The Time Mike Made Me Watch

If you look to the right for contributors, you will see the name Mike Cascio. He is my board gaming brother from another mother. He is the reason for my board game obsession. After many years of trying to get me into the hobby, Dr. Gamenstein created the monster you see before you.

This story happened about two years ago. Mike was going to a tabletop wargaming convention called Fall-In! in Lancaster, PA.  He mentioned there would be a marketplace set up where people would possibly be selling some board games, so I asked him to look for rare games or text me about any games he thought I might find interesting. My collection is self-sufficient, so as a rule, if I find a rare game, I sell it and cycle the money back into my collection.  Mike was able to obtain a copy of  Ave Caesar, which I would most certainly be able to trade or flip.

For himself, he had found a copy of the Days Of Wonder printing of Colosseum, which happened to be his grail game. And he found it for $40, which is crazy, because that game sealed goes for three times that. The following week, after he had returned home, he asked me to come over so I could grab Ave Caesar. When I did, I said "Man, your're going to get a ton for that game!" He looked at me and said, "Nope, I'm going to open it." Wait... Open it? Is he crazy?  Why in the world would he open it?  "And," he said, "I'm opening it right now, in front of you."

Oh, no way!  It's one thing to do it in the privacy of your own home, but to force a penny-pincher like me to watch you throw away that much money is more than I should have to endure!  I was going to come up with some excuse to leave, but the next thing I knew we were sitting on the couch taking the plastic off.  Mike opens the lid and starts punch out the coins right away and says "This is great!" No, Mike, this is not great. This is like Alex from A Clockwork Orange being forced to watch the 'Biebs. Please, make it stop!



And there I sat, for what felt like an hour, but was probably ten minutes.  Watching him punch and sort every last piece out into the box. At the end, I felt like a 10-year old that just watched Old Yeller for the first time. I picked up my game and walked out.