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View Poll Results: When did you first play TFT?
1970s 59 59.60%
1980s 24 24.24%
1990s 0 0%
2000s 4 4.04%
2010s 1 1.01%
Haven't played yet 11 11.11%
Voters: 99. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 08-02-2018, 10:40 PM   #1
DarkPumpkin
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
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Default When did you first play TFT?

Thought it might be interesting to take a poll of when folks started with the game. Playing solitaire counts, as does any form of TFT including simple Melee.

Last edited by DarkPumpkin; 08-02-2018 at 10:44 PM.
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Old 08-02-2018, 10:42 PM   #2
JLV
 
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Default Re: When did you first play TFT?

1977 -- original edition Melee, in El Paso, Texas. I was 17.
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Old 08-02-2018, 10:50 PM   #3
DarkPumpkin
 
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Default Re: When did you first play TFT?

Quote:
Originally Posted by JLV View Post
1977 -- original edition Melee, in El Paso, Texas. I was 17.
I wonder about geographical distribution in those days, too. Did Metagaming have a good distribution system nationwide or was there a Texan or regional bias?

For me as an Australian I remember seeing a few copies on the shelves at gaming shops around 1983-85. I didn't buy it, although the covers left an impression with the gothic font and gloomy coloration (which I'm glad to see have been retained in the Legacy Edition). There can't have been many players in Australia at all, and if there was ever a hardcore Australian fan base I never came across it.

Last edited by DarkPumpkin; 08-02-2018 at 10:54 PM.
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Old 08-02-2018, 11:03 PM   #4
JLV
 
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Default Re: When did you first play TFT?

I think Metagaming had a pretty good distribution throughout the US -- they'd been around for a while (though not one of the "giants" of the US gaming industry like TSR, SPI or Avalon Hill), and had a good reputation in terms of quality of rules and games (physical components were a bit weak, but printing was harder to do back then than it is now, too). But I don't think they ever got much entry into foreign markets. This, despite the fact that I think it was a good deal cheaper back then to ship something overseas, and customs duties and VATs and the like weren't as deadly back then to physical products.

Of course, the above opinion may or may not bear much relationship to the reality; I'm just remembering what I knew at the time about gaming in general.

(I would have been a big hit in the gaming community if I'd moved to Australia back then -- I had a collection of several hundred wargames and RPGs at the time Melee came out; and I found out years later that most of you had never heard of a good half of them!)
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Old 08-03-2018, 12:07 AM   #5
Wayne
 
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Location: Geelong, Australia
Default Re: When did you first play TFT?

Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkPumpkin View Post
There can't have been many players in Australia at all, and if there was ever a hardcore Australian fan base I never came across it.
We started our TFT campaign in 1981 when I was at Melbourne Uni. I don't think we'd qualify as hard core though…
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Old 08-03-2018, 12:27 AM   #6
Desertmonkey
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
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Default Re: When did you first play TFT?

I grew up in New Jersey and picked up Melee in my FLGS in like 1979, maybe 1980. It was the first game system I bought on my own after a friend introduced me to D&D. That store carried a lot of the Metagaming line.
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Old 08-03-2018, 02:01 AM   #7
Venomous Filigree
 
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Default Re: When did you first play TFT?

Probably 70s, maybe early 80s.
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Old 08-03-2018, 02:09 AM   #8
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Default Re: When did you first play TFT?

I bought Advanced Mêlée, Advanced Wizard, and In the Labyrinth at Napoleon's Military Bookshop in Sydney in 1982, and ran campaigns at UNSW in 1982 and 1983.
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Old 08-03-2018, 04:08 AM   #9
Chris Rice
 
Join Date: Dec 2017
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Default Re: When did you first play TFT?

Living in Glasgow, we were playing D&D from about 1978 but I don't remember seeing any TFT stuff until my friend brought Melee back from London maybe '79 or '80. I managed to get my hands on Advanced Melee and Wizard and finally ITL but I never saw any of the Microquests, GM Screen Codex or anything else here.

There was one other group playing TFT at Glasgow University in the early '80s when I was there, so it wasn't totally unknown, but it was rare. By that time I was using TFT mechanics for Sci-Fi and Horror stuff rather than Fantasy.
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Old 08-03-2018, 04:19 AM   #10
CardDiceian
 
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Default Re: When did you first play TFT?

I answered 1980's - I'm sure it would have been about 1980 - bought from Esdevium Games in Aldershot (Hampshire) -UK.
Quickly followed by ITL and advanced books + Microquests - Death Test 1 & 2 & Grail Quest.
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