&games

A story that incorporates both gaming, taxi driving and is short.

I picked up this college couple returning home from a date. Probably their first date, probably both seniors or graduate students. They both fancied themselves as writers and were talking about getting their work published. Specifically they were talking about what magazines to submit material if you hadn't been published, where they had sent material, who had published their material, which of their friends had been published, etc.

Turns out the gal had a story published in some magazine. She was reluctant to tell the dude which magazine, apparently it was a rather minor literature magazine. The dude had not yet had anything published.

Then I chimed in, "I've been published."

That comment took all the air out of the cab.... For the rest of the trip.

They both looked at me as if they were thinking: You? The dopey looking cab driver? Published?

After a long pause the gal said, "Ummm. Where were you published?"

I had posted an article on line concerning the history of modern boardgames, and Flagship Magazine, a British publication, asked for permission to reprint it, naturally with proper editing.

That was pretty much the end of their conversation. Any sexual energy that may have been in the air was gone. Hope I didn't ruin their evening.

Cute couple. I hope they had another date.


I have been remiss not mentioning Flagship magazine before. The free issues they sent me as compensation were quite good. It was a general interest, non-video game, game magazine. It had articles and commentaries on CCGs, boardgames, miniatures, etc. but was not nearly as commercial and over loaded with CCGs and advertisements as was Games Quarterly. It had much more boardgame content than I had expected. In fact the issues I saw were worth buying simply for the boardgame content.