There’s a new trend in activities around the county — game nights.
In the last month, I’ve come across three separate places where the community gathers to play all types of games.
Every Tuesday, the League of Extraordinary Gamers gathers at Café Express in Webster off the Gulf Freeway. The group meets usually from about 6 p.m. until 10 p.m.
Café Mod in Galveston also hosts a game night, usually the first Thursday of every month. The Starbucks in Texas City just started one of its own game nights, also on Thursdays. The festivities start at 7 p.m.
“It’s a way to capture that wonder, sense, fun and excitement,” League of Extraordinary Gamers organizer Joseph Conwell wrote in an e-mail. “It’s a way to have fun.”
The League of Extraordinary Gamers is the county’s biggest game meet-up group. It boasts 102 members, according to the group’s Web site.
Conwell added Tuesday nights usually draws 10 to 25 people. But the League of Extraordinary Gamers is part of a larger Houston group that can have dozens, if not hundreds, of people in a monthly meeting.
I admit, I never had been to one of these game nights before. I had heard of them but never thought much about them.
With so many places in the county hosting these game nights, I decided to find out more. To my surprise, I was thoroughly enthralled.
I arrived thinking games like Scrabble or Monopoly would be the norm. I would fit right in.
I was way off.
Some play those games, and participants will gladly join in. Jenga, Apples 2 Apples, Boggle and Catch Phrase were the ones I recognized.
But most played strategy games I never heard of like Qwirkle, Dominion, Ingenius, Puerto Rico, Set, Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride and Can’t Stop. All were different with distinct strategies and rules.
Qwirkle resembles dominoes. Players match shapes and colors in a line. It sounds simple but requires keen strategy to build the longest possible connection and score the most points.
Dominion is a card game where players try to construct a kingdom while fending off others. Puerto Rico, German in origin, has players try to build an empire with various resources.
The explanations and types of games could go on and on. Needless to say, it was a cultural experience for me.
“We’ll play anything a participant wants to,” Conwell said. “But most of them tend to be lesser known.”
Most of these game nights are not very competitive. Conwell told me that there is one member who competes in global competition.
But it’s not the norm.
Mostly game nights serve as a gathering place for people who share a passion for gaming — learning new types, exploring strategies and just having fun.
It’s not always easy to round up three, four or five people by yourself. Game nights take that problem out of the way.
