From building railroads to uncovering secret fascists there is no limit to the imagination within Cardiff’s boardgame community. As an outsider, one might wonder, what benefits does this community provide to its members and our wider society? The answer, as with most things in life, is more complicated than it seems.

 

Who are they?

A quick google search will provide any prospective boardgame seeker with various groups who meet in and around the city. What they offer tends to vary from one organization to the other. Popular boardgame retailer Rules of Play offers organized events within local pubs as well as various family gaming events. Others run less structured meetups, communicating through Facebook groups for the boardgamer seeking a more casual experience.

 

Delving into Cardiff’s boardgame community it’s immediately apparent that the members don’t fit the outdated stereotypical label of “gamer.” Instead, I discovered an extremely diverse range of people; individuals coming from very different walks of life. It’s also quickly obvious that these meetups not only provide a great place to connect with like-minded persons but for some it provides a safe haven; a distraction from the other, more problematic areas in their life.

A Personal Perspective

However, life isn’t always just fun and games. One individual well acquainted with this community is twenty-two year old Cardiff based boardgame enthusiast Jakob. Speaking to him, I discovered that board-games not only provide endless hours of entertainment but a solace from what he describes as the more “confrontational areas of society.”

Hailing from East England, Jakob spent his school years in an all-male private school in which engaging with athletics was highly encouraged. However, he stressed that it wasn’t like the typical high school drama:

“There weren’t popular jocks who bullied the unpopular geeks, but because I wasn’t involved with sport I felt regularly excluded from discussions and social events. They weren’t bad people, they didn’t realize what they were doing and how it was affecting (people like) me.”

Jakob suffered with depression throughout his secondary school years, he attributes this to an inability to connect with his fellow classmates as well as an aversion to confrontational activities. However this all changed when we made a move to the bustling Welsh capital. He discovered the Sunday Board Gamers, a group of gamers who convene every Sunday for their favourite tabletop pastime. Jakob hadn’t heard of the group until his flatmate mentioned that she often attended.

“As a child I loved boardgames and would often play with my grandparents, after they passed I just sort of stopped. After discovering the group, I felt immediately at ease in their presence, it felt like home”

 

Moving Forward

From a logistical point of view, the boardgaming community is moving from strength to strength with thousands of members in Cardiff alone. The community provides a great space to meet others with the same interests or just to relax and enjoy some Azul. Jakob is currently doing well to manage his depression and is designing his own board game, “The Secret Hitlers of Catan” or SHOC, an amalgamation of his 2 favourite games involving deceit and domination.

 

Sounds fun, exciting and slightly terrifying.