Welcome to the Puzzles, The Board Game Co Blog. I decided to start this blog as a precursor to some day opening my own game store cafe. I figured if I can gain a following through the internet over the next 5-10 years, it’ll help finance my dream of being an LGS owner and supporting my community of fellow gamers. I have been actively following so many great board game enthusiasts over the last year – Grant Lyon, Ezeekat, Ginny Di, just to name a few. Over the last year they have really inspired me to do something that has been on my mind for 3-5 years now, which is start my own board game influencer journey. 

I have been playing board games since I was three – if we count Disney Princess memory, that being said my memory isn’t the best and I don’t really remember my first real game other than that. This was the exact one I had and even to this day these little pieces of cardboard hold so much nostalgia for me. This set seems to be much more taken care of then mine. I honestly don’t remember ever having a box for it, I just remember the pink tray being a quart ziplock bag. Also I have no idea how this happened because it was kept at my dad’s house – who didn’t have a dog – but one of the Cinderella tiles had teeth marks in it, which made it super easy to match when I found the other one.  

While I may not remember the first real game, I started playing between the ages of 4 and 5; my dad always made sure that I was kept busy. We slowly built our collection of games over the years from 2006 to 2014 when he moved to California. One of my best memories was helping him build a table to hold all our games. While I can’t find a full picture of our table, it was similar to this table, however it was all black, with a mosaic top (with a built in chess board) and was about 4×4 ft. I’m not sure if the chess board ever got used but it was still in line with the board game theme regardless. That being said, the table was kind of tall and the seats weren’t the best, so most often than not – especially with games getting bigger and more complicated – we just played on the floor. Even though we didn’t use the table much for playing, it still served its purpose for storing the games in his tiny 1 bedroom apartment. 

My dad grew up in the 70s and 80s where he loved playing video games on his atari, and playing D&D with his friends in high school. Once he had me I really think it just meant that he had a mini him he could (force to) play video games and board games with. I remember growing up playing games on the Wii and Xbox, however I always had way more interest in the board games we played. My dad didn’t have much money while I was growing up so going out and doing things wasn’t always possible, however staying in to play board games was a regular pass time of ours. 

We found games at our LGS in the area, mainly Card Kingdom (now Mox Boarding House), which is still one of my favorite stores to this day. I remember growing up and saving money so I could buy the latest pokemon sets when they dropped, and being so excited to crack packs and play with my dad the next time I saw him. I also played a lot in the kid pokemon tournaments at Card Kingdom back in the day. While I don’t play pokemon anymore, I still try to frequent Mox Boarding every other month if possible (only because it is an hour away from me so I try to make a day out of it), as it’s my favorite way to try out new games. 

While I may not remember my first game, the game that I’ve played the most both in terms of hours and rounds, is easily Ticket to Ride. It was easily one of mine and my dad’s favorite games and was a must every weekend I went to see him. I started with USA, as most people do (probably), but I have since gotten Europe, both expansions for USA and Europe, Nordic Countries, Rails and Sails, Legacy, UK/Pennsylvania, and London, as well as the online version (before it was updated). I have easily played the USA version over 100 times, and was beyond excited when I found out about the 1910 expansion, because let’s face it, those tiny cards are HORRIBLE. As far as the online version goes, I have over 57 hours in, which is mostly just playing bots because I like playing whenever and not having to wait for others to join. To this day Ticket to Ride is still one of my favorite games and I can’t imagine it not being in my collection. I truly believe it started my love for games. 

Fast forward to 2022, I move out, my partner at the time goes to basic training and I’m left at home all alone and unemployed. My dad had died just a few months prior and I had gained procession of all of the games we had acquired from 2006 to 2014, or at least the ones that he had held on to throughout all of the moves he went through between 2014 and 2022. I decide I’m going to host a weekly game night on Fridays with my friends to keep myself sane while being in a house alone 24/7 other than my dog. 

Even though I was mostly unemployed, I was still doing some gigs through Task Rabbit so I had my own money for food, gas, and fun. Over the next year I went from maybe 20 games to close to 50. I can’t seem to find a picture of my full collection from that time even though I swear I have one, these are what I could find, which only kind of scratches the surface for what I had at the time. That being said, they all fit in a very small linen closet at that time, and they barely fit on the storage shelf I have now… 

Fast forward another year, I leave everyone I know and I move to Savannah, GA. Two months later, said partner gets deployed and again I am left all alone. I tried to find a new game group, but nothing really felt right, but that didn’t stop me from buying more and more games for the future, knowing Savannah was always a temporary thing. My collection grew and grew, at this point it was sharing a shelf with car parts in the garage, but that wasn’t gonna stop me from funding more Kickstarters, and buying games in person.

After a year in Georgia, I finally move back home to Washington. However, I moved back in with my mom, meaning my space wasn’t really mine, and I don’t get to lay things out how I want them… Also the garage leaks which means I needed to find a space for my games that wouldn’t be in the middle of everything and also be safe from cat scratches… Sadly that meant the only place for this massive 6x2x7 shelf was my bedroom, which is already cramped with, well bedroom things. In the last almost 2 years since being home, my shelf has gone through many iterations and gets an update every time I get a couple new games. This has been the progression from Nov 2024, to July 2025, to Dec 2025, and to present day (of course it needed another rearrangement after Christmas). Also don’t mind the clothes and the hamper and the other messes… Like I said, bedroom things. 

That pretty much brings us to today, where I still collect games, I still have weekly game nights on fridays with the same people I did back in 2022 and 2023. I now have a new partner who loves playing my games, and the board game version of D&D (someday I’ll get into the real thing), and got me back into magic after not playing for about 10 years (give or take). I am grateful for the people around me who indulge in my habits and sometimes damaging collecting habits, and the people who donate their own money to play games they’re also interested in that are out of my price range alone, that someday hopefully will get here… looking at you ICE. But most importantly I am thankful for the people who allow me to be me, and share my love of games with them, and those that choose to create weekly memories with me.

Welcome to Puzzles, The Board Game Co blog! If you’ve made it this far through my ramblings I hope you stay awhile and join the community. I plan to post weekly and monthly updates on new games, games I own, the first time I’ve played a game in my collection going forward (we all have a stack of TBP (to be played) am I right?), and stats throughout the year. If that sounds like something that interests you, check out my socials and patreon linked on the side. Thank you so much for reading my first blog post and I hope I see you around!