I write a lot about board games: reviews of games; the shape of our game collection; mods of games and the reasons I’ve made them; essays suggested by the themes of the games that I play...
Implicit in all of these words is an exhortation. Turn off Netflix. Clear the table. Invite a friend over. Try THIS game...
But why? Why do I go on so? What’s so great about playing board games?
1) They’re fun. Fun to play. There’s pleasure in inhabiting a game’s rule set, in competing to best navigate the puzzles a game presents. They’re fun in simpler ways too.
Take their shiny bits and pieces for example.
Board game bits are fun to pick up and hold, fun to move around during a game. It’s even fun spilling them onto the table and putting them in their places to set up play. And fun for some (me) to sort and bag after play, and put back into the game box for the next time the game is pulled off the shelf.
Too trivial? Games are educational too. They teach skills like arithmetic and probability. And strategic lessons like patience, cooperation and flexibility.
They also impart their fair share of facts. A well designed and well themed game will immerse you in a world of detail. Because the elements of play are the most important part of any game, the thematic or historical content layered onto a game presents itself in a subtle way over time, through play, quite unlike more linear genres such as literature, lecture or essay. Maybe I’m weird, but many games I’ve played have spurred me to read more about their theme / setting after playing them.
All of these merits pale, however, compared to the social dimensions of board gaming.
You can’t (in general) play a board game alone. You have to gather to play. Unlike video games, board games cannot be played remotely.* Gathering means snacks, hellos and goodbyes, how’s it going? and where’ve you been? Sitting down together means smiles and present laughter. Playing together means body language, mock theatrics, and joking around.
Getting together with friends to eat, chat and play, that’s what’s great about board games!
Of course, board gaming changed in March 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic made gathering to play dangerous. As we now know, sitting at a table with others, indoors, talking animatedly for several hours is an ideal way to spread COVID-19. A traditional game night violates the safe physical distancing, air circulation, and exposure time guidelines provided by public health officials.
Board gaming has had to adapt.
Turns out (*), you can play board games from afar. Gamers everywhere are finding ways to play games together remotely. Here we're playing Ticket to Ride using a video conferencing service.
One end of the call acted as the 'dealer' (photo at left). They maintained the shuffling and dealing of all cards. The other end of the call sorted and alphabetized their decks of cards, so that they could easily take cards into their hands when 'dealt' to them (photo at right). To deal cards face down, the dealer would hold the next card from a deck up to the Web camera without looking at it, and only the recipient of the card would look at their screen while the card was being shown. Both sides of the call laid out every player's trains on their game board resulting in two identical boards, so that everyone could strategize without squinting at their screen.
This system was a little clunky, but it worked! They got out chips. We got out chips. And we all chatted over top of the tinkle of little plastic train cars.