Chamblee54

There was a note on Facebook that two friends of PG were meeting in a coffee shop downtown to play board games. The first chore was to google “Inman Perk”. There was one on N. Highland Avenue, and one in Gainesville. An hour before the anointed time, PG got something to eat, and got on the road.
PG doesn’t go out on Saturday night very much. The cafe scene on N. Highland Avenue, near the beltline and below the Carter Center, was a surprise. Finding the approximate location of the venue, PG first saw valet parking, and then saw that he could drive past it. On a side street, there was a spot just barely big enough to fit. Parallel parking is a lost art, but it does come in handy.
The first game was something from 1963. It had a quaint metal playing station, with a device that tossed the die for you. The rules were complicated, as all rules for unfamiliar games are. You had four rockets, and the object was to get them all in a landing zone. Somehow, PG won. The contest for second place came down to the last turn of the dice, with third place one spot away from winning. There were numerous opportunities to do harm to your neighbor, which were all cheerfully exploited.
Naturally, there was conversation throughout. It was decided that douche should be a compliment. The bicentennial was forgotten by July 5, 1976. All three men had been backgammon addicts at one time, and none was sure what the rules are now. For PG, the rule that matters is that you pass a joint away from the board, so as not to get ashes on it.
During a break, some games from 3M were shown. They were elegantly designed, with heavy cardboard boxes that looked like books. Pancake, the board game collector, brought seven games to the event. Some were for just two to play, in case the extra people went to Gainesville. Some were word games, some were strategy games, some made annoying sounds, and some had beautiful pictures on the box, of well dressed people playing the games.
One of the 3M games, Flounder, was chosen to be the second game played. Pancake had never played it, and thus had no unfair advantage. The game involved turning over tiles to make words. The rules featured the troubling phrase “legitimate word”. Cusswords served as nouns and verbs. When a player formed a word, he rang the bell, making an appropriately obnoxious sound. Once, PG reached for the bell, only to place his finger on top of Pancake’s finger. Pancake eventually won the game, and was the only player to have a score above zero.
By this time, the coffee shop was getting ready to close. PG walked back to his car, and saw that it was neither booted nor broken into. Another group of friends was meeting at a bar on Ponce de Leon, but the parking situation was hopeless. PG went home.
Pictures from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.