On Board Games and Community
Sunday afternoon Eurogames in Swarthmore Borough Hall. Photo: Michelle Oaster
When I arrived at Swarthmore Borough Hall on a recent Sunday afternoon, eight people were sitting around two board games at tables under the high windows. I sat down as four players were setting up a game called “Azul,” which I later learned was one of the top games of 2018. Colored tiles were spread across the table in a way that seemed to make sense to the Eurogame Sunday regulars. But I was lost.
I know next to nothing about board games. My experience is limited to heated Monopoly rounds with my older brother that ended with me bankrupt and in tears, feeling outsmarted once again. Ever since, I have associated board games with feeling smaller or less capable than someone else. I like competition, but, like most people, mostly what I enjoy is winning. Nonetheless, when I saw the notice for weekly board games at Borough Hall, I was intrigued.
Six different colors of tiles were scattered on the table — red, green, orange, blue, yellow, and the prettiest magenta purple I’d ever seen. The tiles were a little smaller than dominos, and they looked so much more sophisticated than the plastic Monopoly hotels that always ended up scattered on the floor. Each player had an individual board with seven different stars — one for each of the six colors, and one that could be filled in with whatever tile was wild during that round. You scored points by placing tiles on the corresponding colored star. The woman on my left, whose soft voice and blond hair reminded me of my favorite aunt, explained that she was going to try to fill the red star on her board first. Her name was Lisa. I nodded as though this made sense to me. Eventually the players admitted to me that they were all a bit lost. They’d played the game only once before, and they hadn’t actually followed all of the rules. No one seemed to be bothered by this, though.
Jim Moskowitz started this weekly group in 2015 to create a space for people interested in games to come together and play for a few hours. Nearly a decade earlier, he’d run a similar group for word game players to get together over Scrabble and Boggle, but it never really took off. Board games, though, brought people together in a way that word games hadn’t. Moskowitz says attendance was promising from the beginning, which he attributes partly to the trendiness of board games and partly to his use of social media to advertise the group. Some Sundays, as many as 15 or 20 people show up. When I asked what his group adds to Swarthmore, he said, “I think it’s a good community-builder. Or at least a friendship-builder. And what is community if not friendship on a broader scale?”
I interrupted the game several times to ask questions, which were graciously answered. The players explained that there are three categories of board games: light, medium, and heavy. “Azul” is a medium game, which means it takes about an hour and a half to play.
They also explained what “Eurogames” are. The name doesn’t mean they are European; it just means that they share certain characteristics, the main one being that Eurogames are played using a variety of strategies. There’s more than one way to score points, and many strategies can be used to beat an opponent. Part of the challenge, then, becomes choosing which to use.
The atmosphere in Borough Hall that afternoon wasn’t competitive at all. The game of “Azul” was constantly starting and stopping again as players consulted the rules, thought out loud about their next move, or advised each other. There was a lot to know. And, while each player was hoping to win, I saw more collaboration than competition. I found myself thinking about the Monopoly strategies I’d used when I was younger. I never asked for help, because I didn’t want my brother to see that I was lost. I could never let someone see that I didn’t know what to do next.
Here, that wasn’t the case at all. Sitting in front of her board, across from her husband whose black wedding band was a perfect match to hers, Lisa told me that she had come all the way from South Philly to spend the afternoon here in Borough Hall, even though there were places to play games closer to home. It was something about Swarthmore, maybe the community atmosphere. Having explained this to me, she was ready to return to the board. Her red star was all filled in with tiles now. It was time to start on the orange star.
Board games are played at Swarthmore Borough Hall, second floor Community Room, 121 Park Ave., every Sunday afternoon from 1:30 to 5 p.m.
Elisabeth Miller is a junior at Swarthmore College double majoring in English and history. She is interning at the Swarthmorean this spring with funding from Swarthmore College’s English Department and the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility.
