Everyone’s on ‘board’

A number of clubs and communities in the city are helping boards games gain popularity—not just as a fun pastime, but as a serious recreational activity. And it’s not just your regular Monopoly or Scotland yard. Blurred, Quess, Agricola, Concordia and a number of other rare yet internationally acclaimed board games are increasingly finding favour among the city’s board game-lovers. And it’s thanks to a few folks who are going to great lengths to make them available in the city. We look at the communities and the people behind them, who are bringing board games back in fashion.

TableTop Nerds: If you are not the socialising type and would much rather play your favourite board games in the comfort of you house with your own friends, TableTop Nerds is just for you. While not exactly a community, TableTop Nerds is a platform, which brings a selection of board games right to your home at a price. And once again, it’s not just the classics we are talking about. With dozens of internationally acclaimed board games to select from and nominal charges, this service by avid board gamer Kushal Shah promises to make evening at home a fun activity. Kushal says, “Getting your hands on games can be extremely difficult, as they have to be shipped from mostly US or Europe. These games can cost upwards of '5,000. We wanted to make these games more popular in the city and thought why not we ship them here and provide them on rent. Initially, getting all the games together was very difficult. But now we have a collection of several interesting games.” Telling us how his service works, Kushal says, “The charges start from '200 for three hours per game, per person, but mostly depend on what game it is and how far the location is. All the money we make is used to procure more board games.” Some of the interesting options they have are Sequence, Splendour, Settlers of Catan, Codenames and Bohnanza.

Board Games Bash: Board Games Bash one of the first players in the market was formed in 2008 when a group of ten friends got together. Since then it has only grown. Mihir, one of the founding members of the Facebook-based community, tells us, “I started with my own collection of about 20 board games as a fun activity for me and my friends. Initially we used to do it informally, but one day I just thought, why not invite other people as well and formed a community group on Facebook. From just ten people initially, we now have over 1,700 members on our platform and organise events regularly across several venues.” Telling us about how it works, Mihir says, “We organise a number of regular events through the year where we get people interested in board games to come and play. Usually the number of people ranges from 50 to even more than 100. One such popular event, that we organise regularly is Under The Stars where we play board games out in the open. One of the most frequented venues is the podium in the corner of Carter Road.”

But the idea is not just to have fun but to also popularise board games, says Mihir. “We have a rule that at every event we introduce two new board games. There are several lesser played games like Blurred and Quess that people now play regularly at our events. Our aim is to make board games a prominent sub-culture in the city,” adds Mihir.

Tabletop India: One of the recent communities for board games to come up, TableTop India is a not for profit entity. Telling us how it was formed, Apar Maniar, a founding member of the community says, “We had always been avid board-gamers. When the International TableTop Day came up last year, we decided to conduct a small event to celebrate the occasion and planned an open event for 10-odd people. However, on the day of the event, some 70-odd people showed up and that’s when we realised that we needed a community for board games. Our main aim is to popularise board games in the world in the city. Our events are open and usually conducted in South Mumbai but we’ve also conducted events in places like Andheri.” Unlike popular conception, board games are not always light. Some of these games need in-depth strategy and understanding, says Apar. “Some of the favourites of our members are Cyclades, Concordia, Agricola and Settlers of Catan.