I love that this picture shows a really cute girl playing a board game with her geeky male buddies (hey I am geeky and fat, so that gives me a right to call these kids geeky - kinda) but hasn't been marked as mature. Wonderful!

My next plus is the guy in the background who looks bored out of his freaking mind, while his friends drool over the game they are getting to playing with the aforementioned cute girl.

My One Minus - I don't care how cute you are, keep your freaking sprite and pizza AWAY from the game!!! Oy, NO! (I am one of the Self-Righteous Brothers).

Really cool picture.

My roommate from Ohio, Joel, is in the background, addicted to watching the Cavaliers lose basketball games.

Wow.... and I thought my wife and I were the only gamers who enjoy swing dance (or is that swing dancers who enjoy games? Actually, based on dance ability, it's the former!). Admittedly its a bit rarer in the UK

There ought to be a microbadge!!

Love the green plastic canteen on the table... water? Or kikapoo juice?

Since this addresses larger issues, I posted it on another BGG forum as well.



I'd have to say about half the folks I have over for game parties are those I know from swing dancing. In the realm of social activities between the genders, I find a great deal of similarity between the function of swing or social dancing (active) and game nights (sedentary) when compared to their prevalent alternatives: hip hop or club dancing (active) and movies, dinners or bars (sedentary).

1. Non-meat market atmosphere
Both of these focus on an ACTIVITY. I find club dancing to be sexually competitive, while social dancing is a much more a cooperative venture. Game nights, obviously, are a much less sexual way to interact with the opposite gender than going to a bar.

2. Emphasis on interaction and personality
I find that swing dancing is a social rather than a sexual interaction, while club dancing emphasizes dancing with an "object" - you're dancing with a bunch of body parts rather than a person. Watching movies emphasizes staring at a screen rather than interacting with the people you showed up with.

3. Non-commercial emphasis
I'm not saying that commerce plays no role in social dance or games, but the main reason you're getting together is not to spend money, as it often feels like when you go out to dinner, play poker, go to a movie, go to a bar or go to a club. Certainly the guy who owns all the games has forked out quite a bit, but selling the game rarely seems to be the focus when you get together to play. Similarly, the only drinks you're encouraged to go for in swing dance is water: it's outright dangerous to buy alcohol in a swing dance.

Please pardon me as I go into rant mode, but I think both of these activities performed a vital role in gender relations that has been missing since the 70's. The whole culture of couples getting together for "bridge night" has disintegrated. Many of the 19th century public buildings I've seen have an entire floor devoted to a ballroom which is no longer in use. Neither of these activities are prevalent anymore, which blocks access to the opposite gender for those who do not have an exhibitionist approach to their sexuality.

This isolation, in my opinion, creates a level of repression amongst those who are not sexually extroverted, a repression that I think can get expressed in stalking and other deviant behavior. I have some anecdotal evidence: several guys in swing dance who used to give girls "creepy vibes" but, after a few years of swing, contra, or other forms of dance, no longer exude such an aura, while many of their compatriots have gotten worse.

Since I'm the only one organizing game nights that I know of around here, I cannot provide similar evidence for that. What I can say, though, is that I feel GOOD about myself after a night of swing dancing or gaming, while I feel vaguely guilty coming out of a bar, a club, a movie, or a dinner.

Everything you say I agree with.

Say, you dance?

I love to dance!

Contra dance and Swing dance (preferably lindy hop) is where it's at.

Keep dancing!

contra dance?
what do you move up up down down left right left right

I came upon this thread, read down the posts, and saw the photo of a contra dance. Aha! Looks like Tracey Hall in Norwich.

What I can say, though, is that I feel GOOD about myself after a night of swing dancing or gaming, while I feel vaguely guilty coming out of a bar, a club, a movie, or a dinner.

I've heard a theory that the reason that swing dancing exploded during the Great Depression is that people were depressed in the mental sense, and that intense cardio activity releases endorphins, which is a potent natural anti-depressant.