Board in the city – Field trip

31/1/2020

During my trip to board in the city I experienced an overwhelming feeling that I can only describe as excitement. There was so much to see and try that there would not be enough time within this trip to even view each game to have an idea of their entire collection.

On arrival, the owner of the cafe (Haley) was very kind in enlightening the class on the troubles shes had to go through to keep her cafe open. Towards the end of the trip staff members started to begin their shifts and it was nice to talk to them about events they do and how working there was. One event I found interesting was student Thursdays, they had a discount deal set up where you would role 2 giant foam dice to see how much you get off your purchases for the night.

When it comes to the appeal of board game cafes I think young males (18-28) are more likely to go than anyone else. From questioning the owner I found that sometimes they run competitions or events that are game specific so a wider range of people may attend to partake in that event.

I did not get to interview any board masters as the trip was within times when the cafe is closed, I would have liked to have the trip later within the day so I could see the array of people that would come to the cafe and this would have allowed me to find out what type of people come to the cafe but also how often and what games are most popular.

I think board game cafes are becoming more popular as its a way to escape from everyday life in a more interactive way. Taking time away from technology and getting stuck into a board game is great for wellbeing and can be considered a wellbeing activity.

From talking to staff, there have been family’s come in to play board games on the weekend and I think this is an excellent idea to get family’s to bond more. Also being able to go there for free its a great pass time for entertainment unlike going to the arcade or cinema where you have to pay you could spend time at the cafe and create your own story within a board game.

While at the cafe I found that most people were enjoying the games that they had picked up and were either smiling or had a concentration face on. I found that my group were just laughing at everyone’s reaction to the game we were playing as we were fumbling around with the rules and then enjoying ourselves so much.

Overall my experience at the cafe was wonderful and i would defiently return if i had the chance and meet some people to play some games. I feel like the community for board games would be lovely to be apart of .