From: Steven Wesley Bucey Subject: First Game Survey Results Remember that first game survey I sent out last friday? Here were the questions I’ve added an extra answer to 4, c) other 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 2) How old were you? 3) What was the name of the game? 4) How did you decide to play it: a) A 'friend' tought it to me. b) Saw it in a store and baught it. c) other. 5) If you answered 'b' to number 4: a) what type of store did you buy it in i) toy store ii) general hobby store iii) wargame/RPG specialty store iv) Other b) what made you buy it? I got about 58 responses (counting my own). However, I could not use a couple (incomplete answers or could not figure them out), although one individual answered twice -- must be twins? :) Anyways, the total number of data points below is 56 What I was most interested in was how you were introduced to the hobby. I specificly did not limit data based on any preconcieved notion of what a wargame was, I let the responders decide. First, I listed the years of the respondents first exposure, the number in that year, and then how they got exposed. 1959 1 friend 1961 1 gift 1962 1 friend 1963 1 friend 1964 4 other, gift, friend, store 1965 1 store 1966 1 store 1967 2 gift, friend 1968 1 friend 1969 1 store 1970 2 friend, friend 1971 1 friend 1972 5 store, Advertisement in Miniatures magazine, friend, ???, friend 1973 5 store, friend, friend, friend, store 1974 2 store, friend 1975 3 store, store, store 1976 3 other, store, store 1977 6 friend, gift, store, store, store, store 1978 2 store, store 1979 1 friend 1980 2 store, store 1981 1 store 1982 1 store 1983 2 store (clothing store!), store 1985 1 store 1986 2 friend, store 1989 1 advertisement in Dragon magazine? *you’ve got to read it* 1995 1 friend 1996 1 INTERNET (while researching other topic). 56 I SEE TWO ADVERTISEMENTS IN THIS LIST, and both those were from magazines in related, but limited, hobbies (RPG and minatures). That is, 2 of out 56 respondants said they had got into the hobby via an advertisement. The others ‘saw it in a store’, ‘was introduced by a friend’, or ‘got it as a gift’. One person didn’t seem to know. Advertisement 2 Store: 27 Friend: 19 Gift: 4 Other: 3 55 Here are the raw data feedbacks. Steve %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1959 2) How old were you? 11 3) What was the name of the game? Tactics II 4) How did you decide to play it: a) A 'friend' tought it to me. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1961, 36 years (April of 1961) 2) How old were you? 11 3) What was the name of the game? _Tactics_II_ 4) How did you decide to play it: c) gift %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1962, so that would be 35 years ago. But really I started my more active phase 22 years ago. 2) How old were you? I was 12 in 1962. 3) What was the name of the game? Uh, Tactics II. 4) How did you decide to play it: a) a 'friend' taught it to me. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1963 (34 years ago). 2) How old were you? 12. 3) What was the name of the game? Afrika Korps. 4) How did you decide to play it: a) A 'friend' tought it to me. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1964, 33 years 2) How old were you? 10 3) What was the name of the game? Gettysburg (AH) 4) How did you decide to play it: c) Other My father had a copy. I was writing something on Gettysburg for school and pulled out the game to help visualize the battle. Having been born there, I had an early fascination with that battle. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1964, 33 yrs ago 2) How old were you? 11 3) What was the name of the game? Tactics II 4) How did you decide to play it: c) Gift %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1964 (Really) :-o 2) How old were you? Old enough to know better (16) 3) What was the name of the game? Tactics II (The one with the round HQ's) 4) How did you decide to play it: a) A 'friend' tought it to me. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1964 or 65 if you don't count risk 2) How old were you? 13 3) What was the name of the game? ah's stalingrad 4) How did you decide to play it: b) Saw it in a store and baught it. 5) If you answered 'b' to number 4: a) what type of store did you buy it in i) toy store, karl's toys which is a long gone chain b) what made you buy it? i had been to a local friends and saw ah's chancellorsville. i just saw the box but notheing else. don't remember if the kid or his dad played the game. that is why i bought s'grad because the box looked like a war game. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1965, 32 Years ago 2) How old were you? 25 3) What was the name of the game? D-DAY by Avalon Hill 4) How did you decide to play it: b) Saw it in a store and baught it. (Saw it in a store in the Virgin Islands(St. Thomas) ) 5) If you answered 'b' to number 4: a) what type of store did you buy it in iv) Other A book store...The D-DAY map was open and displayed on a wall. It was not immediately obvious it was a game since I did not see any other components. I left the store thinking about what it could have been with all the numerical data on the board etc. and I thought could this possibly be a game? I chose to believe that it was and when I got back to New York, I headed for F.A.O. Swartz Toy Store and sure enough, they had the 4 or 5 titles that were available at that time. That was the day I bought D-DAY and I became a wargamer. b) what made you buy it? I always liked CHESS and other Strategy games and was fascinated with some WWII movies I had seen and it seemed natural to buy and investigate it. