The game is on every third Friday in Chestermere when players take to the Waiting Room Café for Tabletop Game Night hosted by Synergy.
The community development initiative began two years ago, according to Synergy Leadership Education co-ordinator Coralee McIntosh, as a way for people of all ages to unplug and connect with others.
“It’s an opportunity for everyone to sit around the table and focus on the same activity,” she said. “(Tabletop Game Night) opens up an opportunity for people to talk about things in a relaxed environment.”
The event first operated with a small collection of board games Synergy owned. That collection quickly grew thanks to donations from the community, she said, as well as participants bringing games from their own personal collection to play during the evening.
Tabletop Game Night features classics such as Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit, as well as obscure games people might not be familiar with and likely have never played before.
“It’s a really wide variety,” she said. “We have a lot for all the different age groups as well, which is really nice.”
Tabletop Game Night has seen players ranging from two-years-old to seniors and averages 15 people each event, according to McIntosh.
She said the response from the community has been great, with new players coming each month, as well as regulars who don’t miss a Tabletop Game Night.
“It’s really a great family event,” McIntosh said.
Board games are an activity she said youth connect with in a way that allows them to unplug from the world of technological distractions.
Synergy utilizes board games in many of its programs, as it challenges youth to work on education skills such as math, literacy, conflict resolution and social peer interaction, she added.
“It’s all built into that,” she said. “That’s part of the reason we started.
It was an opportunity to have youth work on those things while they’re having fun.”
Tabletop Games Night runs from 5 to 8 p.m. every third Friday during the school year at the Waiting Room Café. The next games night; however, is March 24, due to St. Patrick’s Day falling on its usual evening.
The free event operates on a drop-in basis and does not require participants stay the whole evening, she said.
“You can come and go as you please,” McIntosh said. “If you can come for an hour, come for an hour. If you want to stay for the whole time, that’s great too.”
To learn more about Tabletop Games Night or other programs Synergy offers, visit yoursynergy.ca.
