The gem of my board games collection is a copy of The Settlers fra Catan I bought around the turn of the century. It's still got most of its original wooden game pieces (white has a slight handicap because two of the roads are missing), the board tiles tend to shift a bit during play (border pieces to keep them in place didn't get introduced until a few years later), several of the number tiles are missing and have been replaced (a few blank ones were included, but after I ran out of those, I had to replace some with scraps of paper), the resource cards have absorbed so much hand sweat that they are all clinging together, and hey, did you notice the name of game is a weird mix of English and Norwegian? The dice are made of wood. Wood! Not plastic. It's been played hundreds of times, though not for several years now, after two of my friends bought their own (more modern) copies.

This article was too snarky for my liking, and still I shed a tear reading it, knowing that a man who has brought me and my friends so much joy is now dead. His legacy lives on.

I will live forever
I refuse to fade away into the nether
I don't wait for heaven
I will leave my mark right here on earth instead
Don't bother with the jilted
I cast my ripples in eternity
Prepare to count me more than once
As I echo on in future minds