Last night's gaming

We split into two tables of four, and started setting up Galaxy Trucker and Dungeon Petz -- but then a 9th person turned up, so Dungeon Petz went back in its box, and we played Maori instead.

The truckers filled with a game of Pickomino. The Maoris had a go at The Isle of Doctor Necreaux which was just awful. A charitable view is that with 5 players it's not at its best -- but I don't see much promise with fewer players either.

Play board games in Leamington tonight

Newbold Comyn Arms; 8pm; etc.

Possibilities include:

• Ghost Stories - I still haven't played it
• Tikal I or II
• A little bird tells me Andy K has The Isle of Dr. Necreaux; hmm.
• Other.

Magic the Gathering draft results

So congratulations to Gary (that's me) and Adam. I'm not sure which way that final game between me and Adam would have gone had we not run out of time. The decks seemed to be quite closely matched.

Name	Points	OMW%
Gary	7	0.5
Adam	7	0.443333333
Marina	6	0.666666667
Pete T	6	0.555555556
Ray	6	0.554444444
Matt	4	0.443333333
John	3	0.443333333
Pete S	3	0.5
Stephen	1	0.555555556

Board Silly - Early start for some tonight

Don't forget: If you want to draft some Magic The Gathering tonight then please try and get there early.  We are hoping for a 7'o'clock start.  I'm also hoping there's an 8 man table available after the pub has been so busy in recent weeks! Bring £7.50 so we can reimburse Pete for supplying the cards.

If you don't want to do that, but do want to play the usual set of board and card games then turn up at the usual 8pm with the usual games and the usual 50p.

Hope to see you all there.

Last night's gaming

Plenty of people last night, split into 4 tables:

• Eclipse -- A big game that they turned up early to set up. Although the four players only made it through 6 of the 9 rounds that would make a full game, they loved it -- and reckon that next time they can make up 45 minutes by already knowing the rules.
• Tikal II: The Lost Temple -- new club game. We think we liked it, but we'll have to play again to apply anything like a strategy. If you didn't like Tikal, don't worry -- this has very little in common with it apart from theme and the presence of hexagons.
• Troyes -- they appeared to be enjoying themselves.
• Saint Petersburg followed by Race for the Galaxy

So you want your own board gaming club?

This post isn't really for our regulars. Nor for anyone living within striking distance of Leamington -- keep coming to Board Silly; or if you're not already doing so, start.

No, it's for passers-by who might see what we're doing and want to do something similar. Board Silly is pretty successful right now -- my success criterion being that I can just turn up at an agreed place once a week and get to play games I like with people it's pleasant to be with. So I thought I'd write down what we do.

You don't need much:

People

You need to start with at least three people who you can rely on to come most weeks, at first -- simply so you're not sat on your own in a pub hoping for someone to turn up and recognise you as a gamer. Well, maybe two. But three is better, and more is better still. If you already know enough people who are up for it,  fine. Otherwise, lure friends, family and colleagues. When Board Silly started off, we made an effort to be very inclusive, promising casual games (Trivial Pursuit! Cranium!) as well as the stuff nobody had heard of. That side of things has withered away organically, but it got us started.

Venue

Find somewhere that's free. There is no reason to pay. Pubs are good. If pubs aren't your thing, then sorry. Some pubs will let you use a function room for free. Be prepared to skip a week now and then, if someone else pays to use the room. Some pubs are suitable places to play games in the main space -- this is the case at our current venue, the Newbold Comyn Arms. Do buy drinks. The pub needs to remain in business.

I'm sure you can imagine the problems you'd get if you used the wrong kind of pub. Little wooden pieces scattered across the floor, victims of an errant drunken stumble... Choose somewhere civilised.

We've chosen not to host evenings at people's houses -- it sidesteps an opportunity for things to get complicated. That said, members to sometimes set up games at their own houses.

Kitty

We found that running a kitty works well. 50p per week is so small a sum that people barely notice it. Yet it quickly mounts up -- we buy games faster than we can play them!

This is the only area in which it seems wise to get a bit formal: nominate a treasurer. Keep records of the kitty income/outgoings (we found Google Docs to be great for doing this transparently).

Games

You need a few games to get started. It's likely that you already own some, and you'll attract people with more. The classics (Carcassonne, Catan, Puerto Rico, ...) are enough to get started.

Once you start spending kitty money, you have games belonging to the club. Keep a record of which games these are (we found that creating a guild at BoardGameGeek.com, and adding games to the guild's "collection" is a good way to do this).

Club-owned games need to physically reside somewhere. We found that one person became the de-facto keeper of most of the collection, simply because he had space and showed willing. But the collection is still spread out among regulars. You may wish to track this formally. We haven't found a need to yet.

Publicity

To get more people, you need to get the word out.

We setup this blog, and a Facebook page -- simply so that anyone Googling "board games club leamington" finds us. We also put posters in our local games shops. We have a Twitter account that posts using the #leamlive hashtag, which means some Leamington people might see it. This seems to be enough.

We looked at Meetup.com which is intended for exactly this kind of thing. But it costs money. Don't spend money, except on games!

And that's about it

There's really nothing else to it. There's no need to overcomplicate things. Meet. Play games. Take money. Spend money on games. Easy.

Club accounts for the past 12 months

There's really no reason for this to shadow a tax year as we don't have any liabilities.  That's how I have the spreadsheet set out though so there you go. These should always be available in google docs.  I'm not sure if there is a sane URL but this link ought to work if you are a member of the google group (if not shout up and we'll point you in the right direction):

A summary of 2011/12


Opening balance £55.02
Years subs £196.25
Spent £207.90
Year P/L -£11.65
Left in Kitty £43.37

Since then John E has picked up the Benelux map for Power Grid so we have slightly less in the kitty, but if there is a game you want the club to buy let it be known.

The £207.90 was spent on:

7 Wonders
7 Wonders: Leaders
Forbidden Island
Ghost Stories
Tikal II
Amyitis
Maori
Notre Dame
Ys
Caylus Magna Carta
Fast Flowing Forest Fellers
Strozzi
Ystari Box (expansions)
Batavia
Hamburgum

Not a bad haul for the price really!

Play board games in Leamington tonight

Quoth John Ellam on our Google Group:

No post yet at Board Silly Games Club 

Evidently, he has forgotten that he has posting rights here.

Still he has it all right:

Play board games in the warmth of the Newbold Comyn Arms.
Usual routine. 8 o'clock, Newcomers free. 50p the rest of you.
I will bring Power Grid and the club's new map boards for Benelux &
Central Europe.
I will also bring Innovation and any club games as requested (reply to
this thread before six this evening).
See you there,
John E

Play board games in Leamington tonight

Back to crappy weather!

What better excuse to play board games in the warmth of the Newbold Comyn Arms.

Usual routine. 8 o'clock, Newcomers free. 50p the rest of you.

Last Thursday's gaming

9 hardy gamers last week, and by coincidence, it became a dice game theme night.

Five of us played Elder Sign -- and beat it, as Pete warned us we probably would. I tried my best to engage with the theme -- reading the ominous descriptions on the cards out loud -- but I don't think we ever achieved the necessary sense of creeping dread. Perhaps it only works if you play it in an old dimly lit museum. And then the cards would be too hard to read...

The remaining four played Kingsburg, and seemed to enjoy themselves.

Note the complete absence of correspondence between what the blog said we might play, and what we ended up playing. That's how we roll.