Most of us have a cherished item — something that means more to us than its face value. Many people choose to take this love a step further and start a collection of these items, whether for monetary value or sentimental connection. The most common collections are of stamps, coins, dolls — list the goes on.
One of Choate’s very own collectors, Mr. Dan Proulx, who teaches TK subject, though, has something a bit more unique: a board game collection. The collection itself wasn’t begun with any kind of intention. “I just liked games and started buying them,” he said. “I bought more, and now I have quite a few.” Mr. Proulx also owns a variety of video games, but he said the main focus of his collection is board games, simply because he has more of them.
Most of his board games, Mr. Proulx said, probably aren’t worth a whole lot, though he does have a card game worth quite a bit. “[It’s] a trading game called ‘Magic: the Gathering’ that I played when I was young. [The cards] got really expensive. So I have a Magic: the Gathering card that’s worth a couple thousand dollars.”
And that is just for a single card. He explained that his entire collection “is probably worth a couple thousand dollars.” For something as basic as a board game, that’s a lot of money, but Mr. Proulx finds the high price counterproductive to the purpose of games. He believes board games should be played, not tucked away to collect dust. “It’s so ridiculous. Little pieces of cardboard that people are meant to play with should not cost that much.”
He might not collect board games that are worth a lot of money, but they make up for the lack of monetary value in sentimental value. Mr. Proulx found it very difficult to pick out his favorite board game. “There’s been such a renaissance in gaming; it’s not just Monopoly and Clue. There is a board game for all different times: one versus many, everyone against each other, teams of people against each other, cooperative board games, board games that almost don’t have a purpose, but are just experiences.”
Eventually, Mr. Proulx managed to settle on a current favorite. “It’s hard to say which is the best, but in terms of game play, and accessibility, and depth, I really like Mysterium,” he said. Mysterium is a cooperative board game designed by Oleksandr Nevskiy and Oleg Sidorenko that is set in the 1920s. It is a combination of murder-mystery and card-based guessing.
Mr. Proulx also mentioned that a perennial favorite of his is Citadels, just because I like what’s called the wine in front of me.” If you’ve ever seen The Princess Bride, you might recognize this concept. In “Citadels,” players take on new roles each round to represent characters they hire in order to help them acquire gold and buildings. Mr. Proulx cites a main reason for his enjoyment of the game as “that notion where there might be an obvious choice, but someone does the opposite to trick you, maybe they thought of that, so maybe they do the opposite again. That’s not the point of the game, but it’s a fair bit of the game which is pretty cool.”
Over the years, Mr. Proulx hasn’t lost any of his passion for games and hopes to continue to grow his collection. “New board games are coming out all the time, which is awesome. I mean, I have a game in the mail right now called Wingspan,” he said. In Wingspan, players play as bird enthusiasts and discover and attract the best birds to their network of wildlife preserves.
Mr. Proulx doesn’t exactly think his board game collection itself has a deep meaning. Games, to him, are simply ways “to have fun, engage with people, get people out of their shells, try new things.” He encourages students to partake in his hobby. “If you ever want to play a game or have a game recommendation, just ask me,” he said. “I have games for almost every occasion.”