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1966-1969 2) How old were you? 12-ish (see above) 3) What was the name of the game? One of the AH classics, possibly Midway. 4) How did you decide to play it: b) Saw it in a store and bought it. - actually talked my FOLKS into buying it... 5) If you answered 'b' to number 4: a) what type of store did you buy it in iv) Other (It was a DEPARTMENT store - possibly Sears or one of its competitors.) b) what made you buy it? I was getting into WW II history (which my dad was into), and had read Walter Lord's Incredible Victory, and... %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 30 Years (1967). 2) How old were you? 9 Years Old. 3) What was the name of the game? France, 1940 (The original S&T version, issue 24?). 4) How did you decide to play it: c)Gift: My father bought the magazine for me. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1967, *30 years ago.* 2) How old were you? *12 years old* 3) What was the name of the game? *Battle of the Bulge by TAHGC* 4) How did you decide to play it: a) A 'friend' tought it to me. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1968 2) How old were you? 10 3) What was the name of the game? Waterloo 4) How did you decide to play it: a) A 'friend' tought it to me. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1969 or 70 2) How old were you? 13 or 14 3) What was the name of the game? Afrika Korps (AH) 4) How did you decide to play it: c) Saw it in a store and baught it. sort of...didn't buy it but got it for a b-day present. 5) If you answered 'b' to number 4: a) what type of store did you buy it in iv) Other b) what made you buy it?> loved military history, and used to read everything I could get on the subject. Saw the game and it looked like fun. This was in the days when about the only choices were what are now the AH classics. At one time I had them all. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1970 2) How old were you? 25 3) What was the name of the game? Tactics II 4) How did you decide to play it: a) A 'friend' tought it to me. yes %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1970 (27 years ago) 2) How old were you? 12 3) What was the name of the game? Stalingrad AH 4) How did you decide to play it: a) A 'friend' tought it to me. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1971 2) How old were you? 3) What was the name of the game? Risk and the MB game (Broadside, Dogfight, etc.) 4) How did you decide to play it: a) A 'friend' tought it to me. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1972, 25 years ago (roughly 2) How old were you? ~12 3) What was the name of the game? Bismarck 4) How did you decide to play it: b) Saw it in a store and baught it. 5) If you answered 'b' to number 4: a) what type of store did you buy it in iv) Other It was something of a general hobby store, corner market. b) what made you buy it? The subject matter and the cool box top. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1972, 25 years ago. 2) How old were you? 22 3) What was the name of the game? Alexander the Great 4) How did you decide to play it: c) Other Advertisement in Miniatures magazine. 5) If you answered 'b' to number 4: b) what made you buy it? Was into painting Military Miniatures and the ad in the Miniature magazine caught my attention at the time I was painting a figure of alexander the Great. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1972 so that's 25 years. 2) How old were you? 15 3) What was the name of the game? SPI's Normandy 4) How did you decide to play it: a) A 'friend' tought it to me. There was a consim club at my high school and we played in a teacher's basement near my house. A couple of guys in cadets and/or militia (the official kind) were in the club along with we geeky history types. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1972 2) How old were you? 29 3) What was the name of the game? Panzerblitz %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1972-1973 2) How old were you? 12 or 13 3) What was the name of the game? Hmmmm....Afrika Korps, or was it Gettysburg...one of the old AH games 4) How did you decide to play it: a) A 'friend' tought it to me. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1973, 24 years 2) How old were you? 15 3) What was the name of the game? AH Blitzkrieg 4) How did you decide to play it: b) Saw it in a store and baught it. 5) If you answered 'b' to number 4: a) what type of store did you buy it in iv) Other (It was purchased in the "Squadron Shop" in Philadelphia PA) b) what made you buy it? At the time I was into building model tanks and read alot of history as research into building them and the game looked like a neat extention to all the WWII history I was reading at the time. