Agent Palmer

I recently came across the this little thing on Facebook called “15 games in 15 minutes.”

The rules: Don’t take too long to think about it. 15 games you’ve played that will always stick with you. List the first 15 you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. Tag fifteen friends, including me, because I’m interested in seeing what games my friends choose.

I’ve decided to do this here on my blog and as such, I won’t be tagging anyone, but I will also be able to give a little explanation as to why I chose what I chose. This list is as follows:

1. Magic: the Gathering
2. Risk
3. Quake
4. Civilization
5. Diablo
6. Dungeons and Dragons
7. The Legend of Zelda: Windwaker
8. Skies of Arcadia
9. Colonization
10. Wolfenstein 3D (Wolf3D as I knew the file name to be)
11. Middle Earth
12. Rummy
13. The Game of Life
14. Chess
15. Fantasy Sports (Specifically Baseball)

Up first was Magic: the Gathering. This was the game that got me into gaming, I played is recently with a friend and it defined a large portion of my adolescence, so it’s no wonder why it was the first game I thought of.

Next up, is Risk, the board game of world domination. If you’ve ever won a game or two, your friends tend to gang up on you. I’m fairly adept at adapting to being outnumbered, but sometimes, you’re just not strong enough. On a fair playing field, this game can be epic, but on an unfair playing field, against well known opponents, you’re in for a marathon of gaming.

The next three games, Quake, Civilization and Diablo, really got me into digital gaming. I can’t tell you how many hours I’ve spent on each respective game in my youth, but the number must be quite substantial. I enjoyed Quake’s deathmatch to Doom’s, Civilization and Diablo were game changers in their own rights, and when they came out, I was primed to play them.

Number six is Dungeons and Dragons. I would have said role-playing games, but I expected that the rules of this little challenge was to be specific. I haven’t run through a campaign in many years, but the memories of the campaigns of my youth remain with me to this day.

The first video game system I ever owned was a GameCube. I was given a computer running DOS back in the days when NES was big, so I only played those games at friends’ houses. The 3rd game I ever bought for my GameCube was The Legend of Zelda Windwaker and it was amazing. I had played Zelda games before, but not owning the system meant, I never could really get into them.

The second in-depth game I bought for my GameCube was Skies of Arcadia: Legends and I loved it. I had seen it in its original form on DreamCast, but not having the system, I couldn’t really get into it, but, come on, we’re talking about air pirates! Blue Rogue for life!

Number nine is a little redundant. It’s the game Colonization, a spin-off from number 4 Civilzation, but it’s a little different. Instead of world domination, you’re looking to colonize the new world and for some reason, I played the game many many times.

The first real computer game I ever really got into was by mistake. For some reason, my middle school had Wolfenstein 3D on their computers and having been given a computer instead of an NES, I knew how to find the game and how to play it. I spent a lot of time destroying the Nazi’s and getting to the end and killing Hitler!

Number 11 is the second collectible card game on the list. It’s Middle Earth, the first Tolkien inspired card game and having been a huge Magic: the Gathering player and Tolkien fan when it was released, I just couldn’t resist learning it. It was fun, but never really caught on, luckily for me, the game also had solo rules, so when it didn’t take at my local store, I was able to play the solo campaigns.

For number 12 I’m going old school with Rummy. It was a family game, I played with my mother and my grandmother, but I hesitate to say it was 500 Rummy, because rarely did we stop at 500. It was more like 10,000 or 20,000 Rummy. In fact, I still play with my mother from time to time.

The second board game clocks in at number 13, The Game of Life. I don’t know why it was so captivating, but we played it an awful lot when I was younger, usually making fun of each other for having that second or third kid, even though at the end, those kids were worth money.

The third board game on the list is Chess. I’m glad I thought of this, because it would have been one of those games that looking back at the list, I would have wanted to add. Chess is classic and someday I’ll own one of those really ornate sets, because I really one, but I’m just not sure which one. The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars themed Chess sets look amazing, but I only really want to own one set, so until I make up my mind, my old beat up plastic set will have to make due.

The last game on the list is Fantasy Sports, but assuming I have to be specific, I chose the one that started me off, baseball. I don’t play with money, I just play for fun, which is why I classify it as a game.

That’s it. That’s my list. 1 RPG, 1 card game, 1 online game, 2 video games, 2 collectible card games, 3 board games and 5 computer games.

Looking back on the list would I change anything? Maybe the order, but other than that, I think I really hit my past gaming on the head. There are a few video games that I played that are surprisingly not on the list, like Animal Crossing, Super Smash Bros, Dragon Quest VIII, FIFA, Madden and MVP or All-Star Baseball, and one board game I missed, Stratego, but I’m not ashamed of the list and it only took me 10 minutes to come up with it.

I stand by my list, try this little challenge and see if you’ll stand by yours!