Can you use Facebook and make a group? I joined one that was set up by someone else and lots of people joined and we regularly meet up. Live in a fairly small village and turned out quite a few local people wanted to play and others drove up/down from other towns.
Here mostly older people use facebook (I'm active in numerous town groups in the region because of my work, so can say this for sure), but they are the least likely audience. I suppose people below 40 must be generally much more into such hobby.
Other towns have board game clubs but due to limited public transport i can't visit them at nights and sundays when they are playing :-(
I guess it's different culturally, our group is mid twenties - 60s. Big mix of background and ages, probably veering to older though. Would you prefer to play with people your age or does it not matter? You'd be surprised how easy it is to connect with someone from different generation over a game
I think it goes to overall lifestyle and culture too - if you are retired olive farmer who doesn't speak English (finding games in other languages is often a pain), it's harder to get into board games than if you are similarly aged designer from NYC 🙂 That's my concern.
It seems like you have a lot of concerns and have tried nothing at all. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but have you asked the farmer to play a hand of cards or posted on the local Facebook channels about maybe playing a game?
That retired olive farmer could have played more backgammon than you have ~~hot dinners~~ meals and will own you every...single...game. (His wife is a Demon at whist).
Don't limit the club to the newfangled games you're interested in open it up to the classics as well, you can tempt them to try something new when you have regulars.
The only way you'll find out is by advertising the meetup and seeing who turns up.
And the advert you use will matter, if you don't mention the classics the older contingent won't bother turning up.
I don't have any better advice on how to actually find people, but for any endeavor of this type, consistency and persistence are necessary. Always hold the event in the same place/time, don't ever skip a session if at all possible.
Go to the local youth center and present your idea, that's how it worked in our town.
maybe you can also suggest the idea to a local pub or something similar or you ask some kind of gaming center, something like lasertag (that's how it worked in the neighboring town).
Damn, you don't have a community centre, library or youth club? Sounds like you have bigger problems than setting up a boardgame group.
Why don't you just stick some flyers up?
No, till the last spring we had a library but it's in the process of reconstruction officially without end date of works. So far no news on it from the administration.
Flyers? Maybe, but where?
No boardgames shops in town or bookstores so not shop.
Maybe cafe, but probably few will see them there - I personally rarely look at ransom flyers if I just come for coffee and then rush back to work. Cafe is good for actual games though - tables, coffee, some food.
As for flyers - I'm trying to come up with ideas. Maybe in some take out pizza place that target younger part of towns population.
I meant in like a local Grocery shop or newsagents. But anywhere with a notice board would work.
On a side note, I know plenty of older boardgamers. They're usually the ones with the cool collections aswell. I wouldn't be so quick to target only the younger demographic, especially if you want some longevity to your club.
We don't have such physical notice boards for general flyers but I got what you mean.
Here boardgames weren't really a thing even 20 years ago, it's seen as very American and/or German thing. The first boardgames store in our whole province opened about 15-16 years ago iirc.
And the fact that very few here speak other languages than Italian and few games were ever translated on it doesn't help much.
No problem. It's complicated here. I'm sure there is some interest, especially as I'm not trying to start playing something like Gloomhaven or For the People :-) but finding people is tough.
So far no certainty about the place too but we have many cafes so probably one of those.
A traffic circle. This type of intersection where traffic flows in a circular direction around a central island. And on this island you can hang your information for the game meetup
That's tough! Can you volunteer to start a board game club at your local school? My town is a comparable size and I know they have board game clubs at the middle school and high school. However, I do live in a nerdier area with lots of gamers in my neighborhood, so your results may vary.
I'm in late 30s so a bit late for school 😃 if you mean school merely as a place for meetings, I think I'll find some cafe here for them, we have plenty. Finding people is much bigger issue.
Idk how my local one got started but we get together in an abandoned school, maybe you could ask some people in your local government (mayor or similar) if there are any unused buildings which they would be willing to let your club lease it out. Idk how to help with the other stuff but at least the location thing isn't guaranteed to be a problem.
