Strange stranger gaming experience perhaps???

My first workshop of the year - Game designing concepts organized by the school's board games club. First part of the workshop was dedicated to a board gaming session to get everyone familiar with variant game mechanics. It was an interesting gaming session I must say, especially the games were those that I've never tried at the board games cafe & the fact that I was actually gaming with strangers whom I'm meeting for the 1st time!!!

Let's start with the games that I tried for the first time during the workshop:
1) Ticket to Ride
2) For Sale
3) Take 6
4) Dividends
5) Cartagena

The more interesting part of the gaming session was the human interaction during the session. We gamed with people whom we don't even know at all...Used to think that it was possibly not comfortable or uneasy gaming with people you don't know...because you don't know each other well enough to play strategies with or against unlike with friends. Also probably less fun since people tend to be more polite and reserved with strangers or unfamiliar acquaintances.

Well, my thinking was proven to be way wrong during the gaming session. I guess it takes one gamer to click with another gamer - *grins* Right from the first game, the human dynamics was way beyond that that I could imagine; enjoyed ourselves while we played to the best of our possible abilities each move, be it getting our wins or sabotaging others.

It was equally just as fun gaming with these new acquaintances as with friends. I guess perhaps these people were just keen board gamers like myself =D

Second part of the workshop, we learnt elements of a game & designed our own board games for our own teaching subjects. Talking to other teachers at a workshop like that, plus the fact that we all enjoy board games, it was an amazing session. I was actually amazed at the fact that how the many interesting ideas for lessons could be bounced off one another during the group work. Synergy I'd say?? =D

On the whole it was a good experience:
1) to get to know about some of the other games which I've yet to try from other gamers
2) to bounce off lesson ideas with other teachers ;)