Chapter 0 - Before it began?

I’ll start with some back story. As a teenager I was an avid video gamer. In matter of fact I still play video games today, although not as much as before. Going through my teenage years I was comfortable playing 5/10/15 hours per day, without suffering too much for the little sleep that I’ve got. There was even a period when I was playing Rust with a group of friends, and we were playing like 15-20 hours straight, sleeping 3-4 hours and then playing another 20 hours. Well that was at least 6 years ago, but I still remember those days with a smile. It was peaceful, calm, relaxing and at the very same time exciting and exhilarating.

As time passed by, I didn’t have time to play, because I started working as a lecturer in the University where I studied programming myself. There were many sleepless nights that I’ve shared with my colleagues, just to prepare a lecture. For months and even years, I didn’t have time to play even a single hour of video games. And that period was fun, but it kind of sucked at the same time. I was still a gamer and wanted to play games with friends. Then one night a colleague of mine said something along the lines of “Want to play Catan with us?” and I was like - “What is Catan?“. That is when it all began…

Chapter 1 - The Beggining

As you can guess, that game was called “Settlers of Catan”. One of the most popular and well-known board games. That night I’ve read and learned the rules because no one knew them. We played, I’ve had fun, although I have no idea who won the game. A week later we played again. This time with us, there was Ventsi. The best Catan player that I know up to this day and one of my best friends. Back in the day however, I thought I knew the rules and got into a bit of an argument with him. We were arguing about the village placement rules and now that I think of it - it was pretty fun. I was 100% sure that I’ve read the rules correctly and I was right. He was also sure about his point and we made a bet for 20 lev (BGN - Bulgarian currency). So I opened the bulgarian rulebook and he opened the english one. It turned out that we were both right - at least about that we read it somewhere. Of course I couldn’t and I didn’t want to argue with the english rulebook, because it was obvious mistake in the bulgarian rulebook. Ventsi won the bet and the game that night. Later on I’ve learned that he has the game and all expansions for it. He wasn’t a “board gamer” back then, but he certainly knew more than me, so I was learning some board game names from him. I remember he was telling me that he has heard, that “7 Wonders” is a good game, and he really wanted to try “7 Wonders Duel”. A month or two later, for Christmas I got myself 7 Wonders Duel. I’ve played it with him in the office the same day and we loved it. At this point in time, we have quit our jobs as lecturers and were working in a development company together. A few nights later I was with a few friends in a board game bar in Sofia. This is the point where I introduce you to Valio and Raly, another 2 of my best friends. With them that night I’ve played 7 Wonders for the first time. It was so similar to 7 Wonders Duel, yet so different. After the first game ended, we immidiately started a second one. I don’t remember if there was a third. I loved it way more than I could ever like Catan. Another few days went by, the year ended, and as I gift for my birthday, I’ve received 7 Wonders. We’ve played it a few times.

Chapter 2 - What Happened?

A month or so went by. It was 8th of February and Me and Ventsi decided to go to a local game shop - boardgames-bg. That decision was the one that really started everything. The shop was full of colorful boxes. Big and small. Cheap and expensive. It was like a dream come true. It reminded me of the days before Steam. Like a child I was going with my best friend to video game stores and we were picking with hours. Good thing that we didn’t have enough money, otherwise we would probably buy all of the games. In the board game shop I felt the same way. That evening I bought “Blood Rage” and Ventsi got “Terraforming Mars”.