I had just turned 14 (1981), first year in high school. There was a dungeons and dragons club, many of the guys played other board games. Our city is too small to have a proper games store so we would travel to the next city over which was 3 times the size. An office supply store had a games store in the basement and the old dental offices upstairs had been turned into a ‘games club’ where you could sign out various games. Our Friday nights consisted of car pooling to the next city, spending our money in the basement then going upstairs to play games. 15-25 kids would be there every friday night, diplomacy in that environment was great lots of new kids, you didn’t always want to back stab your buddy whose mother happened to be the one taking you all home! Somebody introduced us to the original Nova version, paper map, cardboard pieces with the atom bomb as a tech! After just 1-2 games I was hooked and purchased the game. Flipper and I must have played 100 times! Dang I wish I still had that version!
“Like”!
My Dad, a World War 2 veteran, is now 87 and he still plays Axis & Allies with my brother(63) and I (53). We all started back in the 1960’s (when I was a little kid) playing RISK, and then in the early 1980’s started playing the original A&A. I must say,…the 1940-Global version is a MUCH IMPROVED game, even though it still has some flaws.
By the way, that’s a pic of my Dad on the left just before his outpost was overan in the Battle of the Bulge. He’s a BIG man. I’m about 6’-4" and I’m the shortest in my family. He’s got a ton of fascinating stories,…Wow!
“Tall Paul”
Great anecdotes and stories - keep 'em coming, guys!
My first time playing A&A was Classic (or 3rd edition). I was 14. One of my youth group leaders was a major A&A geek, and he organized a late night game. He had worked us up to the task via Risk and then Castle Risk–now it was time for the big whammy. I was Russia, and I somehow lucked out in my first game and demolished Germany. This new game was awesome; it was like chess and poker rolled into one game! I was having so much fun I forgot to call my parents and tell them where i was, and they were furious when I got back home.
Our group of friends played occasionally for a few years, but then I forgot about it when I went away to college. I discovered the GTO Revised version about 3 years ago, and was instantly hooked :-P
Chess and poker combined - exactly.
And with one more element - cool plastic army men, planes, and boats!!
The enjoyment of intellectual stimulation and unpredictability all rolled into one package. No wonder I’ve been hooked.
1985 in collage, Oklahoma State. The 6th floor of the student union Bldg went to find D&D players and found them there, and some other games as well I’ve been playing ever since then. I’ve lived in 4 other states during that time and have found players everywhere I have been. I’m 49 yrs young
I think I was 13 or fourteen when I first played. I am now 18 and I still love it.
This is an intresting thread and seems to be the right place for everyones anecdotal orgin story. :-D
So heres mine:
I started playing Axis&Allies at age 11, few years after my father died in 1994. He was a big history buff and my fascination for history came from wandering around his house and looking at all the pictures in his book collection. The one book I remember most was a big red glossy book that had WORLD WAR II written on the front of it in big gold print. After he passed I kept the book and I would casually flip through its big pages whenever I got bored, occasionally stoping to read what the pictures were about. While on a day trip to a mall a few towns away I looked in the window of what looked like a toy store (turned out to be a wizards of the coast store) and saw this big huge box with art on it that looked like it had come from starit from my big red WW2 book called Axis&Allies(old gamemaster version). I went in and stared at it for hours looking over the box art and the pictures on the back. I was, however, from a working class family and knew that my mother wouldnt (or correctly couldnt) buy it for me. So when we got home a checked how much money was in the ol’ piggy bank and bent myself towards buying that game. A few weeks later after saving every penny and mowing every neighbors lawn I returned and bought the game. Im 26 now and since then I have bought and played every single version of this game that has come out, much to my freinds annoyance. :-D
On another note, to all the older players of Axis&Allies, do you have trouble finding players equal to your level and experiance? In my small part of the world(Connecticut) I havent met other players who are as fimilar with the game and its rules and mechanicas as I am. I think having the perspective to look back at the game as a whole, through its many incarnations, gives us a unique perspective on it and perhapse a more in-depth understanding of the game itself. I wonder if we havent completely alienated ourselves from the new players to this game who dont have the background we do in A&A. I’m bring this up because in my small town there was one ONE other player who was my equal and who it was actually fun to play against. When he beat me I knew it was from a superior understanding of the game and its mechanics unlike when I lose to other new players who, in all cases, just got better dice rolls. It cheapins the win in my eyes and makes it a lot less fun to play. Just my idle musings on a slow day at work, that and it has been just over a year since my friend (my gaming equal I mentioned before) met with his tragic accident leaving him crippled and blind. It makes me look at how I got into this hobby, looking for some escapism in the wake of a tragedy, to where it is now, my playing having largely dropped off in the wake of another tragedy. something to think about I guess :wink:
Enjoyed your story, Clyde. Have you looked into playing by forum on this website? You will find many experienced and formidable opponents who can provide you with many good times playing different versions of A&A.
I’m 47 First started playing A&A in 1993
some friends and I went to Homer AK in oct '92
My buddy bought a risk game for a dollar at their 2nd hand store
We met a guy off of a catcher processer at the Salty Dog a bar on the spit
I had played risk before and we soon were the top players
he ended up taking the ferry south with me and he told me about A&A
I bought the original A&A and xeno games after that
I also was Avalon Hill gamer before A&A but had few opponents
I am surprised at how many people actually have been exposed to A&A that I have met since then
Truly one of the greatest games of all time and as my brother says it’s the little dudes that make it cool
I am 50 years old. My first Axis & Allies purchase was in 1986 from Toys “R” Us. I worked at the fire department then and we played quite a few games there.
I think the best games are a mix of strategy and luck. You need some strategy to feel like your decisions are important, and random luck just makes it fun. For me, chess isn’t so fun because there is no luck at all. Risk has too much luck, where you can trade in cards for hundreds of armies. Axis and Allies has an addicting balance of skill and luck, plus the time frame is my favorite era of history.
Great reading your stories!
I played my first game 2 years ago now I am 13.
Constantinople,
I request that you add my 63 y.o. brother, and my 87 y.o. father to your totals. They are regular A&A players and are hooked like the rest of us!
“Tall Paul”
Dude…
Constantinople asked this question in 2008…
Do you not allow for slow typists? Was 18 when I joined the Games’ club at Lancaster University(Oct. 87). Bought first game(stupidly binned) in 90 in London. Went especially!
Hey moderators, any chance this topic can be moved and maybe stickied to the General Discussion forum or something? It’s a good thread and shouldn’t stay here in the 50th Anniversary forum. I would like as many new joiners to see this as possible. Many thanks.
I started playing in 1995. My dad made us kids go on a cross country trip part of it was Mall of America. I saw the game in a hobby store there and had to have it. My first game was in the hotel that night. By the end Germany had tanks pushed all the way to the Pacific ocean. When we got home I started the obsession buying up every expansion I could find.
Well said Loz. Totally agree.
Cool. I played my first game in 1987 when I was 14 with some friends, then I met my best friend “Death from above” in 1988 and found out he and his dad were big AA fans.
We played a lot and I introduced them to "Fortress America in 1989/90 so we played that quite a bit too. We played on and off in the 90’s.
In 2000, I saw AA Europe for sale at a game store and just picked it up and thought it would be cool. The three of us played together and that really rekindled our lust for AA, haha.
In 2001, a trip to Pearl Harbor, along with the first pacific release really got us playing as much as we could. Wives and kids came along and we still get together and play. My friends 9 year old has become quite a player. Our new favorite is the navel miniatures. Whether it be Guadalcanal or bulge, our best days are spent at the kitchen table.
