The Pooka Behind This Blog

 An Introduction to the Pooka Behind This Blog

Welcome to "Goblin, Lead Them Up and Down!" I'll likely just call it "Goblin" for short, but given my handle, IratePooka, and my love of theatre, it was hard to pass up on this particular quote about Puck from Midsummer Night's Dream. Bonus points to you if you recognize the word "pooka" from my favorite space opera of all time!

Anyway, a little bit about me: I'm an avid gamer living in St. Louis, Missouri. I'm originally a New Yorker, but there's a lot to love about St. Louis, and I am proud to have lived here since 2012. Honestly, I could spend all day bragging about how much this city has to offer. So if you ever want to get me talking (as though that were any sort of feat), just ask me why I moved to St. Louis or decided to stay. This city has quite a lot going for it, I assure you! I was an actor and director by trade, having run a small theatre company since moving to St. Louis in 2012 focused on fostering community action with regards to socially-relevant issues. I stepped down from my position as ED in 2021 and am currently working with Safe Connections.

I really only started playing board games in something like 2008, starting after college. I'd played Risk and Monopoly before then, but was mostly a video gamer until and through college. After moving to Buffalo, NY after college, I met some friends who introduced me to that most famous of gateway games, Settlers of Catan. The same friends taught me Plague and Pestilence, Puerto Rico, Dominion, and a couple of others. At that point, I was hooked. It sort of checked all my boxes: spending time with friends, cheap nights in, challenging play, and a way to engage my brain that was not related to work.

When I moved to St. Louis, I started delving into more complex games and found that I could not get enough! I became able to articulate what I loved about games and why they fascinated me the way they did. Currently, my favorite game (and it's not even close) is Spirit Island. I've got other games I'm happy to play, but Spirit Island in particular checks just about every box for me. The only box it doesn't check is my need for competition, and so Star Wars Armada satisfies that particular need. My game collection has grown rather wild, but I'm always looking to experience new games and new mechanics. Since before the start of the COVID pandemic, I've thought about designing my own game, but it's only since the pandemic started that I've really started to indulge that pursuit.

Ultimately, since I can't talk enough about games, I thought this blog might be a good way to share my thoughts on games and maybe introduce others to games that they hopefully enjoy as much as I do!