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1973 2) How old were you? 15 yrs 3) What was the name of the game? Barbarossa 1st Ed (SPI) 4) How did you decide to play it: a) A 'friend' tought it to me. My best friend saw it (in a bookstore) 5) If you answered 'b' to number 4: b) what made you buy it? He & I were into model kits and military history and had at one time discussed creating our own miniatures rules without knowing such things already existed! %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1973 (24 years 2) How old were you? 13 3) What was the name of the game? Breakout & Pursuit (SPI) ..guy at the shop tried to telk me out of it saying it would be too complex for a beginner! First game played NAW maybe? 4) How did you decide to play it: A 'friend' introduced me to gaming. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1973 2) How old were you? 13 3) What was the name of the game? Panzerblitz 4) How did you decide to play it: a) A 'friend' tought it to me. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1973-1974, 23-24 year ago. 2) How old were you? 12-13 years old. (My memory is fuzzy regarding events back then) 3) What was the name of the game? Luftwaffe, Submarine, or Panzerblitz. (See side note above) 4) How did you decide to play it: b) Saw it in a store and bought it. 5) If you answered b) to number 4: a) what type of store did you buy it in: iv) other iv - again I don't recall what game I bought first, but I do remember buying Submarine at Long's Drug store. b) what made you buy it? Subject matter. It was the next step in playing out childhood fantasy, I guess. I started with someone else's small plastic toy soldiers, playing 'war' with stick guns, buying tank or ship models. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1974, 23 years ago 2) How old were you? 11. 3) What was the name of the game? Jutland - Avalon Hill 4) How did you decide to play it: b) Saw it in a store and baught it. 5) If you answered 'b' to number 4: a) what type of store did you buy it in ii) general hobby store %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1974 or 75 (22 or 23 years) 2) How old were you? 11 or 12 3) What was the name of the game? Either Third Reich or Tactics II 4) How did you decide to play it: a) A 'friend' tought it to me. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1975, 22years 2) How old were you? 14 years 3) What was the name of the game? Third Reich 4) How did you decide to play it: b) Saw it in a store and bought it. (and boy did it look cool) 5) If you answered b) to number 4: a) what type of store did you buy it in: iv) other (i Bought it at a drug store while visiting relatives in Wichitaw ks) b) what made you buy it? Well, i was into history, and this was just the coolest kind of thing i had ever seen( up till then, later i found out how much fun girls could be ;^) %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1975, 25 years ago 2) How old were you? 18 years old 3) What was the name of the game? AH's France 1940 4) How did you decide to play it: b) Saw it in a store and baught it. 5) If you answered 'b' to number 4: a) what type of store did you buy it in iv) Other Book Store b) what made you buy it? It looked interesting---I've been been hooked on board/miniatures/computer games ever since! %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1975, so that'd be 22 years ago. 2) How old were you? 15 3) What was the name of the game? Panzerblitz 4) How did you decide to play it: b) Saw it in a store and baught it. 5) If you answered 'b' to number 4: a) what type of store did you buy it in ii) general hobby store b) what made you buy it? the devil %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1976 or 1969, 21 years or 28 years depending. 2) How old were you? 13 or 6 (IIRC) depending. 3) What was the name of the game? SPI's Sixth Fleet or Milton Bradley's Dogfight, Broadsides, Hit the Beach, & Battle Cry depending on if you count the latter as wargames. 4) How did you decide to play it: 1) Found it in my father's office closet, unpunched. 2) Introduced by my maternal uncles (6 and 9 years older than me respectively). %%% This individual must have a personallity problem ;^) 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? *1976...21 years 2) How old were you? *12 years old 3) What was the name of the game? *1776 4) How did you decide to play it: *b) Saw it in a store and bought it. 5) If you answered b) to number 4: *a) what type of store did you buy it in: iv) other iv - an old Ben Franklin Department Store. Only wargame they ever had...reckon because of the Bicentennial *Always loved reading about military history, thought playing it would be a *good idea! %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1976, 21 years ago 2) How old were you? 12 years old. 3) What was the name of the game? 4) How did you decide to play it: a) a 'friend' taught it to me. b) Saw it in a store and bought it. c) Other (I found it in the basement, my older brother had bought it and then stowed it.) %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1976...21 years 2) How old were you? 12 years old 3) What was the name of the game? 1776 4) How did you decide to play it: b) Saw it in a store and bought it. 5) If you answered b) to number 4: a) what type of store did you buy it in: iv) other an old Ben Franklin Department Store. Only wargame they ever had...reckon because of the Bicentennial b) what made you buy it? Always loved reading about military history, thought playing it would be a good idea! %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? ~1977 2) How old were you? 12 3) What was the name of the game? Third Reich, 2nd ed. 4) How did you decide to play it: a) A 'friend' tought it to me. