The Yellow Meeple Starts a Board Game Group at Work - Week 4

If I was disappointed by the number of people for week 3, then let’s say that I found week 4 pretty devastating. There was just me and 2 other people. The other two people are people in my team at work so as much as I’m super happy they’re playing games, I’m not sure if they are really that interested.

Nevertheless, we played a good number of games and I think they both enjoyed it, even though it was shorter than our normal nights.

Week 4

Number of Attendees: 3

Games Played: Rhino Hero, Coloretto, Dobble, Forbidden Desert

The Challenges

Dwindling Numbers

Perhaps it’s because we’re well into the Christmas season and people have other social engagements to prioritise,  but this week was definitely very disappointing for turn out and made me question whether there’s really any point keeping trying if a board game group just doesn’t seem to be something that enough people want to engage with.

I really hope I can blame it on Christmas or work commitments. I’m pretty sure everyone was enjoying the group, so let’s hope more people return. If not next time, then definitely in the New Year.

Few players but different tastes

With just three of us, we could obviously only have one game running at a time, which is a challenge with different tastes. One of my colleagues has admitted to only liking ‘silly’ games, whilst I think the other is a strategic euro gamer in the making. Luckily both were willing to compromise and sit through a game of Rhino Hero (silly) followed by Coloretto (strategic but quick).

The Successes

Trying out a co-operative game

Co-operative games are definitely my favourite genre, but after my first attempt at introducing Forbidden Island to my parents, I’ve been put off introducing the genre to new players. However, my desire to share some of my favourite games is greater, so this week I packed Forbidden Island. My intention had been to simply observe the game and not play, because I didn’t want to risk becoming the alpha gamer and playing it for the group, but with only 3 of us, we all played. I definitely think people were making their own decisions and enjoying the concept, but the game played out quite easily and probably wasn’t interesting enough for the people playing. I don’t think they’ve been put off co-operative games, but I need something more interesting next time.

Lessons for Next Week

Get people excited again

I quite simply need to get more people excited to come along and play.

Every week I send a reminder email the day before and a thank you email after the event to let people know what games they missed out on. Unfortunately that doesn’t seem to be enough.

Could I Christmas theme our last event before the Christmas break? I have no Christmas games, but I could bring snacks and party games? Any advice for regaining some momentum would be much appreciated!