Out of All the Games I Designed, Which is My Favorite?

Sometimes, I’ll sit down to play a game that I designed over the years, and other players will ask, “Amurá, out of the games that you designed, which one is your favorite?” I’ll look at them across the game table and chuckle. Now that I’m a senior citizen, I not only have to take into consideration my age, but also the level of small talk that I enjoy exchanging with people during game time.

Amurá plays a game of Kitunda with a convention-goer at Long Island Tabletop Gaming Expo 2025.

The wit of other seniors who mix their gaming with memories of their youth can not only be enlightening, but also humorous. There was a time when a good case of beer with hard-line threats of victory, with promises of “butt kicking,” would make a few hours pass by like minutes. A younger me would either leave, pounding my chest, or swearing revenge on the next time we met. Our game, Attactics, almost always had that effect on us.

I don’t know if I’ve mellowed out in my old age, I mean, I still find that senior citizens still make threats when it comes to winning the next game. But, it’s more low-key than when they were younger. It would be muffled under their breath, or that squinted look in their eyes, enough to make me bust out laughing, cause I know I’m on their “hit list.”

Now that I’m in my mid-70s, I find myself with others looking for a good table for gaming. It now takes priority to decide where to sit and the surroundings. Now, it’s nice to come in and find other seniors already claiming a table for a game. Our ages range from mid-sixties to mid-eighties. And while I enjoy all the games that Amurá Unlimited designed, other seniors are willing to put down their Dominoes and other board games to claim a spot and play Gin-Go with me when I come and visit the Senior Center.

Gin-Go is based on the card game “500 Rummy" or "Gin-Rummy,” and so knowing how to play helps them enjoy the new format and how it relates to the Gin-Go board. Four to five hours fly by, and everybody leaves with a comment, “Good game!” The small talk, from stories of grandkids to who’s taking a cruise, to who could use a prayer for their health, makes a gaming table part of a small community. It could be my age, to be laid back and play a hand of cards without stressing the roll of a die or dice, or it could be the company and the gift of a lifetime everyone brings to the table.