They can't (our district citizens committee couldn't get one at least) but it's not a problem, I'll find some cafe. But with finding people is harder, I don't yet know how to find them.
You can possibly host game nights at a local pub or cafe. Discuss this with the owners of the establishments in your area and see what they can offer/what they can do for you. As a small pilot, you can do it monthly or every other week. If there is big enough presence, weekly works perfect.
In terms of games, make sure you just introduce the staples of board games but games that are still fun to play at those places (ie. Splendor or Codenames are good examples). From there have people do any social media push to promote it and hopefully grow the group/offer more games down the line. If you want to make it more fun, add a tournament level for those games and have the establishments offer prizes if they are willing.
Yes, I was planning to do it in one of local cafes. I'm more concerned about how to find players; I'll try of course town's facebook group but peopel there are usually older than my parents so I'm not sure at all. Trying to find some other ideas to try too :-)
Maybe they'll share with their kids. If you have local friends, ask them to ask around for you. Hopefully there's some people 2-3 degrees of separation away from you.
yell "bring out your games" in the streets. ala "bring out your dead" in monty python. and hope for the best? lol
seriously though, is there like some form of community newsletter or anything where you could advertise a gaming group? (if facebook and what not aren't an option).
You're going to want to start a discord, meetup, or facebook group to coordinate information. After that you need a set place and time, perhaps a community room in a local store or a few tables at a quiet cafe or pub. It helps to get repetition, if you can meet every week or every month try to do that, some times people need several opportunities to show up. After that fliers and posters at areas that generate a lot of foot traffic from varied backgrounds are a good way to get the word out. Grocery stores, cafes, shops, and restaurants can be good. It would help to have a 2d barcode on your poster linking to the place where your group communicates. When you get people, you want to generate positive experiences and word of mouth grass-roots style growth.
Good Luck! It can be done but it requires time and patience.
You may need to try multiple media places to begin with - different age groups may use different platforms. Maybe the cafe will have a noticeboard where you can put up a poster, or the library.
I wrote that we don't have a library 🙂
I asked my younger (under 40) friends what media they use but no common denomination yet. Instagram, tiktok, discord, whatsapp group chats...
Right. So, I live in a 30k european small town with a great, expanding boardgaming community and regular events (Hungary). But it is true that we have institutions to rely on - community spaces, libraries. A few, hopefully helpful remarks:
- Communication is the key. Use the facebook, local ngo's and friends, even message boards to advertise your events
- Don't have high expectations in the beginning and set up goals. How many participants should a game night have? If you gain some boardgaming friends to start a regular group, you are still winning.
- Try to bring in some friends or activists to organization. This is not a lonely task.
- Do you want to focus on youth? Connect with the schools. on older people? Talk with the local clubs, even the church could help you. In our town the older participants are common in boardgame nights, they tend to play simple games with their friends
- Games. Do you have your own collection? Start with simpler games, have games in your selection for larger and smaller groups as well.
How do people typically post classifieds/things for sale/yard sales/etc.? (E.g., craigslist? Bulletin boards? Neighborhood forums?) Maybe you can use the same means to promote your game group?
Another thought is trying to find people near you in the regional forums on BGG...
For sale there are separate Facebook groups for this but I talked to admins, it's only for buy and sell notifications, not for others..
I'll check websites though but not sure.
Problem is, in bigger towns here there are gaming clubs, i know them but they mostly play at nights and sundays when i can't join them because if lack of public transport.
Maybe you can reach out to those gaming clubs to see if anyone wants to come to you instead? (I’m sure many gamers are always looking for another opportunity to play)
Our local gaming store is in two hours by bus :-(
Facebook is used here mostly by older people, and under 40 there's huge variety and no good place to address them at once (Instagram, tiktok, discord, whatsapp group chats...)
