Recently I began thinking about what type of player each member of the Borgamo team is. Knowing your friends (and opponents) is always an advantage, but also makes you think a bit about yourself and what you enjoy. Some broad player types that come to mind:

The boner:
The boner thinks first on every move about how they can hurt (or "bone") their opponent before even considering how they can advance their own game standing. Where can I point my road in Carcassonne to make someone elses city impossible? Where can I trigger a war in Tigris and Euphrates between two other players that have nothing to do with me? How can I tie to get a Buddah taken off the board in Samurai rather than let anyone get it? You know the boner. He makes for a tight game, but can easily garner the anger of the mob against him as he is unlikely to make many friends.

The point calculator.
The point calculator knows who will win 4 turns before the end of the game. Frequently you see finger pointing or silent lip movements as victory points, cubes, or commodites are being tallied up. Savant point counters know the full fish count in 'Hey that's my fish' before the last ice flow is isolated. The point counter is stiff competition but can be sometimes thrown off of their game by the inexplicable or just plain wrong move by another player, throwing off the "obvious" endgame chain of events.

The live and let live player.
This player mainly avoids conflict when possible. They focus on carving out their own routes in Ticket To Ride versus blocking opponents. They deploy their pastel Through The Desert camels in an effort to surround emptyness rather than monopolize oases. They happily ship cubes on other's lengths of track in Railroad Tycoon. The live and let live player often loses because of their lack of confrontation, but also flies under the radar of the mob most of the time. Sometimes the live and let live player's empire can go unnoticed long enough until it has somehow managed to become unstoppable.

The "play the player, not the game" player.
You know this guy. The moment you draw a card in Havoc, "Hey everyone! Mike is collecting glaives!". They are expert at directing the focus of the table toward the player of their choice as well as testing the mettle of their opponents when it comes to bidding for tiles in Ra. While his individual game strategies may change, he will always be a contender. This player is a born Werewolf.

The analysis paralysis player.
Holy mackerel. This player is frustrating. Seemingly endless deliberation for each and every move. Now is the time to get up and get a soda, you won't miss anything. Often when the A.P. player finally does put down his Carcassonne tile or Torres castle piece, the finger stays lingering on top, and then it happens. The move is taken back and the cycle restarts itself. Wash, lather, rinse, repeat. While this player is frustrating, they can be frustratingly good. All that ruminating is good for something as it turns out, just not good for making a quick game.

So, what am I? I'm still trying to figure it out but I think the rest of the Borgamo team would label me 70% 'live and let live', with the rest being a mix of 'the boner' and the 'play the player, not the game'. I know I'm definitely *not* a point counter which has been my undoing many a time. Maybe, just maybe, now that I have successfully cultivated my 'table image' it's time to work in some unexpected twists, but if I was going to do such a thing, I'd certainly never post it in this blog. ;)