Greetings friend,

Chaz Marler from Pair Of Dice Paradise welcoming you to my Sea Of Tranquility. What’s the reason for my great sedate state, you ask? Yoga?

(Nope.)

Meditation? (Not even once.)

Horse tranquilizers? (Ran out months ago.)

No, what floats my boat of serenity is board games. Surprise?

See, there’s many different facets about modern board games to appreciate, and each for different reasons. This variety of features is one of the things that I love about this hobby. There is, of course, the enjoyment of the gameplay, competition, and puzzle solving. Not to mention the social interaction, artwork, components, and even the collectibility aspect. But, among my favorite activities related to the board game hobby is punching out the cardboard components of a brand new game. (HOLD UP UNPUNCHED SPREW, PUNCH ONE.) Ahhh, that’s Heaven.

Now, some out there may think that unpackaging the plentiful pieces from their latest playable purchase to be a pain, but I don’t see it that way at all. Seriously. For me, it can be a tranquil, zen-like activity, something almost therapeutic after a long, stressful day.

MONTAGE OF DADDY CHORES

That’s why I don’t see punching components as a chore at all. In fact, when I obtain a few new games, I’ll often purposely spread out opening them over the course of several days, savoring the experience of punching, sorting and bagging the components.

It was while punching the pleasantly surprisingly large bounty of bits for the Exodus expansion that I started wondering whether I was in the minority or majority with my affinity for assembling amenities. There is, of course, a possible third camp of people who have never given a second thought to it.

(It must be nice to be able to live life so care-free.)

But, for those of us that apparently demand to have an opinion on everything, let me know what your experience has been. Punching board game components: annoying chore or bonus relaxation exercise?

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