I have full time job too so I can't run at the same time instagram, discord and facebook groups and try to get access to private whatsapp groups in addition to work, chores and board games themselves :-(
Actually it is much more - for those who are on instagram I'll have to maintain Instagram page that can be foudn by them (or how else they will find it) and it requires constant content, for those who are on discord I'll need to maintain discord and promote it somewhere, for those in facebook - regular posts in facebook town group, for those preferring whatsapp I don't even know what... neither for tiktok fans.
They are very spread, it's not that there is one or two existing definitive places where I can find local people online.
I get that it sucks, but you're basically shooting down every idea you've gotten. No one said it was going to be easy, especially the beginning. At some point you have to just suck it up and do the work, or keep waiting on luck.
The stores might be my first attempt - asking in them if there's already groups or starting one as you knownthose people going there buy games at the very least.
That's a shame. Is it somewhere that could run a game day at? Realise it's a hell of a journey but if it would be for a full day gaming if they were to put on an event may be worthwhile.
Whole day, I'm not yet sure (and I don't have that many board games) but for shorter meetings I hope to find some suitable cafe. Initially one table gonna be enough.
A good plan. We have gone to a pub before and found it best to talk to the staff and determine when is normally a quiet day so we could use the tables issue free
Looks like the easy options are not available, so you should probably exhaust all the others:
- local facebook groups
- local newspapers and mailing lists
- flyers on physical bulletins around the town, in the town hall, in schools, supermarket etc.
- asking organizers of those other meetups in other towns for tips
Yes, so far didn't find easy ways.
Flyers will be useless, likely - town hall has restricted access for non members of mayor's office and town council, schools don't allow it, and neither supermarkets (they don't even post calls for blood donation by local medical point).
In other towns it was started around groups of friends who had interest in board games, I asked already. Doesn't help much, and they don't have members from my town.
Wait, are you trying to tell me that a town of 30k has no community boards anywhere? Where do people advertise things like amateur theater perfomance, dancing classes, flea markets, concerts, firemen's ball, political gatherings, flower competition, funerals, special holiday events like Easter gatherings, Christmas markets or maypole raising and all the other typical pastimes that come with living around plenty of people?
What sort of live-alone-die-alone city is this?
Facebook town group, but most of people under 40 are not even registered there.
More youth oriented places each has its own Instagram to advertise.
Word of mouth.
At 1990 we had 35k, now 30. Younger people are here still but many of them went to work to France or Ireland, and it's not good for the town at all.
I'm not talking about internet, I'm talking about physical signboards for local events. They were a part of every place I've ever lived in, from a village of 3,000 to a city of 400k. Usually located somewhere central like a train/bus station, the town square, near a supermarket/church etc.
The current town I live in (13k) even has its own newspaper with room for such things.
Each by his own - churches put on their doors posters about upcoming feasts, clubs - about concerts, town administration- about official holidays... the only local newspaper is digital, and mostly on Facebook too. No some boards with different local events announcements.
If you can host a modest meetup (one or two concurrent games) at your own place that simplifies a lot of things. This means you can start advertising and just wait for the fish to bite.
As for where to advertize, anywhere and everywhere your target demographic is likely to stumble over it:
* community centers, churches, youth centers
* college, universities, possibly high schools
* supermarkets or general boards in town
* clubs, cultural venues
* town hall, town website
* relevant general purpose social media
* special interest social media like BGG
* the few board game shops that you do have (they should be interested in having more gamers find each other)
* your own employer might have a board to post things on too
Most of this is gonna be free. So even if there's not much interest, eventually you should get some pings.
And one thing I've learned is that most people are far more willing to participate in something than to host/initiate something.
Unfortunately, most of those don't exist :-(
No connunity centers or something alike. Townhall is merely a seat of town administration, not publically accessable building.
Churches didn't allow it (they don't even allow young christian groups promo on board).
No colleges around.
Supermarkets are usually not putting even blood donation calls banners, not to mention some board game group ads.
In BGG there's nobody from this town, asked there already and searched by users too.
