We play:

Settlers of Catan - Puerto Rico - Agricola - Condottiere - Ticket to Ride - Citadels - Torres - Shadows over Camelot - Race for the Galaxy - Formula De - Seven Wonders .. that kind of thing.

The club owns lots of games, and our members bring even more.

We meet:

Every Thursday - 8pm - Oak House Sports and Social Club, Leamington Spa

We welcome:

Everyone

We charge:

Nothing! But if you do become a regular you will need to join the Social Club

Answers to Questions You May Have

Who are you?
We're a fairly informal group who meet up in Leamington Spa on Thursday evenings to play boardgames.

What kind of games do you play?
Good ones! It's hard to categorise any further, but I will try.

There's a class of classic family boardgame that we tend not to play, such as Monopoly, Cluedo etc. and that's because board gaming has progressed a great deal since those games were invented. Frankly, there are newer games that are more fun.

(As an aside: Monopoly's actually rather good, when played properly)

We also don't play miniature-based wargames such as Gettysburg or Warhammer. If you're interested in that style of gaming, we recommend our friends at the Warwickshire Gamers' Club, who meet on Mondays in Whitnash.

Classics from the 1990s and 2000s such as The Settlers of Catan or Puerto Rico are good examples of the kind of game we play. In Settlers, you colonise an island by trading resources with your opponents. There's no combat, but there's lots of obstruction. In Puerto Rico, you try to build a better plantation empire than your opponents.

Often we play something newer. We try to spend club funds on the latest games.

Of course, there's a variety of preferences among our regulars. Some of us like to geek out on games with complex rules and deep strategy, where the best player always wins. Some of us prefer light games that place the emphasis on the pleasure of playing. When choosing what to play on a particular night, we always try to make a mutual choice that suits everyone. There is often a light game and a more serious game going on at the same time.

If it's nearing closing time, we'll usually play a filler, such as Zombie Dice (throw lots of special dice to collect brains and avoid shotguns!) or Coloretto (collect sets of cards of matching colours).

The club itself owns a good collection of games, but we also play a lot of games brought along by our regulars. Regulars often "look after" club games, so that they can play them with friends and family.

Where do you meet?
We currently meet on Thursdays at 8pm at the Stables Bar in The Newbold Comyn Arms in Leamington -- not to be confused with the Newbold Tavern, which is a different pub altogether.

The Newbold Comyn Arms has a good, ever changing, range of beers, friendly staff, suitable tables, and an atmosphere conducive to board gaming.

Can I just turn up?
Almost certainly. Just in case, it's a good idea to check the Board Silly Google Group on a Thursday afternoon. On very rare occasions (for example, around Christmas), nobody can make it. Occasionally there is an event at the pub that prevents us from playing games, and we will publicise that on this blog (if it's a pub quiz, we've been known to form a team).

How many of you are there?
Attendance varies. Typically there are six or more, which means we can play two games at once, or play one of the few games that work well with large numbers. It has been known for 14 people to turn up on the same night; sometimes it goes as low as three, which is still enough for a good night's gaming.

Do I need to know the rules to these games?
Not at all. We'll do our best to teach you. We'll ask you what games you've played before ("none" is perfectly good answer), choose something appropriate, and teach you to play. Nothing we play is all that mind-boggling.

May I bring along <game>?
You certainly may, and you can try and interest people in playing it. Whether it actually gets played that night depends on all sorts of things -- how many other people turn up; their tastes; what else is on offer; and so on. Deciding what to play at the start of the night is a very informal process.

If you do bring a new game, make sure you've studied the rules beforehand. Be prepared to explain them to the rest of the players. A blog post by the "Shut Up & Sit Down Show" contains wise words on this subject.

I don't own <game> but I'd like to play it. Can I?
You can ask on the Board Silly Google Group whether anyone can bring the game you're interested in. If someone who's coming has it, they're likely to oblige. Again, whether it gets played that night depends on many factors.

What does it cost?
Newcomers pay nothing. We collect 50p from everyone else each night. That money builds up surprisingly quickly, into a fund which we spend on games for the club.