I love me some games. And I don’t mess around, either: I get competitive.


My first favorite game ever was Trouble. I was hypnotized by the pop-o-matic bubble. Then came the Atari 2600, Berzerk was my first cartridge, but Maze Craze was probably my favorite.


In sixth grade I took my geeking to an entirely new level: making dice games with friends. We all loved to draw, so we’d make our characters, assign them hitpoints, and then send them to their deaths against one another. Yes, it was hard to watch them die sometimes, but that toughening-up really came in handy when my HIV diagnosis rolled around later that year.


Now, twenty years later, I’m still making up my own rules, on and off the board. Right now, I’m obsessed with Star Wars Monopoly: SHAWN RULES Edition, a hybrid of the classic rules combined with some seasoning. I am so proud of the game, in fact, that today when I joined Facebook I created a group in its/my honor. Maybe I’ll post the rules there, but they’d probably change by the time you read them.


Basically, it’s like Monopoly with Warhammer battles. You can either go bankrupt, or get wiped out by other players or a mob of Jedis (if you’re bad) or Stormtroopers (if you’re good). I combined another game I had, which SUCKED, called Star Wars Epic Duals, using its cool pieces and cards. I won recently with the wimpiest team in the game, Boba Fett and Greedo. Why? Because together we’re unstoppable!


This is probably the geekiest blog I’ve ever written. I know many of you, after reading the book and knowing me in person, can only think of Shawn Decker as a fine athlete due to his tennis prowess (documented in My Pet Virus, when I defeated Andy Deane in the last chapter) and bowling skills.


But I’m more than that.


God, this is really stupid. And I’m not on my zany HIV meds this week, either, so there’s really no excuse for posting this blog. But I’m going to do it anyway. I played Wii for the first time this week, too. And that rules.


Positively Your Geekatoid,
Shawn