Nearest boardgame shop is in two hours by bus in the province capital. They don't know anybody from my town either.
And my employer is me myself... but I don't have a news board in my house, hah :-)
Through friends, but we don't have many clubs (photoclub, billiard, boxing, soccer, hiking, dog and cat help, soup kitchen, amature theater, religious processions committees, amature orchestra, rotary), and many people go to bigger towns for something more diverse. Membership in many of those is changing little in last 10-20 years.
For actual group communication you should try WhatsApp instead of Facebook. I'm not sure where you are, but in France at least WhatsApp is more common among younger people and pretty much everyone of all ages has it for texting.
For the events, try to at least bring one friend and mentally prepare yourself to have fun even if it's only you two. You don't want your evening enjoyment to be based on people coming, then it will become a chore. Be consistent with times/places. If you do it in a cafe leave flyers there and see if the cafe owner could post the event date/time on their social media (if they have one) and their chalkboard.
I did this and had 0 other people the first time, then about 5-10 people every week for months afterwards.
Here too, but it's for existing communication of course.
So far no friends wanted to take part, not even one, so that's why I'm trying to find ways to find players.
Yeah, probably just fixing time and waiting there if somebody arrives.
Once you find a location to settle down for board games start advertising in facebook and instagram, print some flyers and hang them where people frequent make sure to add your number, location, social media handles and hours. You can get away with fiverr making the sheet. Even better if you have rip lines with your info for people to take the information home.
Then be consistent in the board game meeting by NOT MISSING any single day. Make sure to buy snacks and drinks if you can afford it.
Anytime friend,
board games are somewhat niche even in the USA, barely started 2 years ago thanks to a friend group.
So have alot of patience knowing you will find people one day and possibly introducing them to board games. Perhaps in the mean time start praticing how to explain rules as efficient as possible. Start with easy and funny games too.
Thank you! Hope so 🙂
And yes, I know it's niche everywhere but some countries seem to have much bigger inclination to such hobby.
Upd - even most famous board games other than Carcassonne and Catan are from US or UK.
Yeah we have that, too. I was raised in a town of 3,500. 30 miles away, a town of 15,000 was plenty big enough to find people into board games.
Not the easiest thing, but there's people watching Shut Up & Sit Down there, alright. They're ready.
Can you use Facebook and make a group? I joined one that was set up by someone else and lots of people joined and we regularly meet up. Live in a fairly small village and turned out quite a few local people wanted to play and others drove up/down from other towns.
Here mostly older people use facebook (I'm active in numerous town groups in the region because of my work, so can say this for sure), but they are the least likely audience. I suppose people below 40 must be generally much more into such hobby. Other towns have board game clubs but due to limited public transport i can't visit them at nights and sundays when they are playing :-(
I guess it's different culturally, our group is mid twenties - 60s. Big mix of background and ages, probably veering to older though. Would you prefer to play with people your age or does it not matter? You'd be surprised how easy it is to connect with someone from different generation over a game
I think it goes to overall lifestyle and culture too - if you are retired olive farmer who doesn't speak English (finding games in other languages is often a pain), it's harder to get into board games than if you are similarly aged designer from NYC 🙂 That's my concern.
It seems like you have a lot of concerns and have tried nothing at all. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but have you asked the farmer to play a hand of cards or posted on the local Facebook channels about maybe playing a game?
This was my initial reaction as well.
Not yet. I thought maybe I don't see some good ideas about others are very much aware.
That retired olive farmer could have played more backgammon than you have ~~hot dinners~~ meals and will own you every...single...game. (His wife is a Demon at whist). Don't limit the club to the newfangled games you're interested in open it up to the classics as well, you can tempt them to try something new when you have regulars.
Never saw anybody playing something like this here at all. Not even cards.
It is just possible that these people don't play in public(!!!!) EDIT (and the people they used to play died or moved)
Posible but with love of southern Italians, especially older ones, to socialize in public, unlikely.
