But you are not a Gamer!

Ok, I get it. So why would I write a piece of content about board games when I am the least qualified person at Funtails to talk about games?

Well, I wanted to introduce myself, share my first steps of getting interested in games, and talk about the joy they can bring to your life.

In the spirit of play, I turned this article into a treasure hunt for you! You will find a quiz towards the end of this blog. Those who complete the quiz have the chance of winning one of Funtails’ Games! But before you jump ahead, bear in mind this blog includes various clues to the answers.

Am I a Gamer?

Before I joined Funtails as the marketing manager, one of the interview questions was: “Are you a gamer?” The honest answer was “erm, well, yes and no!” (tip for you: this is not a good answer for an interview!)
As a child, I played board games with friends and family, such as (the never again to be mentioned classic games) Monopoly, Cluedo, Connect 4, Scrabble, and had more recently played Catan as well. One of my all-time favorite games was the rather unknown game Whot (not heard of it? I’m not sure any of my friends have either).

WHOT is the national card game of Nigeria! … “WHOT?”

I can recommend playing Whot, and I will be again soon because my father has found the pack of cards I used to play with, and they are on their way to Germany.

Whot was a great game I played with my grandparents on a Saturday evening. It became surprisingly competitive but brought the family together after days of gardening, cooking, and den building—generally creating fond memories of laughing around the living room table after dinner. These happy memories are stuck in my head until today, all because of games!

Anyway, I didn’t feel like I could claim that “gamer” badge, but something was drawing me in.

I failed to mention that, on the same day I received the response to my job application, I was In Edinburgh, and had just returned from a tour in the Highlands.

I was excited. Maybe all those photos I had been snapping had not been in vain, because I had been looking at Glen More II: Chronicles and Highland Games and wanted to send some images in my reply (I may have done that). It wasn’t just the games and Scotland that drove my excitement. I had done a fair bit of research on Funtails and found several reasons to be happy about being considered a candidate.

Why did I apply at Funtails?

That childhood entry to the board game world, and the rekindling of that joy experienced during a recent game of Catan did not make me “a gamer”-especially not when compared to Steffen’s decades of working in the video game industry, or Hans’s global successes as a professional TCG player. But when researching Funtails, I had seen a lot of values reflected in the company that attracted me to what they do and how they seem to go about it.

I won’t write about what a company or prospective candidate should be or do, but I will say this, Funtails treated me as a person, not a number. The website is full of information about the “crew” (No, I am not there yet, “Hello, my name is Tom!”). I had been doing a short internship at the Discworld Emporium, and I felt Funtails reflected many things I liked about the people there. Everyone seemed included. The details of the games looked like a lot of effort had been made to create something that would make people happy. When reading about Funtails games on other websites, that didn’t change. The community seemed to reflect a similar feeling.

I can’t wait to get to know the board game community, and since I started talking about board games with friends and family, I have discovered that some of that community has been right in front of me for years!
Just a heads up to all the board gamer friends who seem to have been hiding these fun-filled boxes, I know who you are and where you live. Should I bring snacks?

A bit about Tom

Writing this feels like walking into a gym full of professional athletes while eating a pastry.

My name is Tom (Thomas, if I am in trouble) and I am the new Marketing Manager for Funtails.

My other hobbies include photography, films and animations, jigsaw puzzles (Wasgij in particular), and finding and cooking new foods (if you are not in Germany, I recommend a trip).
I love taking photos, live music, and exploring new things and places. My superpower is opening jars that don’t want to open. I have a guitar but keep forgetting to learn how to play it, and I love things made from glass (fiber optic cables are pretty handy, but colorful handblown glass is stunning).

Since starting, I have talked to many of the interesting people on the Funtails team. They even had me test a game in development (spoiler: It featured cute animals running a diner in a tree). Playtesting filled me with imposter syndrome, but it was a tremendous amount of fun. I realized all of these life lessons I gleaned from childhood games are still kicking around in my grey matter; maybe I just forgot I was a gamer? Perhaps I should point out I have never fed anyone to a Kraken before (to my knowledge), but if I ever need to, I will have practice now!

I am looking forward to getting some friends around a table and diving deep into Glen More II: Chronicles, Feed the Kraken, and the upcoming Caral board games; as all of them seem to have captivating gameplay.
If you have any hints or tips for jump-starting my gaming expertise, please reach out and tag on social media. I am not so close to the sea, so a message in a bottle might take a while.

Some people have already been sharing and asking questions on Funtails’ Facebook, and I would like to share what I have learned and discovered. As a result, to do this, I will be regularly including little bits of information and sharing people’s questions and answers in this blog.

What did I learn from people this month?

Question from meeplebrain: “Does Glen more II: Highland Games come with Kilted Meeples?”

Kilted Meeples from Glen More II Highland Games

Answer: Yes! and no. The “not officially Meeples” (keep reading to find out why) in Glen More II: Chronicles and Glen More II: Highland games come with an array of kilted outfit stickers for your little Scotts.

This question got me thinking…

Where does the word “meeple” originate?

According to My Kind of Meeple, “Meeple” was first referred to in the game Carcassonne by Klaus-Jürgen Wrede, the author of our upcoming game Caral, which is currently in the pledge manager stage, where you can still join the backers in case you missed it on Kickstarter.). BUT! The “Meeple” story is a little deeper and was coined during a game evening, whilst referring to a combination of the words “my” and “people”. The term is so widely used now it is even in the Oxford English dictionary. “MeepleTM” has even been trademarked!

Klaus-Jürgen Wrede’s first board game on Kickstarter

The second bit of trivia I learned from this inquiry is that Caral is Klaus-Jürgen Wrede’s first-ever board game on Kickstarter.

Quiz / Treasure hunt

To enter this competition, all you need to do is write your answers in the comments section on the Facebook post for this blog. Make sure you have liked the Funtails page so we can contact the winner. You must answer all of the questions thoroughly and correctly. We will include all the best answers (fun and correct) in the raffle and announce the winner next week. The winner will receive a free Glen More II: Highland Games copy. Highland Games has been extremely popular, so this is your perfect opportunity to secure your copy for free before the expansion sells out.

Questions

1. In the picture below, what is the name of the building and where is it located?
2. What links this place to Funtails?
3. Which Funtails game is your favorite?
4. Which game did Tom play with his grandparents?
5. Which game was Klaus-Jürgen-Wrede’s first game launched on Kickstarter?
6. Who from the Funtails team is featured on the Smuggler card in Feed the Kraken?

There are clues in the content and links of this blog post. Good Luck!

Hints:

1. It is one of the first public parks in its country.
2. The monument has been “under construction” for 200 years.
3. This place is on a Unesco World Heritage site.