Confined yes, but with board games
It has now been more than one month since most of us are confined at home. This lockdown has completely changed our daily routine. Board games entertained many households but the whole board game world also had to adapt. Whether they are publishers or board game bars, they all had to innovate to stay active. How did this lockdown impact the board game field and what has been put in place so we can keep having fun?
First, let’s bring some context. My name is Clément, I am a 23-year-old student in Digital Marketing from Marseille. I work as a PR manager at LudoTech, where we are currently developing OLEM, a board game console that will bring new game mechanisms to players. We wanted to meet you this spring so you can discover OLEM but the lockdown happened right before. Since the whole world is affected as much as us, we wanted to write about this news topic.
I am not confined by myself: I live with 2 friends in an apartment-share in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. Because Parisian apartments are so small, managing community life was essential for the lockdown to go well.
Board game: Lockdown’s Best Friend
Board games quickly became a habit during the confinement. They even got rid of our regular Netflix parties. However, we didn’t have any game in our little apartment. To solve this problem, easy trick: when going out for our weekly trip to the grocery store, we found something to spend a few good evenings, an UNO card game.
Where does this will to play together come from even though we all have a computer? It is so easy to find thousands of games on the internet. From the very first evening, we quickly understood. Togetherness: our eyes were not riveted to our screens, on separate ways. During the games, there were talks, laughs and even (baseless) accusations.
I still wanted to know if we were the only people to get this thirst to play board games and to share good moments. As I was expecting, the sales of board games grew by 83% compared to the same week just a year ago.
I started to look for some board games that would allow my roommates and I to never go in circles. I discovered a whole universe that has adapted itself around board games. People cannot meet anymore to play together? That is not a problem since technologies allow us to play remotely and to keep sharing good times together. We should mention Board Game Arena, an online board game platform that gathers thousands of player throughout the world, with a large catalog that keeps you entertained for months. From the beginning of the lockdown, this platform grew by 500 000 new subscriptions.
In our apartment, we started playing UNO, a simple game, too simple. Why not spicing up the rules? That is how we came up with the Cheater UNO. The rules are the same, except you can discreetly get rid of some cards, just like in the game Cheating Moth. However, discretion is key, otherwise you will have to draw 4 cards. This game was funny at first, but then we got bored and needed something else.
Thus, I got to know about Print and Play. It only requires to own a printer, a pair of scissors and let the game begin! All the publishers played along and a large board game catalog is now available to players.
“The board game world will come out more human and convivial”
Some other essential actors in the world of board games, the board game bars, also had to rethink their proposition to stay active during this period. It is hard to tell how long their doors will stay closed, but still, some activities persist. I saw they were very active on social media and we decided to contact them to exchange about this whole situation. Therefore, we chatted with Loïc, who is managing La Taverne du Gobelin Farci in Saint-Etienne with his wife Cécile, and with Eric from K fée des jeux in Grenoble.
The K fée des jeux is a game bar with a terrace overlooking the Isère river. A real place of sharing and exchange between players. The announcement of March the 14th was a big shock to everyone: 2020 was supposed to be a milestone year for this game bar with an opening 7 days a week. This leaves room to uncertainty, but the K fée’s team did not give up and implemented new solutions to maintain their activity until they can reopen: they just opened their online shop this week. The team is composed of many RPG players and they came up with the idea of a participative story at the crossroads between “You are the Hero” books and “Exquisite corpse”. There is no basis nor long term scenario planned. The 7 volunteers of the team, one for each day of the week, take turns writing part of the story and let the followers choose on the Facebook page of the K fée. The readers have until the next day to vote for the rest of the story. The writer of the next day takes over and improvises the rest of the story considering the followers’ vote. This task requires a lot of creativity and some imagination, but Philippe and the team members excel in this field and they often make a nod to the well-defined universe of this game bar in Grenoble: it is impossible not to smile when the hero crosses a sign indicating “At K’s”, the eponymous fairy of the place.
The Taverne du Gobelin Farci is both a board game bar and a shop. Loïc has set up his own delivery system. Not wishing to overload the classic delivery services, he decided to deliver his clients himself twice a week, always carefully respecting social distancing. Loïc told us “clients make the effort to come to us all year long. Now it’s our turn to go to them”. Their community answered the call: “it allows them to get new entertainments during the lockdown and they are happy to help the shop in the crisis”. However, it is complex for a game bar to adapt to this lockdown. Beyond staying active, it is especially the social aspect that Loïc and his wife miss the most: “Generally, the lockdown is complicated for a shop like ours. We are a very animated place, not only a selling place. Suddenly, we are deprived from the biggest part our work: the contact with people.”
During our discussion, we did not address the financial difficulties caused by the lockdown, nor the repercussions on the other board game bars. Board game is most importantly about sharing and exchanging. Loïc summarized it very well at the end of our talk: “I think that the game board community adapted way better to the lockdown than the others. They play and this is fantastic. Concerning the delivery, sales of 2 players board games are significantly higher than usual. The community adapted, people play with their partners, their families, and even with their friends on social media. I do not think it is such of an ordeal for them. As far as the board game world is concerned, I would also say they are adapting well! Shops find some ways to supply, the publishers and designers are posting more regularly on social media… Eventually, it brings all the board game stakeholders together! If we overlook the economical issues, I think the board game world will emerge more human, and closer ”.
As mentioned by Loïc, the board game world moves with the times and we can observe this feeling of fraternity and of membership inside the community. The LudoTech team is just as passionate, and as soon as the situation gets better, we will be in several board game bars so you can discover our concept OLEM.
Learn more about K fée des jeux and La Taverne du Gobelin Farci.
You can also find all our other articles here.
Written by Clément R. on 2020/04/27, translated by Sandrine Maude.