BGS Member Spotlight is our way of saying thank you to top contributors in our Facebook group. These are the people who step up to help others with questions about games and provide other input that makes our community great.
Nick is from the far western suburbs of Chicago. He started gaming early, and has great memories as a child playing Fireball Island and Thunder Road with his parents. However, the original Nintendo came out and consumed the majority of his childhood in terms of games. Twenty years later, he returned to the world of tabletop due to the digital implementations of Carcassonne and Settlers of Catan; both, believe it or not, discovered through Xbox Live. Nowadays, he rarely plays video games and his consoles are collecting dust. Nick is a genuine Carcassonne fanatic; collecting all versions and expansions. He doesn’t limit himself however, and has dabbled in everything from Magic the Gathering to all varieties of tabletop games.
Do you have a favorite game or game mechanic?
Tough call on just one, but my favorites are deck building, tile placement and tableau building.
Which games hit your table the most?
Okay, going for extra victory points here with some bonus titles. Right now with friends its: Clank! (all versions), Cottage Garden, Fidelitas, Best Treehouse Ever, One Deck Dungeon, Pencil & Powers and Welcome to DinoWorld. With my kids and family: Fireball Island, Go Nuts for Donuts, Karuba, Potion Explosion and Herbaceous.
Do you have a “dream game” that doesn’t exist, but you would love to play if you did?
I’d die for some games in the Transformers Generation One universe. A Marvel legendary style deck builder would rock. Can you imagine the battles between Autobot vs Deception battles? Makes for a perfect co-op mode. A smaller Hero Realms or Star Realms like deck builder would work well too. The icing on the cake would be a campaign style game. Transformers: Gloomhaven or Near and Far: Cybertron would be Epic wouldn’t it? Choose your own adventure style would work perfectly with the franchise.
Do you have a grail game, one that’s nearly unattainable, and if so, have you acquired it yet?
Fun question. A grail game that I have in our family game stash is Fireball Island. My father-in-law, god bless him saved their family copy for over twenty years and now we are the stewards of it. My kids love playing this game as do my wife and I. Sure its roll and move and a bit of luck, but it keeps you on edge and tension builds. I finally squeaked out a victory last weekend over my kids. A grail I wish to have someday with all expansions would be HeroQuest. Sadly, I did not have the opportunity to play it as a kid, but would love get it to the table. Fantasy games are right up my alley and that would fit the bill.
What do you like best about the BGS Deals group and if you have purchased games through those links, which one was your best find?
This group fits me to the “T” as I’m a deal shopper through and through. The thrill of the deal hunt you know. The community contribution aspect also makes this a great group. When I see one, I do my best to notify the group. I also love talking to folks on current deals to learn if the game might fit my play style. It’s the perfect place and time to learn about a title I’ve never tried and learn about other people experiences before taking the plunge. As far as best find I’ve had recently was The Godfather from CMON. BGS, saved me a bundle on that one, no joke! Then earlier this year I got New York 1901 for free back on the Amazon day earlier this year. Can’t top free!