Why play boardgames?

When there are so many things to do with your precious time and your one life, why do people choose to spend them on boardgames?

I wondered this myself for a while.

I grew up in a limited income household.

Money was tight AF. I had a brother and sister I grew up with and we had to create our own fun. One of the things we did have was a few boardgames. My siblings would get a new one for a bday or Christmas and that would be our new jam.

We were able to just be kids , have fun and learn something new. It was an escape of sorts, and games where we could learn and joke and play and have the playing field be leveled and start fresh, from scratch. We didn’t have to be the sad little church warehouse food people & the divorced broken home kids.

In our current world, everything is rush rush rush now now now, there is something cathartic about sitting down with old and new frenz, learning or revising a beloved board game. Some of them you won’t like, some will be over your head or maybe out of your wheelhouse of interest, and all that is okay. You will absolutely find a few or many games you love and really enjoy playing. You’ll find your vein of interest. ( We can also help you with that!)

It’s not just moving pieces on a board, or having something to do. We all have something to do. We have plenty to do. It’s about refocusing the stresses of the day, letting them by the wayside and letting go of anything you have to be in your daily life and just being able to lose yourself in a game with some frenz.

Whether your game of choice on a given day is a worker placement, party game, deck building game or even if you don't know what those are, there is a boardgame for you! There is a gaming group and there is a space to play games, let your hair down or back or whatever.

Put on your comfy clothes, get a game, any game to start with, and join us in the geeked out gaming revolution where we are taking our time back and intentionally gathering together, laughing, joking, having the best time and letting all the garbage stress just go away. Step into a game and step back into your life.

Amber's Top Ten Board Games of ALL Time

Amber gives her take on the best board games.

I always thought I only liked Scattergories and Taboo until I met Curtis and now the sky's the limit.

“I've come to realize I enjoy a deck building game (wtf?), co-operative games, party games (always), and worker placement as well. I know, for me, this is total WTF. Buttttttttt, here are my top 10 .”

Amber's Top Ten Board Games:

10: Taboo. This will forever be one of my favorite games and I am a MASTER at it.

9: Signorie.

8: Takenoko

7: Castles of Burgundy

6: Small World. - It's a world of slaughter for sure. I do love this game a ton and I was super weirded out by it at first. Played it at my first MeepleCon in Vegas and was sort of horrified by it and then we started playing, and about 4 rounds in, I got it and ended up loving it and have ever since.

5: Dominion

4: Five Tribes

3: Legendary Encounters

2: Carcassone. Simple but strategic, easy enough to play with family but also good for people who are still stuck on games like Monopoly and Sorry; gives them a little oomph in their life without the overwhelm of a heavy euro.

1: Pandemic! Aaaggghhhhh! I LOVE this game to my bones. LOVE. Something about it being an end of the world scenario that plays to my Dan Brown fandom and conspiracy theorism and everyone working together to stop the end of the world - that's what we are really doing in life, aren't we? It makes you think and you really have to be mindful of how you use your movements and your turn in conjunction with the other players skills and doing all that before the outbreak is just thrilling and also stressful for me. But I love it! The On the Brink expansion is super fun with the little petri dishes and gives it an extra dimension. And I still need to play Pandemic Legacy.

If I can play these games, basically anyone can. I have the attention span of a gnat so that's never an excuse for "Oh I don't have a good attention span." And half the time during a game I am getting up getting up getting up to attend to a kid. So I am proof that anyone can find some great games that they jive with, and get on board with this board game movement that is sweeping the nation and is amazing and fun.