Post by strikeout114 on Jul 10, 2014 18:16:50 GMT -5
I'm 58 years old. I didn't grow up a wrestling fan. Yet, here I am anxiously awaiting the day when a white envelope will arrive in my post office box.
So, how did I get to be this way?
I found myself a single father when my son was only two years old. Obviously, I needed to work to support us and he needed to be cared for while I worked. So, I found a wonderful older couple to baby-sit him Monday-Friday while I labored for our daily bread. What I knew of this couple was that they loved my son and were fiercely protective of him and met his every need. What I didn't know was that they were wrestling fanatics. What I would soon find out is that if you left a young, impressionable little boy with two wrestling fanatics that you'd end up with three wrestling fanatics.
I remember my son saying things like "Oh, yeah" and "listen brother" and wasn't sure where he'd originally heard those utterances. I soon found out as he told me he wanted to watch rasslin'.
Now,I had enjoyed watching wrestling the few times I'd been exposed to it growing up but, I'd never really sat down and absorbed it. But, soon I was watching it with my son every time it came on. Mostly it was WCW and from time-to-time WW- but, either way he loved it all. I learned about his favorites Sting, and Ricky Steamboat, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, etc.
Soon, I was buying him wrestling videos, action figures, and as he got older he discovered wrestling magazines, particularly PWI. So, we'd sit and read PWI together. Eventually, I found a couple of ads for wrestling games. One was for a game that promised real-life wrestlers who wrestled like they did it real life. Well, by now I'd introduced my son to Strat-O-Matic so, I figured he'd go for a Strat-type wrestling game. The other was for a futuristic wrestling federation known as the GWF. The ads for it looked great, the art was superb (Carter's Spike and Star Warrior then, Snelly's SE for Bishop Hell) so, I figured I'd check it out, too.
Christmas 1992 was coming up and I placed orders for both games. For the Filsinger Games product I ordered both 2087 and 2088.
A white envelope showed up about two weeks prior to Christmas. I opened it up and checked out the game to see if I thought my son would like it. I got a nephew to play with me to "test" it out and it seemed pretty cool so, I was well pleased.
Christmas came (the other game didn't and wouldn't 'til early February) and my son's eyes lit up when he opened (re-opened) that white envelope. We immediately set up a tournament to crown a heavyweight champion. When we began to play my son (he was eight at the time) fell in love with the game. We played through the tournament and set up a big "supercard" to play out the semifinals and final. The final came down to Star Warrior and Commander Sam.
My son rolled the dice to determine who he'd get and ended up with SW. I was glad as I knew we both wanted Star Warrior to win. We rolled to see who got the first move and it was Sam. I rolled a six on Lvl 1 offense for Sam's Slam-3 (we only use choice charts when a wrestler can gain an advantage . . . why sacrifice a sure 3 move for a maybe 3 move?). He rolled SW's pin which was a 2 on his initial card. He then rolled snake eyes and in one move our big tourney ended and Sam claimed the gold.
We laughed and played some more. As my son's love for the game grew so did mine. I mean this game was gold. My son and I grew closer than ever with the rolling of those dice.
Aside: the other game arrived. The wrestlers had no artwork, no names, a move or two that might tip you off as to who they were supposed to be and about two dozen cumbersome charts to "move" the match along. It went into a closet and remains packed away in a box somewhere in my house today.
A month after placing my original order I ordered 2089-2096 and we had everything available. Then, something happened. We had to wait for the release of 2097. Oh, agony! That was our first taste of white envelope anticipation and, when it came, white envelope gratification.
Well, the years went by and I found myself watching wrestling even when my son wasn't around and realized I'd become a fan. As he got older the game became something that would hold us together through the tough times that families experience when children grow up and become teenagers. As high school came, and football, baseball, and girls, girls, girls, we'd sometimes not see eye-to-eye but, it seemed that we'd always patch things up by rolling the dice. I found myself truly grateful for this game and found that I cherished it like a friend.
When he approached the age when he'd move out and go his own way I bought second copies of each of the sets so, that we could both continue to play. When he got married I thought that maybe COTG would be cast aside but, no . . . he'll call me sometimes and tell me he's playing "Galaxy" and he'll tell me his match results. He started over with 2087 and I believe he's in 2090 now. One of the cool things about his restart was that in our fed when he was a boy Massif won only a tag title and Exo-King never won anything. His first two Galaxian champions? Massif and Exo-King.
As the years have passed we've purchased every game under the COTG umbrella: CPC, Legends, aCe, LOTF, GWFZ, Chikara, CZW, Hollywood, ROH, heck I even bought the Shimmer set after awhile, plus of course, Evolve. We've loved it all.
My son turned 30 in April. His in-laws (wonderful people) had a surprise birthday party for him on the 24th (his birthdate). A couple of days later he came to my house and we played a Legends card and a special GWFF card from Kronus where the 2087's battled it out versus the Black Death era (with a couple of other colorized cards thrown in). The birthday party was great but, the COTG gameplay was magical. We laughed and had a glorious time.
So, now we both wait for the white envelopes to come carrying 2130, ROH Tradition, and hey, Tom's new book. I cannot wait. Neither can my son.
So, what does this game mean to me? It is one of the threads that has woven my life and my son's life together. It is precious to me. It is priceless.
I hope to be a Grandpa one day. And I hope to one day watch as my grandchild (boy or girl) opens one of those white envelopes that says FILSINGER GAMES on it. That's what COTG means to me.
From the bottom of my heart, Thanks, Tom.