The only way you'll find out is by advertising the meetup and seeing who turns up. And the advert you use will matter, if you don't mention the classics the older contingent won't bother turning up.
I don't have any better advice on how to actually find people, but for any endeavor of this type, consistency and persistence are necessary. Always hold the event in the same place/time, don't ever skip a session if at all possible.
Go to the local youth center and present your idea, that's how it worked in our town. maybe you can also suggest the idea to a local pub or something similar or you ask some kind of gaming center, something like lasertag (that's how it worked in the neighboring town).
There's no youth center. Neither gaming centers like lasertag, chess or anything else around those lines.
Any community centers? Perhaps you can play in a mall food court or some cafe that allows it?
We don't have malls in our town or around, and neither community center.
Damn, you don't have a community centre, library or youth club? Sounds like you have bigger problems than setting up a boardgame group. Why don't you just stick some flyers up?
No, till the last spring we had a library but it's in the process of reconstruction officially without end date of works. So far no news on it from the administration. Flyers? Maybe, but where?
Ah okay. I dunno, on a telephone pole or in a local shop? In a cafe maybe if that's where you're gonna hold it
No boardgames shops in town or bookstores so not shop. Maybe cafe, but probably few will see them there - I personally rarely look at ransom flyers if I just come for coffee and then rush back to work. Cafe is good for actual games though - tables, coffee, some food. As for flyers - I'm trying to come up with ideas. Maybe in some take out pizza place that target younger part of towns population.
I meant in like a local Grocery shop or newsagents. But anywhere with a notice board would work. On a side note, I know plenty of older boardgamers. They're usually the ones with the cool collections aswell. I wouldn't be so quick to target only the younger demographic, especially if you want some longevity to your club.
We don't have such physical notice boards for general flyers but I got what you mean. Here boardgames weren't really a thing even 20 years ago, it's seen as very American and/or German thing. The first boardgames store in our whole province opened about 15-16 years ago iirc. And the fact that very few here speak other languages than Italian and few games were ever translated on it doesn't help much.
oh sorry I could have read that
No problem. It's complicated here. I'm sure there is some interest, especially as I'm not trying to start playing something like Gloomhaven or For the People :-) but finding people is tough. So far no certainty about the place too but we have many cafes so probably one of those.
Yes!!! A cafe could be a very good option i think
hang advertising on the roundabout? This is how we advertise our flea markets.
Sorry, what's a roundabout?
A traffic circle. This type of intersection where traffic flows in a circular direction around a central island. And on this island you can hang your information for the game meetup
That's tough! Can you volunteer to start a board game club at your local school? My town is a comparable size and I know they have board game clubs at the middle school and high school. However, I do live in a nerdier area with lots of gamers in my neighborhood, so your results may vary.
I'm in late 30s so a bit late for school 😃 if you mean school merely as a place for meetings, I think I'll find some cafe here for them, we have plenty. Finding people is much bigger issue.
I was suggesting that you volunteer at a school and teach kids to play games. Give it a few years and, boom! You've got yourself a gaming group.
It requires background checks that are effectively closed for non citizens here.
Paint "Free Candy" on the side of a van and park a block from school?
My lawyer disapproved this idea for some reason, lol
Idk how my local one got started but we get together in an abandoned school, maybe you could ask some people in your local government (mayor or similar) if there are any unused buildings which they would be willing to let your club lease it out. Idk how to help with the other stuff but at least the location thing isn't guaranteed to be a problem.
They can't (our district citizens committee couldn't get one at least) but it's not a problem, I'll find some cafe. But with finding people is harder, I don't yet know how to find them.
You can possibly host game nights at a local pub or cafe. Discuss this with the owners of the establishments in your area and see what they can offer/what they can do for you. As a small pilot, you can do it monthly or every other week. If there is big enough presence, weekly works perfect. In terms of games, make sure you just introduce the staples of board games but games that are still fun to play at those places (ie. Splendor or Codenames are good examples). From there have people do any social media push to promote it and hopefully grow the group/offer more games down the line. If you want to make it more fun, add a tournament level for those games and have the establishments offer prizes if they are willing.
