Socializing, building community in Central Louisiana part of gaming group's strategy

There's more to playing hobby board games than winning the games for members of the Central Louisiana Gamer’s Guild.

“We made some really good friendships,” said Bliss Wise.

“It’s a social group and we’re trying to build a community,” said David Miller.

A lot of people complain how there is nothing to do in Rapides Parish but there is, said Matt Gaspard.

On a Wednesday night, Miller, Gaspard, Wise and her husband Jason, Kaysie and Louis Busby met at Fighting Hand Brewing Company to play games like “Just One,” “No Thanks,” “Reef” and “Settlers of Catan.”

But the conversation centered on other things. They joked around with each other and others in the Pineville establishment.

“You spend just as much time socializing as you do playing board games,” said Louis Busby.

“It’s fun just to chat,” said Gaspard.

The guild meets once a month every Saturday at the Westside Regional Library in Alexandria.

“We usually have anywhere between 30-40 people show up,” said Gaspard.

This was the first time guild members met at Fighting Hand. Gaspard said it’s one of the places that some guild members frequent, and it has a board game collection. Guild members communicated with owners Chris and Tiffany Lindsey through Facebook. They all decided to make Fighting Hand the site of their once-a-month Wednesday night meetups. The date will be posted on their Facebook page.

The group has been around for about 10 years, said Miller. Gaspard said even after all this time, people are still surprised to discover that there is a hobby board games group in town.

They have about 530 members and their Facebook page has 361 followers.

Miller and Wise said people come from places like Natchitoches, Fort Polk, Leesville, Shreveport and Lafayette just to join in on the fun.

“Which makes me think people want a gaming community if they are going to come that far,” said Gaspard.

Kaysie Busby said her husband Louis got into board games early in their relationship.

“I was not into it. And then he got this marvelous little game call ‘Star Realms.’ I really fell in love with the card games. Then we figured out that it was something for us to do together that wasn't like TV or being distracted by a screen. So, we really kind of latched on to that aspect of it,” she said.

“Actually, this group is one of the first things we did when we moved here four years ago,” said Louis, adding that they moved here from Southeast Louisiana.

The right term for this type of board gaming is hobby board gaming, said Miller.

Gaspard and Miller said they don’t play mass marketed board games like “Monopoly” just because players know early on whether they are going to have a fun time or just end up watching someone else who is winning play.

If someone were to bring a mass marketed board game to one of the meetups, they would not be turned away, said Gaspard. But they would like to introduce them to new hobby board games.

He said there are so many distinct kinds of games that there is something for everyone.

Gaspard keeps a stack of games in his truck that include “Bears vs. Babies” and another game he recently added to his collection called “Poetry for Neanderthals.”

Another aspect of the games Gaspard pointed out is that they are aesthetic in some way or another.

“Like if you go to my stack over there, the top one, ‘Bears vs. Babies,’ the name sounds a little weird, but the artwork is very distinct. The box is covered in felt fur. A lot of our stuff is, in some form or another, aesthetically nice,” he said.

“Here to Sleigh” is another game Gaspard just ordered.

“I love it. It's like little anthropomorphic animals. It’s a really cute game that kids can play and there's enough strategy for adults to play,” he said.

Gaspard shows the artwork on the cards of “Sushi Go!”

The cuteness of the artwork will entice kids to play but also give them something to look at, he said.

“This is one you can pretty much pick up and start playing,” he said.

How long it takes to play a game depends on the game, said Miller.

“For get-togethers, like at the library, we go from noon until about 8 p.m. But we’re not just playing one game during that time. We’ll try to play as many as we can as schedules allow for people,” he said.

Some games can be played in 15-20 minutes while others can take multiple hours, said Gaspard.

“It just depends on what you’re playing at the time,” he added.

He said at the Wednesday meetups, they’ll likely have a Dungeons & Dragons table set up, but board games will most likely be the ones played.

At Fighting Hand, only those 21 and over are allowed in the establishment since they serve alcohol.

“The library is more family friendly. We can't bring any kids here, so it'll be a slightly different crowd,” he said.

Gaspard said he regularly has his 16-month-old child with him at the library meetups because gaming is a family event, plus he likes having kids around.

“We have a 7, an 11 and a 13-year-old. They're regularly there playing. We have kid games,” said Wise of the library meetups.

Gaspard said they may have fewer kids’ games when they meet at Fighting Hand but even so, the adults have a lot of fun playing those, too.

“I guess the strategy difference for the kids' games are a little simpler, but it's not content-wise,” he said, adding that none of the games will have anything on them that aren’t child friendly.

What Miller and Gaspard said the group is trying to do is get the gaming community of Central Louisiana to come together.

Miller said that even though it’s not their primary focus, a lot of guild members play video games, too.

“We do stuff online. We have our Discord group,” he said.

Gaspard said he and Louis Busby recently visited Gamer’s Pair-a-dice in Jena to connect with the gaming community there. The group plans to start doing activities with them, too. The shop has a calendar of events on their Facebook page and they plan to add the guild’s activities as well.

Miller and Gaspard both said the gaming community feels insulated. There are individual groups that play war games, collectible card games, hobby board games or role-playing games.

“Usually if you enjoy one of those things, you probably will enjoy the other if you play it,” said Gaspard.

“We want people to have a place where they feel they belong,” said Miller.

The group has something to offer everyone, said Gaspard.

To find out more, visit their Facebook page, Central Louisiana Gamer’s Guild.

This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Socializing, building community in Central Louisiana part of gaming group's strategy