just put together a $600 Ikea storage cabinet this weekend with the intent that it will hold about half the miniatures.

And then there are the cards. C has finally agreed that we don't need to keep all million+ (sadly, not exaggerating) L5R cards from the old CCG. I think we're going to be reducing down to only a couple thousand. But there's still the Magic, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-O, Harry Potter (in French), and MLB Showdown cards to deal with, too.

[cktc]

Jan 25, 2019 11:24:24 GMT -5 shanendoah said:

cktc - ooh, what tournament?

I'm probably not the best member here, as I am also a gamer. C and I have both been gaming since elementary school. We met through gaming. He used to own a game store with a friend of ours. Dice are the easy part. They are small and can be stashed in many places. And they come in really pretty colors, so they can be piled in empty vases or glass containers and be used for decoration purposes.

Miniatures, on the other hand, miniatures are the current bane of my existence. We just put together a $600 Ikea storage cabinet this weekend with the intent that it will hold about half the miniatures.

And then there are the cards. C has finally agreed that we don't need to keep all million+ (sadly, not exaggerating) L5R cards from the old CCG. I think we're going to be reducing down to only a couple thousand. But there's still the Magic, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-O, Harry Potter (in French), and MLB Showdown cards to deal with, too.

It's just a localish x-wing tournament. He dabbles in Magic but he is pretty obsessed with x-wing and has spent upwards of $2k on them so doesn't really want to invest in other games right now (thank God!)

His miniature collection is insane. We've talked about getting some glass storage shelves for them, but haven't yet. Let me know how the Ikea one works out.

[shanendoah]

cktc - X-Wing is cool.
The Ikea cabinet is a storage cabinet, not a display. It will be housing bins filled with miniatures and some card binders. We have Warhammer, D&D, Star Wars, and Hero Clix minis that I know of off the top of my head. Probably others too. (Most of this comes from owning a gaming store and not being willing to give stuff up. We don't play Hero Clix. We never did more than demo Hero Clix, and yet, boxes and boxes of minis...)

[billisonboard]

Jan 24, 2019 22:36:19 GMT -5 cktc said:

You guys, DH has spent a good 30 minutes rolling dice. When questioned, he said he has a tournament Saturday, he'd be remiss not to. ... Are they all this crazy?

But it is so embarrassing when you keep missing the table when you roll. Best to practice in private ahead of time. Also working to establish the stamina to roll the dice for an extended period of time is important.

[sheilaincali]

The Hubs used to xwing (and war machine and war hammer and....) you get the picture. So many freaking models and painting supplies floating around my house. I can't remember what he plays currently. I know he goes to the store regularly to play Gloom Haven but that's not all he plays. His bestie owns our local game store. They asked me to draft up a plan for a new design and layout to the shop (I have a bachelor's degree in Interior Design). My hard work will earn the Hubs store credit to buy more game related "stuff". I'm not anti gaming but for pete's sake- enough is enough.

Every time he texts me to say "last round, I'll be leaving here in 30 minutes" I automatically double or triple that time. If he's home less than 2 hours AFTER he said "leaving in 30" I'm impressed

You have my sympathy.

[cktc]

Jan 25, 2019 12:26:01 GMT -5 sheilaincali said:

The Hubs used to xwing (and war machine and war hammer and....) you get the picture. So many freaking models and painting supplies floating around my house. I can't remember what he plays currently. I know he goes to the store regularly to play Gloom Haven but that's not all he plays. His bestie owns our local game store. They asked me to draft up a plan for a new design and layout to the shop (I have a bachelor's degree in Interior Design). My hard work will earn the Hubs store credit to buy more game related "stuff". I'm not anti gaming but for pete's sake- enough is enough.

Every time he texts me to say "last round, I'll be leaving here in 30 minutes" I automatically double or triple that time. If he's home less than 2 hours AFTER he said "leaving in 30" I'm impressed

You have my sympathy.

Yes! So much this! We have jobs and family. Hobbies don't get to be top priority. If he could strike a better balance I'd be happier that he has such a benign outlet.

[azucena]

Jan 25, 2019 12:18:49 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

Jan 24, 2019 22:36:19 GMT -5 cktc said:

You guys, DH has spent a good 30 minutes rolling dice. When questioned, he said he has a tournament Saturday, he'd be remiss not to. ... Are they all this crazy?

But it is so embarrassing when you keep missing the table when you roll. Best to practice in private ahead of time. Also working to establish the stamina to roll the dice for an extended period of time is important.

See this is where if you had a dice tower (no idea what the gadget is really called) all of these problems would be solved.

