Hello,
Chaz Marler here from the Pair Of Dice Paradise board game podcast. Can board and card games form addictions? For example, I think it’s a fair statement to say that customizable games, such as Marvel Dice Masters and Magic: The Gathering, can have an addictive quality to them. The anticipation before opening a pack, wondering what treasures you’ll discover, the rush of being rewarded with an exotic rare item, and even the smell of a freshly printed pack.

Oh, yes. The smell. Can the scent of a freshly cracked pack become habit forming?

I have some background in publishing, so there’s a thrill I get from the bouquet of freshly printed publications. In the mid-90’s, when I was introduced to Magic: The Gathering, every pack offered the opportunity of odoriferous inebriation. There’s nothing else that quite smells like a fresh pack of Magic cards.

It’s not just limited to cards. I’ve found that most Descent products are good for a whiff or two, as well as the corpulent Caverna’s copious accumulation of cardboard.

I never thought anyone else shared in this olfactory oddity, until recently, when my daughter, VeeBug, received a copy of SkipBo Junior as a gift. I was surprised to see that the very first thing she did after opening it was to hold the deck up to her nose and deeply inhale its intoxicating aroma.

Did she learn it from me, and is merely copying my behavior? Or has she already learned to appreciate the aroma of a game’s freshly opened accoutrements?

So, I’m wondering, am I the only one with this obsession of nosing components? I’d be interested to know if anyone else out there shares this habit, or if you have any of your own habits or rituals you perform when opening a new game. Let me know in the comments below. In the meantime, I just scored a kilo of boosters just waiting to be nostril-fodder.