13 years ago we moved into Ocean Shores Villa 106. There have been many changes on our block since then.
V102 - Janet, who embroiders, was there when we moved in.
V103 - John (model planes) and Ngaire. John had a stroke and died. Ngaire moved out. In came Bill and Kay. He died of a stroke shortly afterward and Kay had a stroke this year.
V104 – Peg, ex-army, moved into an apartment. Mike (ex-army) & Laurel, avid golfers (“strokes”), came next.
 V105 - Heather, a neat freak, got cancer and moved to be near a cousin. We bought her car. Coral and Pete moved in, and you guessed it, he had a stroke.
V107 - Jill was a live wire and a fun gal who liked her gin. She had a bad back and spent final years in bed. Just before Bev (line dancer) and John could move in, he had a stroke and died.
V108 - Fred and Dawn, moved in the same time as us. They just moved out to be near family.
 At the pump:
$NZ 2.53/litre
$NZ9.74/gal ($US6.06) |
I grew up playing board games with family and friends. So no surprize that it continued in Fiji with the Whites and then with my own family in New Zealand.
In 1972 Ian gave Susie Formula One for her birthday and we played it that year on a regular basis. In 1992 in New Zealand I found a copy in a garage sale. For 12 years we would follow the real race schedule. I drew each race’s track giving us variety. We had awards ceremonies.
I got Trivial Pursuit in 1984. Christmas 1992 Gail and I went to Irene’s and during the discussions TP was mentioned. Turned out that they played it every Friday. We joined and it only ended when we moved to Tauranga in 2011. I bought many versions and others did the same. We would meet at different houses. Usually around 8-9 people would show up. We split into two teams and I invented “the floater” for when we had odd numbers —usually it was me playing on both teams. Everyone would bring a treat to eat and once the game finished (usually in “a tie”) we would have cake/cookies.
In 2013 I joined a group of “Euro” board game players in Tauranga. We would meet in Papamoa at Dave’s place. He had an online board game business. People would bring many games and we would decide which ones to play. There was always two groups playing but sometimes we had three going. I was eventually invited to play on a second night (we could play until 1AM to 3AM) at Kim’s place in Tauranga. We also played at several other places.
Martin Wallace moved from England to nearby Katikati. He is a godlike person in the Euro game world as he created some of the best ones. He joined our group. I was included as a game tester. We would play games he was developing. I was good because I struggled to figure out what we were doing and he would make adjustments based on that. I play tested many games...most never made it to publication. But my name can be found in five game manuals.
Formula D was so popular that we ended up buying every available track and began a annual competition playing at our villa. Gail joined with four others. A person would provide a meal based upon which country we were racing. We would play Formula One, eat and then play Formula D. When Gail went to bed some of the guys would stay to play other games. We did that for 5 years until people moved away.
Nowadays we play weekly with Renee and David when he visits. I use my “fun” money to buy games. We currently have 128 including expansions (click on photo to enlarge). I have sold 14 in the past few years and we have donated another 20.
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2024 - No. 4 www.malecek.com 2024 - No 4
