This is not like the board game nights of your childhood.
Instead of four or five people clustered around a Monopoly board perched on a rickety table in a rumpus room, groups of gamers gather at the Hide Out Café in New Westminster every second Friday to test their knowledge and best their friends.
The old standards such as Clue, Snakes and Ladders and Connect Four are replaced by much more advanced games that move quickly and require critical thinking.
Organizer Kirby Krilow was surprised to see how much board games had evolved when he first entered a board game store years ago, he says.
"I was looking to socialize and a friend took me to a board game store, and then I found out that they are a lot different than when I grew up," he says. "They're shorter, more strategic, (and) rely more on thinking rather than just randomness."
Krilow owns Board Game Warriors at 708 Clarkson St. and started holding board game nights at his store about five years ago. He formed the Meetup group, The Board Gamers of Vancouver and Beyond the Infinite, in January 2009.
It was popular from the get-go, he says. Now, there are more than 800 members in the Meetup group, though the average attendance for Friday game nights is about 20 people, according to Krilow.
"We got a pretty good response right away," he says, adding many of his friends joined up and have stayed members. “We try to keep it very casual."
The events are usually for grownup gamers, though children are welcome so long as they come with an adult, Krilow says.
"We kind of gear it more towards adults," he explains. "If kids come to play, we usually ask that they come with parents."
Krilow prefers economic games that focus on getting and processing resources.
"But if I had to pick one game, I'd probably go with Arkham Horror," he says of one of his favourites, a co-op game based on H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.
The social aspect and challenge of board games appeal to him most, Krilow adds.
"I like socializing, I like exercising my brain," he says. "I like finding games that offer something different."
For people who haven't played board games in years, he suggests starting with "gateway games" such as Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride or Carcassonne.
Last January, Krilow began holding Friday game nights at the Hide Out Café with the help of fellow organizer Melissa Serrano, who owns it.
According to Serrano, Krilow was a customer when they began talking about the idea a year or two ago.
"It's awesome," she says of the gaming nights. "A lot of regulars are coming but there are also newcomers. It changes every couple of weeks."
Krilow says he would like to expand and do more in the New Westminster community.
"I want to reach out to more businesses," Krilow says, adding they play at the River Market on Sunday afternoons, sometimes with other Meetup groups such as Extremely Shy Vancouver.
"If I wasn't spread so thin I'd probably do more things like that," he says.
For more information, go to Meetup.com and search for The Board Gamers of Vancouver and Beyond the Infinite.