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1977 2) How old were you? about 10-12 3) What was the name of the game? Third Reich 4) How did you decide to play it: c) Gift %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1977 2) How old were you? 10 years old. 3) What was the name of the game? Avalon Hill's Midway (1964). 4) How did you decide to play it: b) Saw it in a store and bought it. 5) If you answered b) to number 4: a) what type of store did you buy it in: iv) other b) what made you buy it? I was into World War II history, and had just seen the movie "Midway", so I just had to buy it! %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1977, 20 yrs 2) How old were you? 12 3) What was the name of the game? Chopper Command 4) How did you decide to play it: b) Saw it in a store and baught it. (A christmas gift from the Sears catalog.) 5) If you answered 'b' to number 4: a) what type of store did you buy it in iv) Other (Sears) b) what made you buy it? Cool little plastic helicopters & jeeps! %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1977, 20 years 2) How old were you? - 15 3) What was the name of the game? Panzergruppe Guderian (SPI) 4) How did you decide to play it: b) Saw it in a store and baught it. 5) If you answered 'b' to number 4: a) what type of store did you buy it in iii) wargame/RPG specialty store b) what made you buy it? - I had always been interested in gaming and in history. I asked the sales clerk if he could recomend a game of average complexity dealing with WWII. I took it home and thought I would play it the same night with my 12 year old american brother. I was surprised about the length of the rules. (we didn't play it that night). %%% 1) 1977 2) 15 3) Panzer Leader 4) Saw it in a store 5) a) I - toy store %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1978, 19 years ago. Man I'm getting old. 2) How old were you? 12 years 3) What was the name of the game? AH's Panzer Leader 4) How did you decide to play it: b) Saw it in a store and baught it. 5) If you answered 'b' to number 4: a) what type of store did you buy it in i) toy store b) what made you buy it? Had also been into military history (WW II), the tank looked cool, the box was heavy with something cool, and it was something new and exciting. Took me years to figure out the rules (correctly) though. Oh yeah, my mom actually bought it for me for Christmas. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1978 AD ;-) 2) How old were you? 20 yrs 3) What was the name of the game? Victory In The Pacific (AH) 4) How did you decide to play it: b) Saw it in a store and baught it. 5) If you answered 'b' to number 4: a) what type of store did you buy it in iv) Other: A book store. They had a table of games, mostly AH titles. The store specialized in used books and therefore attracted the college crowd b) what made you buy it? I had read about them and wanted to try one. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 18 years ago (1979). 2) How old were you? 12 or 13. 3) What was the name of the game? Ogre, the first micro by Metagaming. My first historical wargame was Richtoffen's War a year or so later. 4) How did you decide to play it: a) a 'friend' taught it to me. A classmate who I barely remember now loaned me the game, later coming over to play with me. I was hooked, then bought my own micro that weekend from the local hobby store (deciding between G.E.V. and WarpWar, I went with the former since it was an extension of Ogre, and had a larger map to offset the higher price...$4 instead of $3!) RW was a Christmas gift later. %%% 1) April, 1980, 17 years ago 2) 14 years old. 3) War At Sea 4) (b) Saw it in a store and baught it. 5) a) (ii) general hobby store 5) b) A group of us went into this hobby shop in the underground mall in Montreal. There were a set of boxed AH games prominently displayed on the wall next to the cashier; I bought War At Sea, but I distinctly remember Bismarck being there. I picked War At Sea because I figured it covered more of the war than a single naval action. I think Squad Leader was there, too. These games piqued my interest at the time because I had just started reading WWII non-fiction about a year ago. My first book was about convoy PQ-17. I had played chess since the age of 4 and wondered what a historical-based game was like. