Sometime in the 90s, after finishing school, I decided I wasn't playing as many games as I wanted, especially since there were many excellent games being published. So not only did I get into collectible card games for a while, but I substantially expanded my collection of strategy games. While living in Madison, I often hosted gaming at my apartment for my friends. We'd play a variety of games for six or more hours, ordering pizza along the way.

After I moved to California, I started attending weekly gaming sessions at my friend Subrata's house. It took us about a year to play all of the games I owned, and then we started bludgeoning our way through yet more modern games. Also while in California I've started playing Bridge semi-regularly.

Overall, it seems that the most enduring games I've played are The Settlers of Catan, The Great Dalmuti, Magic the Gathering, and the Empire Builder series of games.

I'm also taking advantage of Funagain Games' associates program. If you click on a hyperlink on a game's title or image in these pages, it will take you to Funagain's page for that game, and you can buy it there. If you do so, having travelled there by one of my links, I'll receive a small commission from them for your purchase.

(Links for computer games, however, will take you to Amazon.com, where I'm also taking advantage of their associates program.)

On the pages linked below are many of the games I've played in my life, organized by "category" of game, with descriptions of the game and what I think of them. I also list the publisher of the game, and at the end I rate the game on the simple scale of Great, Good, Okay, Poor, Awful. Any game rated at least Okay is worth playing, I think.

Strategy Games

These are various board games which are strategy-intensive. Although they might involve some random chance, by and large it's the skill of the players which generally determine the outcome. Most modern games fall into this category.

Games which simulate combat of various types, at both strategic and tactical levels, and in both historical and purely fictional settings.

The phenomenon of 90s gaming: Games using a variety of cards which can be collected and traded, and which often become a big money sink for their fans.

The phenomenon of 70s gaming: Players pretend to be characters working through a world designed by the game master. Emphasis can be on combat, winning treasure, acting out characters, or solving puzzles.

Wargames, puzzles, simulations, and other games written or adapted for computer.

Older games like Monopoly and Chess, and newer games like Trivial Pursuit. These games have become widely popular even outside gaming "communities".

Mostly games played with one or more (or even less) standard 52-card decks, although other non-collectible card games may be included here.

Games intended for play by a large group of people, usually to get people talking or laughing in a party atmosphere.

Gaming Companies

• Avalon Hill Game Company, the classic company which publishes games such as Diplomacy, Civilization and Acquire.
• Chaosium Games purveyors of the H.P. Lovecraft-based Call of Cthulhu and Mythos.
• FASA, publishers of BattleTech and Shadowrun.
• Mayfair Games publishes a number of excellent games including The Settlers of Catan and Manhattan.
• Steve Jackson Games, publishers of Car Wars, Illuminati, and many other games.
• TSR Games, publishers of the seminal Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. Now a "wholly-owned subsidiary" of Wizards of the Coast.
• Wizards of the Coast, the gaming giant that developed the collectible card games Magic: The Gathering and Netrunner.

• Pegasus Games, my game store of choice in Madison, WI.

• Bungie Software, publishers of the popular Marathon series of games.
• Cyan, Inc., makers of MYST, the greatest computer game in existence. The sequel, due in fall 1997, will be Riven.
• Electronic Arts, longtime publisher of many fine computer games.
• Maxis, publishers of the popular line of computer simulations, headlined by SimCity 2000.
• MicroProse, producers of popular computer games such as Civilization and Railroad Tycoon.

• The American Contract Bridge League