[azucena]

Jan 25, 2019 12:41:32 GMT -5 cktc said:

Jan 25, 2019 12:26:01 GMT -5 sheilaincali said:

The Hubs used to xwing (and war machine and war hammer and....) you get the picture. So many freaking models and painting supplies floating around my house. I can't remember what he plays currently. I know he goes to the store regularly to play Gloom Haven but that's not all he plays. His bestie owns our local game store. They asked me to draft up a plan for a new design and layout to the shop (I have a bachelor's degree in Interior Design). My hard work will earn the Hubs store credit to buy more game related "stuff". I'm not anti gaming but for pete's sake- enough is enough.

Every time he texts me to say "last round, I'll be leaving here in 30 minutes" I automatically double or triple that time. If he's home less than 2 hours AFTER he said "leaving in 30" I'm impressed

You have my sympathy.

Yes! So much this! We have jobs and family. Hobbies don't get to be top priority. If he could strike a better balance I'd be happier that he has such a benign outlet.

Amen sister!

It's not even the jobs - it's the family time.  Which of course he tries to "compromise" by including the girls.  That does help some as long as the girls are remotely interested but at the same time, I'm leery of letting them get to into it because there doesn't seem to be a middle ground between a gamer and a GAMER.  It becomes obsessive and there is never enough stuff and always something more to buy.

[gs11rmb]

Jan 25, 2019 11:40:27 GMT -5 shanendoah said:

cktc - X-Wing is cool.
The Ikea cabinet is a storage cabinet, not a display. It will be housing bins filled with miniatures and some card binders. We have Warhammer, D&, Star Wars, and Hero Clix minis that I know of off the top of my head. Probably others too. (Most of this comes from owning a gaming store and not being willing to give stuff up. We don't play Hero Clix. We never did more than demo Hero Clix, and yet, boxes and boxes of minis...)

I promise I'm not being snarky!  Why are you (or he) keeping this stuff?  I could understand if you wanted to display a collection but to have thousands of items just stashed in storage bins seems a little pointless.

[billisonboard]

Jan 25, 2019 12:50:26 GMT -5 azucena said:

Jan 25, 2019 12:41:32 GMT -5 cktc said:

Yes! So much this! We have jobs and family. Hobbies don't get to be top priority. If he could strike a better balance I'd be happier that he has such a benign outlet.

Amen sister!

It's not even the jobs - it's the family time.  Which of course he tries to "compromise" by including the girls.  That does help some as long as the girls are remotely interested but at the same time, I'm leery of letting them get to into it because there doesn't seem to be a middle ground between a gamer and a GAMER.  It becomes obsessive and there is never enough stuff and always something more to buy.

There is always booze and boys if they don't get obsessed with gaming. Just saying.

[cktc]

Jan 25, 2019 12:50:26 GMT -5 azucena said:

Jan 25, 2019 12:41:32 GMT -5 cktc said:

Yes! So much this! We have jobs and family. Hobbies don't get to be top priority. If he could strike a better balance I'd be happier that he has such a benign outlet.

Amen sister!

It's not even the jobs - it's the family time.  Which of course he tries to "compromise" by including the girls.  That does help some as long as the girls are remotely interested but at the same time, I'm leery of letting them get to into it because there doesn't seem to be a middle ground between a gamer and a GAMER.  It becomes obsessive and there is never enough stuff and always something more to buy.

Exactly. I only mention jobs because that already eats into most of our time (and a lot of his friends don't seem to have that problem). What's left for housekeeping and family time with two working is minimal. DH is chomping at the bit for DS to be old enough to game. Hopefully I can instill enough love of outdoors, art, and travel to balance it out a bit. 

[shanendoah]

azucena - I think there is a middle ground, because I think I am in it. I grew up on D&D. I met C playing vampire LARP. I don't play WarHammer (or most mini games), but I do play board games that often come with their own amazing minis. It is a culture I enjoy, but I don't need to have everything, just enough to play and enjoy myself. But I am also not hugely competitive, which is why I don't do most of the mini games, so I then don't need to have everything in order to win. Though when I was playing the Star Trek CCG, oh, did I want everything.

gs11rmb - I don't think you're being snarky, and it is a point of contention with C and I. At first, we didn't do a lot with it because it wasn't all ours. His partner in the game store had stored a lot of it, but then he got a job in Canada, and couldn't take it with him, so it came to our house. For a long time, there was a thought he'd end up back here, in a house again, and we'd figure out redistribution. But, that friend has continued to take international jobs, and it looks very much like he'll be settling permanently in Sweden, so he's not going to come get this stuff.
The other problem (and this is a bigger problem) is that C is a borderline hoarder. If he thinks something might be useful, he hates to throw it away, and he doesn't want to give it to someone who will just then turn around and throw it away.
After years and years and years of carting around the L5R cards (which were the combined collections of at least 7 people), he is now willing to pare us down to just enough copies of the cards to actually make decks and play. I managed to get rid of the "koku" (basically the UPC codes, which you used to be able to send in to get special items) a couple of moves ago.
And he is looking at the miniatures and trying to figure out what is worth something and what isn't. He's going to try and sell some of the stuff on ebay.
Part of the issue is that the previous two houses had good storage, extra large garages, basements, etc, so this stuff could be kept out of the way. The new house does not have good storage, so he's kind of confronted with it in a different way, as he tries to organize the library/game room. It is resulting in him working on getting rid of at least some of it.