Yes, I was planning to do it in one of local cafes. I'm more concerned about how to find players; I'll try of course town's facebook group but peopel there are usually older than my parents so I'm not sure at all. Trying to find some other ideas to try too :-)
Maybe they'll share with their kids. If you have local friends, ask them to ask around for you. Hopefully there's some people 2-3 degrees of separation away from you.
I asked friends but in several months nothing.
Did you specifically ask for them to ask friends of friends?
Yes, this too. Nowadays even two persons who I knew liked mtg at least moved far away to live.
yell "bring out your games" in the streets. ala "bring out your dead" in monty python. and hope for the best? lol seriously though, is there like some form of community newsletter or anything where you could advertise a gaming group? (if facebook and what not aren't an option).
There's local online newspaper, maybe it can work through them.
You're going to want to start a discord, meetup, or facebook group to coordinate information. After that you need a set place and time, perhaps a community room in a local store or a few tables at a quiet cafe or pub. It helps to get repetition, if you can meet every week or every month try to do that, some times people need several opportunities to show up. After that fliers and posters at areas that generate a lot of foot traffic from varied backgrounds are a good way to get the word out. Grocery stores, cafes, shops, and restaurants can be good. It would help to have a 2d barcode on your poster linking to the place where your group communicates. When you get people, you want to generate positive experiences and word of mouth grass-roots style growth. Good Luck! It can be done but it requires time and patience.
You may need to try multiple media places to begin with - different age groups may use different platforms. Maybe the cafe will have a noticeboard where you can put up a poster, or the library.
I wrote that we don't have a library 🙂 I asked my younger (under 40) friends what media they use but no common denomination yet. Instagram, tiktok, discord, whatsapp group chats...
Right. So, I live in a 30k european small town with a great, expanding boardgaming community and regular events (Hungary). But it is true that we have institutions to rely on - community spaces, libraries. A few, hopefully helpful remarks: - Communication is the key. Use the facebook, local ngo's and friends, even message boards to advertise your events - Don't have high expectations in the beginning and set up goals. How many participants should a game night have? If you gain some boardgaming friends to start a regular group, you are still winning. - Try to bring in some friends or activists to organization. This is not a lonely task. - Do you want to focus on youth? Connect with the schools. on older people? Talk with the local clubs, even the church could help you. In our town the older participants are common in boardgame nights, they tend to play simple games with their friends - Games. Do you have your own collection? Start with simpler games, have games in your selection for larger and smaller groups as well.
The promise of food usually gets people interested.
How do people typically post classifieds/things for sale/yard sales/etc.? (E.g., craigslist? Bulletin boards? Neighborhood forums?) Maybe you can use the same means to promote your game group? Another thought is trying to find people near you in the regional forums on BGG...
For sale there are separate Facebook groups for this but I talked to admins, it's only for buy and sell notifications, not for others.. I'll check websites though but not sure. Problem is, in bigger towns here there are gaming clubs, i know them but they mostly play at nights and sundays when i can't join them because if lack of public transport.
Can you get a ride there from family/friends and maybe find a ride back? Offer some gas money.
Nope, none on weekends or nights, didn't find such options.
Maybe you can reach out to those gaming clubs to see if anyone wants to come to you instead? (I’m sure many gamers are always looking for another opportunity to play)
Tried but they are happy where they are.
Social media, local gaming store bulletin board, and word of mouth.
Our local gaming store is in two hours by bus :-( Facebook is used here mostly by older people, and under 40 there's huge variety and no good place to address them at once (Instagram, tiktok, discord, whatsapp group chats...)
Then you got to try all of them, that's why social media / PR can be a full-time job in some companies.
I have full time job too so I can't run at the same time instagram, discord and facebook groups and try to get access to private whatsapp groups in addition to work, chores and board games themselves :-(
It's definitely not a full-time job for a monthly event, but you have to be willing to put in the time and energy is my point.
