Starting a Board Game Club

[Psymonkee]

Hey,

In my local area there is a big void where no board games are played which makes me a sad panda

The nearest places I have are 2 in Dundee (some 30 mins drive) and both are heavily Magic based which really isn't my thing after a few goes at playing it.

Heading the other way there is a games club/store in Kirkcaldy which opens to members and the public alike to play games on a regular basis and they usually play a broad selection. The downside is that it's 35 - 40 mins drive which puts me off.

Since discovering that I'm trying to start a group in my local area (a group for this exists on Facebook already ) but I'm struggling a bit with ideas for meeting locations.

The obvious starting venue would be the pubs in town but that could potentially put people off which would hardly be a good start. The biggest thing they have going for them is the ability to turn up and play without too much bother. Obviously this would change when students come back to town.

Other ideas I've had are the local Library meeting space, local school community use and town/village halls. With the exception of the Library option these will likely cost (what I don't know yet) which would have course be fine once up and running but less than ideal for a start up.

Any other good suggestions or ideas on how to successfully get something like this off the ground? What would you want to see or not want to see in a games club?

Cheers for any help

 

[Tunney]

I help run a wargames club in north London. The club has been running for over 15 years with lots of highs and lows along the way. Wargames require a lot more space than board games so you should hopefully find it easier. We started in a couple of rooms at a school but found the costs were too high (£70 a night). The club was very successful in terms of numbers (including many current and former students from the school) but just a couple of bad nights could kill us financially. The club eventually moved to a church hall where the hire cost of £30 was much more manageable. We charge people £4 a night and so we can break even when only eight people turn up. Any extra money goes towards buying games and scenery for the club. The downside is that there's little encouragement for us to actively seek new members, especially now that everyone has other time-consuming commitments in life.

I'm now involved with a less formal group that meets down the pub fortnightly to play board games. There's a split in the group between magic players and board gamers, with me being firmly in the board gamers camp. It's all run through Facebook and it's working well so far. Facebook is a really easy way to run events and connect with people. The club has grown out of an extended network of friends so numbers have been good so far. We tend to decide in advance what games to play as this seems to encourage less committed people to turn up and means that we don't spend ages at the start of each session arguing over which game to play. Personally, I'd rather play somewhere other than the pub. I spend way more on beer than I would on subs and it's not going to help my waistline. I also worry that someone is going to spill a drink over my lovely games.

Good luck with your club.

 

[Psymonkee]

Thanks for the response!

Finally tracked down some pricing for a classroom at the local school and at £15/hour it's not going to be cheap like you say.

Waiting till my day off to get in touch with the Library (working awkward hours) and see what sort of price they can come up with.

Grim start at least!

 

[Pookie Bear]

Thanks for the response!

Finally tracked down some pricing for a classroom at the local school and at £15/hour it's not going to be cheap like you say.

Waiting till my day off to get in touch with the Library (working awkward hours) and see what sort of price they can come up with.

Grim start at least!

Church halls are definitely the way to go.

My local church not only hires out the hall for very small amounts, they also have a related cafe-type place which hires itself out and has tea/coffee facilities.

 

[Bickaxe]

Do any pubs have back rooms near you?

The few I have used let me have the room for free as we were buying drinks and food, otherwise the room would get no use.

Church/village halls work well too but usually have food and drink rules.

Try Meetup.com, may have something in your area already.