[gs11rmb]

Good luck shanendoah!  Do you think the collection is actually worth some money?  I know your finances have been stretched lately so if your husband could spend his time selling things on ebay then not only will the collection be whittled down but it could provide some monetary breathing room.

[shanendoah]

gs11rmb - It's really hard to say if some of these things are worth money or not. Some of the L5R cards we had were very rare, and used to be worth a lot of money, but the recent release of the new L5R Living Card Game (as opposed to the Collectible Card Game, which is what we have) seems to have devalued those cards significantly.
Warhammer minis are an odd bunch. Games Workshop is constantly releasing new rules and new minis to keep their revenue stream going, so a lot of the older things we have may not even be tournament legal anymore, but if they are old enough, or were expensive at the time they were out, meaning not many people have them anymore, collectors could easily pay a lot for them.

We did get hundreds of dollars for some unopened booster boxes for Yu-Gi-Oh (I think that was the game), some years ago. We sold those with express permission of the friend, who said it was his way of paying storage. So it is possible.

[azucena]

My husband is a collector too (not quite hoarder level), and I think his being able to purchase these fun items makes up for being dirt poor as a kid.  He also won't part with much because it's all "worth something".  I doubt that, but that did come back to bite me when he was able to sell a ton of magic cards for $1200 in store credit.  I shudder to think how much we spent on those cards if they were worth that much resale.  He held onto several decks so he's still able to play if he wants too.

Turning that into $1200 of gaming store credit is another whole argument.  He offhandedly mentioned selling some cards and how he could get more if he took store credit.  I said I'd be interested in knowing how much first.  Next thing it's a done deal.  I wasn't happy because I didn't think he should get all of the money since I bankrolled a good portion of those cards at original prices.  I also think it was stupid to get lured in by higher store credit for that much money when gaming stores are notorious for going out of business quickly and this one actually just changed locations (became closer to our house, ARGH).  Anyway that ship has saled, the silver lining being it got some of the cards out of our house.  Another negative was that he proved that his 'gaming crap' (my words) does have value LOL.

[geenamercile]

I want to jump in to this conversation, but we tend to more of a gaming family.  We do go more into the video game aspect, but do have some Yugio cards down stairs.  I am not sure why we keep them, but they don't take up that much room, the decks are still made and sometimes they come out to play.  But there is certainly a difference between something being a family activity and an individual activity and there does need to be a balance. 

[azucena]

I'm not against gaming as a hobby. I did play magic while we were dating 20 yrs ago. I would still play magic if asked. I also like to play board games with my girls - I vastly prefer it to playing pretend which just feels super tedious to me.

I don't find it relaxing to play a new game every single time we sit down to play and it to take 30 to 60 mins to understand the rules. And I hate it when he says this game a is just like game b except for this one rule change...um why do we own both if they are so similar?!

I don't get dungeons and dragons the same way I don't get pretend play. He plays hero's quest with the girls which is like a kid version and they love it. They like to play it on long car rides, and I listen in and can tell they really do like it.

[cktc]

Little happy dance. DH was unimpressed by the tournament he went to so it won't be a regular feature. He was there for like 10 hours and only played 5 of the planned 6 games. He said it sucked the fun out of the game having it go on so long. Also he is very stubborn about not playing the standard tournament lists so he did pretty poorly. He says the dice he vetted rolled quite well though haha.

[azucena]

A geek trivia night at the gaming store has been added to the calendar for March.  I don't even want to ask what makes it geek trivia because that just feels like a conversation where I'll glaze over.

[cktc]

Jan 28, 2019 8:30:56 GMT -5 azucena said:

A geek trivia night at the gaming store has been added to the calendar for March.  I don't even want to ask what makes it geek trivia because that just feels like a conversation where I'll glaze over.

Ha ha, my guess is it's just normal trivia without sports questions.

[Ryan]

Speaking of games, whatever happened to Dark?

[shanendoah]

Ryan - I don't think we've heard from him or Loop on the boards since they left CA. (Or at least, that was the plan I remember.)

We did more sorting of L5R cards this weekend, and came across a display box full of starter packs, 2/3 of them still shrink wrapped. C is trying to figure out what they might sell for on eBay, along with Duel Masters cards (in Japanese), Harry Potter cards (in French and Japanese), and at least one shrink wrapped box of Magic cards (in Japanese). We also appear to have one box of the GIJoe card game.
C also came across a site called D&D for Cheap. He said that guy doesn't know what "cheap" is, as he's looking to sell unpopular, out of print (the rules have moved on) books for more than retail. C's guess - former WotC employee who created the site just to make a significant other happy/think he's trying to get rid of books.