Long post...

Hmmm...it seems as if many people in the gay-oriented subs often recommend to join a board game group in response to "how/where to meet people?"

I am 64, American-born and raised, but my family didn't seriously or regularly gather for board game nights, or even any card games. I kinda regret that. We just watched tv, or I stayed in my room watching tv, whether growing up or even when I moved home for a couple of years after college while searching for a decent job.

Are board games especially big in America? Hmmm...well, my cousin in Canada liked to play cribbage with her dad when we went over for Christmas dinner.

Sure, we occasionally played the Old Maid card game as a youngster, Candy Land, Bingo or I played Twister, Life or Trouble with friends. Never Monopoly. But nothing with any strategy.

I enjoyed table-top hockey with those rods controlling the players up and down the "ice" when I was 10-15 years old, or even an air hockey game we had for a couple years in adolescence before losing interest. My friend's dad bought him 2 professional pinball games which was fun whenever I went over to his house as a teen in the 70s to watch those early years of Saturday Night Live.

Oh, and my mom bought Scrabble when we were in junior high/high school, and my brother and I sporadically joined her -- but my dad never played any games, period. But we didn't play high-level competitive Scrabble.

In college, my roomie introduced me to backgammon, and I even played with a friend occasionally over summer break in college...but I wasn't playing with any strategy, just rolling dice and hoping for the best. Wouldn't even know the basics anymore.

Oh, and I don't know how to play any card games or poker.

My mind seems to freeze when playing more serious games, and I seem to get stagefright (?) when needing to quickly make decisions on strategy in front of others. So I simply shy away from them.

Certainly no knowledge of chess! And I wouldn't even know how to play checkers anymore, whether with an 8 year-old or a peer.

I have lived alone for years and just read online newspapers and local news sites while listening to music or news, or often local and national talk radio, whether sports or general news and current events But these activities are passive and don't expect me to think and make decisions, especially in front of many others. So I don't even get a chance to engage with others playing strategy games or cards.

But it seems fun to get together for game nights with fellow gays, whether classic board games or cards or poker, right?

Do many gay males even play poker? Hmmm...it deems mostly for strsight guys?

Anyone relate? Perhaps mainly loners would relate, especially if they kept to themselves when growing up,even in the household with family, so never developed most of these game skills?

Or maybe you're experienced and even proficient at these games and enjoy them, but have no interest nowadays in joining others for them?