YORKTON - So our humble little Meeple Guild group – we figured we needed a catchy name one day long ago – held its first game’s night at the Yorkton Public Library.
To be honest we weren’t sure what to expect in terms of response and would not have been surprised had no one showed night one, but there were people, and that is outstanding.
A lady in her eighties just looking for an evening activity was there and played crokinole for the first time in her life. How incredible to introduce her to one of the best board games ever created – yes that is my very biased opinion.
And there were youngsters too,
That was gratifying considering we tend to think of youngsters only being interested in sitting in front of a computer playing video games. Now there is nothing wrong with video games. In fact, one can list a lot of worse activities to be involved with, but we happen to have a soft spot for board games – the tactile feel of physically moving pieces around a board, and the face-to-face connection of sharing a game table.
That one of the young players spoke of enjoying classics such as Go and chess was an added bonus for an abstract strategy fan such as yours truly. I rather look forward to introducing him to Alice chess and Othello and Hive and Lines of Action and Abalone and, well a lot of games come to mind.
Of course that is now our challenge in the weeks ahead, matching games to the interests of those who show up Tuesday evenings at the library.
The games have to fit the venue in the sense they can’t be onerous to teach, nor too long to play given it is a time-limited evening.
We can’t just ask either because there are so many games players may never have heard of they might enjoy – for example Through the Desert comes to mind.
And, it may be that a game some may want to try we don’t have in our collection.
But, fear not we have quite a few, even great older games such as cribbage, and Mexican Train dominoes.
Still, the journey of promoting board games, building a more vibrant community is going to be fun, and maybe it’ll catch on in other communities too.
Come on down and let’s play some board games.
Our little guild is going to take another step to promote board gaming too.
We recognize the library is not the perfect locale for every game, so we are going to be at Tapps Sports Lounge & Grill every second Sunday with some Blood Bowl fantasy football boards on the table for some Orc versus Norse and Skaven versus Lizard Men action. The venue will allow a bit more animation in play – within reason of course – and the ability to enjoy a refreshment in the process.
The afternoons will be very informal so grab your board and team if you have them and join us.
Never played Blood Bowl – well Google away – then pop down and we’ll let you give it a try.
There are a number of fine fantasy football games, but among them Blood Bowl is the granddaddy, remaining highly entertaining.
This could be such a blast, so come check it out.
