A new board games club is helping people scratch their gaming itch

Colin Lam had a strong group of five friends with whom he regularly played tabletop games, and when they moved away, Lam came to Guelph and filled his gaming needs by starting the Guelph Tabletop Gaming Club.

“We all ended up going our separate ways,” Lam said. “So, it’s very difficult to get everyone back together.”

He moved to Guelph a year ago, and as a way to bring together people with similar interests, he started the club about three months ago.

The group meets on Friday at 7pm at The Round Table on Essex Street. The group discusses in advance the parameters of the games through Sedition Audio, video and text platform. Dozens of people have joined the club so far.

“Ideally, it will grow to include everyone who is interested,” Lam said.

The group divides into smaller groups and plays separate games at the table.

“It sounds so corny, but it can be anything you want. I like to think of it because as kids we sometimes act out role-playing fantasies where we pretend to be a knight who goes to save the village from whatever it is,” Lam said.

“Backgammon is basically a framework for doing this with a group of friends,” he said.

Many of the members are new to Guelph, Lamm said. “Many of them have experience with backgammon. Many of them have been interested for a long time and were looking for an opportunity to meet people who play,” he said.

Lam has been playing board games since he was 15 years old. During the pandemic he was part of a group that played Dungeons and Dragons. The backgammon game continued for a year and a half.

For Guelph Tabletop Gaming Club games, they can be picked up from previous weeks. At a given time, the game can last for approximately two to eight hours.

People of any age can join the club. There are some rules that Lam encourages. “Make efforts to be inclusive and make efforts to be sensitive to other people’s preferences. If they have boundaries, try to respect them,” he said.

Some club members may prefer to play a board game that has a sci-fi, fantasy, or other type of story.

Sometimes people bring figurines to represent the characters in the game.

“As part of a fairly in-depth session, one of my friends brought over these very elaborate dragon cups,” Lam said. “We were supposed to make the atmosphere a little more immersive. Pretend we were all in a bar.