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1980, 17 2) How old were you? 15 3) What was the name of the game? Napoleon at Leipzig by OSG 4) How did you decide to play it: b) Saw it in a store and baught it. 5) If you answered 'b' to number 4: a) what type of store did you buy it in ii) general hobby store b) what made you buy it? Interested in Napoleonic period wanted to see how a game would cover it %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1981 2) How old were you? 14 3) What was the name of the game? Panzerblitz. 4) How did you decide to play it: b) Saw it in a store and bought it. 5) If you answered 'b' to number 4: a) what type of store did you buy it in ii) general hoby store b) what made you buy it? Interested in military history, seemed a natural jump from army men, models, Risk, etc. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1982, 15 years ago 2) How old were you? 11 3) What was the name of the game? Panzerblitz 4) How did you decide to play it: b) Saw it in a store and bought it. 5) If you answered 'b' to number 4: a) what type of store did you buy it in iv) Other Bookstore (remember when they sold AH games there?) b) what made you buy it? The tank destroyers on the cover. Plus I was told to spend my birthday money in a bookstore not a toy shop. So I did. %%% 1) 1983, 14 years. 2) 13 years... I had some problem to understand all the rules! 3) "Bonaparte" - International Team - Now I think that it has dead! 4) B 5) 4) I found it in a store that sold paints! I don't know why it was there. I liked and I like military history. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1983-1984 2) How old were you? 15-16 3) What was the name of the game? Avalon Hill's Samurai 4) How did you decide to play it: b) Saw it in a store and baught it. 5) If you answered 'b' to number 4: a) what type of store did you buy it in i) toy store b) what made you buy it? I was really into Japan at the time; samurais, martial arts, etc... The box with the big picture of a samurai on it looked interesting, even though I first thought it was a model kit of sorts. Reading the back of the box showed me it was something ... different. Anyway, I decided to give it a try. A good thing, too... :-) %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1985, approx. 12 years 2) How old were you? 12-13 3) What was the name of the game? Jedko's Fortress Europa 4) How did you decide to play it: b) Saw it in a store and baught it. 5) If you answered 'b' to number 4: a) what type of store did you buy it in iii) wargame/RPG specialty store b) what made you buy it? Been into plastic models and mil hist for a while... I think I found out about games from an old AH catalogue and I stumbled into a hobby shop where they had a Europa game going... I was fascinated by this huge table stacked sky high with counters representing everything... %%% This individual must have a personallity problem ;^) 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1986.....11 years 2) How old were you? 15 years old 3) What was the name of the game? Third Reich 4th 4) How did you decide to play it: a) a 'friend' taught it to me. 5) If you answered b) to number 4: Always loved reading about military history, thought playing it would be a good idea! Also played Axis and Allies, and Risk, and wanted a more detailed type of game. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1986, Eleven Years ago 2) How old were you? 10 3) What was the name of the game? GI: Anvil of Victory 4) How did you decide to play it: b) Saw it in a store and baught it. 5) If you answered 'b' to number 4: a) what type of store did you buy it in i) toy store more like a toy/department store b) what made you buy it? An interest in history and war movies...then I found out I couldn't play it until I bought three other games...which I did the next week. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1989, 8 years ago (kinda/sorta); 3 years ago (really). 2) How old were you? 9, 15. 3) What was the name of the game? Flight of the Boodles (that's why I said kinda/sorta). At 15, played Kingmaker. 4) How did you decide to play it: c)Other FotB: Saw it in Mom's Dragon Magazine, decided to play it cause it looked pretty. For Kingmaker: IV) Flea Market. 5) If you answered 'b' to number 4: b) what made you buy it? That I had heard of AH, and seen Kingmaker advertised many moons ago. Name rang a bell, and the guy at the market was selling it for $1, so I bought it and played it solitaire, then with friends...then I bought Flight Leader and bullied some guys into playing it with me... %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1995, Board wargame = 2 years ago 1993, Computer wargame = 4 years ago 2) How old were you? Board wargame = 28 Computer wargame = 26 3) What was the name of the game? Board wargame = Panzergruppe Guderian Computer wargame = Operation Crusader 4) How did you decide to play it: Board wargame = a) A 'friend' tought it to me. Computer wargame = b) Saw it in a store and bought it. 5) If you answered 'b' to number 4: a) what type of store did you buy it in iv) Other - bookstore b) what made you buy it? Interest in military history. %%% 1) How long ago did you play your first wargame? 1996, 1 year 2) How old were you? 27 3) What was the name of the game? Squad Leader 4) How did you decide to play it: a) what type of store did you buy it in c) Saw it on the Internet