Thoughts of LoWriter

The Hottest Chick in the Comic Shop

Well, OK, make that the only chick in the comic shop.

I will be the first one to admit it. I am a geek. Not only do I admit it; I fully embrace my geekiness. And this weekend, I spent some time in the comic shop encouraging my geekiness to blossom.

To be fair, it's also a game shop.

I go to Source Comics and Games on Snelling and Larpenteur for all my geeky needs, including my recently acquired game fetish. Board and card games, though, not video games. (For the most part, I think video games are a waste of time, energy, and valuable eye sight. I mean, original NES is fine, but I don't need to play on a 3D screen when I can play live games with real people instead of on a computer. A little Mario Cart never hurt anyone, I suppose, and I guess StarCraft is looking pretty hot, too...but on the average, video games=booo.) I never used to enjoy board or card games very much, either. Then I discovered that it's only main stream games like Monopoly and Smear that make me want to vomit. Three good friends have since introduced me to a plethora of card and board games that are interesting, fun, and hilarious, including my most recent acquisition: Brawl, which is why I was in the comic/game store in the first place. (I bought two characters. I decided that a weekend with my family was apt to make me crazy if I didn't lighten things up a bit.)

Brawl is a "real time" card game, which means that I can throw cards down as fast as my little hands can move. We don't take no stinkin' turns. The game is meant to simulate a "fight" between characters. Every deck has "bases" on which you play "hits," "blocks," and "clears." Advanced decks have other cards, such as "reverse," "hold," and "null" cards. Hits played on your side are points for you. Hits played on the other player's side are points for them. (You want to get the most points.) Blocks allow you to block the other player from scoring any more points on a particular side of the base. Clear allows you to clear a base and all the cards played on it from the game, which lets you play another base if you can. You can play from the top of your discard pile as well, which makes it exciting. Once you get to the bottom of the deck, there are "freeze" cards, which end the game on the bases where they are played. The game can continue if all the bases are not frozen, so you have to be a little careful if there's more than one player. You win the bases where you have played the most hits against the other player. It's a fast game, usually lasting about 5 minutes, if that. And it is my latest obsession after Harry Potter, which is why I was in the comic store.

Usually, I go to the comic store, I get my deck or (save us) my new dice, and then I leave, but yesterday I was spending some time browsing when I suddenly noticed that I was receiving several stares. Usually, when I walk in by myself, the cashier gives me a friendly hello, which I enjoy because it makes me feel like I'm a person instead of a dollar sign. Yesterday he was busy, so I beebopped around looking at the other cheapass games that I have never seen or played, but I suddenly realized I was being watched. One of the guys stocking the shelves quickly looked back at the books he was filing on the wall when I looked over. At first, I thought it was because they were worried that I was stealing, so I kept my first selections far out in the open. This did not help matters. I wandered around some more, noticing as I did that the guys chilling at the tables where the game tournaments usually take place were also looking my direction. By this time, I was very concerned that I might have toilet paper sticking out of my pants or something, but this was not the case. Finally, another fellow geek came meandering in from outside, looked at me, looked away, looked again, smiled, and said hello, which I returned. "Wow, they're friendly here," I thought. And that was when I came to a very interesting conclusion.

"I am the only chick in here," I said to myself under my breath as it suddenly dawned on me that there was a definate lack of estrogen in the place. I began to understand what endangered species must feel like.

To be fair, I think that if I had chosen to wear my spiked collar I would maybe have blended in better than I did on this particular occasion. I was looking fairly old to be hanging out in a game store. (Although, not older than the guys at the tournament tables.) As I think back on previous trips to this store, even when Carl, Jill and I have gone, I realize that the guy to girl ratio has usually been tipped in favor of the guys.

There are two reasons I bring this up: First, I always feel funny when I realize that I am not as young as I feel and that I might be considered too old to shop certain places, and second, I don't understand why the ratio for game/comic geeks is stacked in favor of the guys. I guess I'm not a complete game/comic geek because I've just been introduced to some of the fringe gaming elements, but I enjoy it a lot. Why is this predominately a guy activity?

Posted by LoWriter at August 9, 2004 12:13 PM