Some of you may know him personally, some of you may not. I met Stan in the summer of 2012. He and I both work in Emergency Departments in Milwaukee, WI. We met at work briefly (we do different jobs) and later he showed to a group outing and since then he never, I mean never, left my side.  

A couple of things struck me about first meeting Stan. First of all his accent. He’s a Russian immigrant, came over at age 18, but super fluent in English. I was instantly amazed by his brain power to have mastered 2 languages while I always tried to keep my 6 years of Spanish cohesive enough for vacation travel.  

Secondly lets be honest. He is fit! Even at his ripe old age.. he has a work out ethic which equals mine. So right off the bat we have something in common, work, gym. 

Where is this going you ask? (Patience! I’m getting there.).  

Thirdly he’s got an amazing, caring, warm, generous family. Supportive of him, and ultimately supportive of me. WOW jackpot, I won the lottery!  

So off we go into dating life. We were younger then, so, breweries, gym time, sports, friend events. Yadayadayada. Cool, then one year later. Emphasis here- ONE YEAR “Hey Rachel, would you check out this board game I made?” 

Huh? Yea , um sure. No problem I know games, I played a lot of card games growning up. Monopoly yea no problem.  

Uh no its kinda more involved than that. I made a board game and its loosely based on the Game of Thrones map and houses and you have to play cards with actions on them and collect victory points.  

ME: What is a victory point? And why does it have such a bland, obvious name?  

Stan: Don’t worry about that. Focus on helping me make this game better. 

Me: I’m not sure how to do that. How did you get into this? I mean board games.  

Stan: Well.. I didn’t want you to think I was a nerd but I have been playing and making board games since I was a teenager.  

WHATINTHE? 

Off we go. Chief playtester for Stan Kordonskiy games. Rachel Kordonskiy takes flight.