White Box Favorite

Some Reasons Why
Almost 40 years gaming Fantastic Medieval Wargames Campaigns and I am still in love with my first system. Maybe we all are. I have had this conversation with more than one gamer who still has a soft spot for their "first game". White Box wasn't my first "game", just my first in what has become known as role-playing games. Maybe it is because I worked so hard to "get it" in the sense of deciphering the text and understanding the new concepts that I have convinced myself all that effort was worth it.  Maybe nostalgia plays a more prominent role in my preference than I am willing to admit. I do have some rational reasons why I still prefer White Box and how it continues to influence every game I play.
I view White Box as a "tool kit" game. It doesn't advertise itself that way, not like some others have ( looking at you GURPS or Rolemaster or RuneQuest 6th). The fact that it gives you a choice of combat systems in a game where combat is central to gameplay says "tool kit" to me. At least that is the way I approach White Box and incidentally every other RPG since. I like to tinker and use my imagination. I like to read and borrow from other sources. I like to combine ideas and see how well (or not) they work together to give a desired effect. The term "modular" isn't applied to White Box by its authors either, but I believe it fits. One can change things in White Box without breaking the rest of the system, so to me its "modular".
I like the abstract and quick combat system. Combat for me needs to be quick to keep the action flowing like a good sword & sorcery story. Furious hacking, splashing blood and bodies dropping almost every round. Combats that bog down into multiple rounds can give the impression of two massively powerful opponents wearing each other out and that can be useful to game out at times, but generally I like my combat quick and dirty, then move on to the next scene/room. I prefer much of the action take place in the player's imagination rather than micromanage some miniature figures on a grid and try to remember, or worse look up, some half forgotten rule during swordplay and spell-slinging.
I still enjoy dungeon and hex crawls and White Box does crawling well. The advice in Underworld & Wilderness Adventures to add additional outside materials, specifically the Avalon Hill Outdoor Survival game, to aid in some interesting wilderness adventures, and the Chainmail rules for jousting, strongly suggest to me that adding to the White Box is exactly what the designers had in mind for us to do. What fun that has been discovering new products (some never intended to be used in role-playing) to add to the game and figuring out clever ways to use them.
I am a fan of the White Box "Saving Throw Matrix". I like the categories, "Death Ray or Poison", "All Wands Including Polymorph and Paralization", "Stone", "Dragon Breath" and "Staves and Spells". I like "save or die" (in some instances), I like "save verses death" to avoid dying and as a referee I like to be able to pick and choose among the saves determining when to use which. I prefer the very minimal attribute bonuses of White Box over the more substantial bonuses given in Greyhawk and beyond. I prefer the character classes without the thief allowing all PCs to attempt thief stuff. I like d6s for Hit Points and for weapon damage - it makes sense to me that any (1st level) person can potentially be killed with any weapon. I prefer a deadly campaign and rules that are not too complicated so players can run more than one PC. I like using henchmen and hirelings, big parties, ten-foot poles and lots of rope (good for creative solutions to challenges). I like Law Neutrality and Chaos as alignments and good and evil as morality rather than alignment. I like coin as experience because it rewards getting the money not necessarily killing the monster.
I also like the Vancian magic system in White Box. White Box magic is easy to use "in game" and the spell selection presents opportunities for creative use. I like divine magic being distinct from arcane magic and I like all the color and details (schools of magic, spell components, deities, etc) left for the players and referee to furnish making each campaign unique. I also like how easy it is to pull out the magic system and insert an alternative if that is the referee's pleasure.
I prefer humanocentric campaigns where human PCs predominate, so I am OK with level limits for demihumans because it makes one think twice before opting for the non-human character. I like it that White Box only includes three nonhuman races. Referees can always make more and unique races are part of what can distinguish a campaign setting.
I am a fan of the old style b&w art of White Box. It has an amateur press, DIY feel to it that fits right in with how I feel about the hobby in general. There is a bit of comic book, sword & sorcery, dark fantasy, and mythology mix with some hints of Tolkien - elements of popular culture that all come together in White Box. I also like magic swords with ego.