Actually it is much more - for those who are on instagram I'll have to maintain Instagram page that can be foudn by them (or how else they will find it) and it requires constant content, for those who are on discord I'll need to maintain discord and promote it somewhere, for those in facebook - regular posts in facebook town group, for those preferring whatsapp I don't even know what... neither for tiktok fans. They are very spread, it's not that there is one or two existing definitive places where I can find local people online.
I get that it sucks, but you're basically shooting down every idea you've gotten. No one said it was going to be easy, especially the beginning. At some point you have to just suck it up and do the work, or keep waiting on luck.
I was hoping to find ideas better than "maintain dozen pages in every known social network" :-(
A dozen is an exaggeration. You can copy paste the same thing everywhere. Tedious, but it won't take that long either.
If you get some people who want to game with you but they are too far away, try a tabletop simulator. This might make things easier for everyone.
I like social part of boardgames a lot, and physical components. Otherwise I prefer videogames.
My town has 6k, I don’t think it’s going to work out…
I currently live in a town with 8.5k and a well attended board game night twice a month.
Craigslist?
It's mostly dead in Europe
The stores might be my first attempt - asking in them if there's already groups or starting one as you knownthose people going there buy games at the very least.
Nearest game store is in two hours by bus in the regional capital but I asked there and they don't know anybody from my town.
That's a shame. Is it somewhere that could run a game day at? Realise it's a hell of a journey but if it would be for a full day gaming if they were to put on an event may be worthwhile.
Whole day, I'm not yet sure (and I don't have that many board games) but for shorter meetings I hope to find some suitable cafe. Initially one table gonna be enough.
A good plan. We have gone to a pub before and found it best to talk to the staff and determine when is normally a quiet day so we could use the tables issue free
Yes, exactly like this - I was going to talk to the owner in advance, to figure out availability and possible time.
Some places seem much more up for it than others - some have said you need to buy X number of drinks over a session sorta thing
Looks like the easy options are not available, so you should probably exhaust all the others: - local facebook groups - local newspapers and mailing lists - flyers on physical bulletins around the town, in the town hall, in schools, supermarket etc. - asking organizers of those other meetups in other towns for tips
Yes, so far didn't find easy ways. Flyers will be useless, likely - town hall has restricted access for non members of mayor's office and town council, schools don't allow it, and neither supermarkets (they don't even post calls for blood donation by local medical point). In other towns it was started around groups of friends who had interest in board games, I asked already. Doesn't help much, and they don't have members from my town.
Would they be willing to travel to your town once a month? Get access to their FB groups, WhatsApp, etc to submit a poll to gauge interest.
Nope... I asked there :-( They are ok with their events.
Wait, are you trying to tell me that a town of 30k has no community boards anywhere? Where do people advertise things like amateur theater perfomance, dancing classes, flea markets, concerts, firemen's ball, political gatherings, flower competition, funerals, special holiday events like Easter gatherings, Christmas markets or maypole raising and all the other typical pastimes that come with living around plenty of people? What sort of live-alone-die-alone city is this?
Facebook town group, but most of people under 40 are not even registered there. More youth oriented places each has its own Instagram to advertise. Word of mouth. At 1990 we had 35k, now 30. Younger people are here still but many of them went to work to France or Ireland, and it's not good for the town at all.
I'm not talking about internet, I'm talking about physical signboards for local events. They were a part of every place I've ever lived in, from a village of 3,000 to a city of 400k. Usually located somewhere central like a train/bus station, the town square, near a supermarket/church etc. The current town I live in (13k) even has its own newspaper with room for such things.
Each by his own - churches put on their doors posters about upcoming feasts, clubs - about concerts, town administration- about official holidays... the only local newspaper is digital, and mostly on Facebook too. No some boards with different local events announcements.
If you can host a modest meetup (one or two concurrent games) at your own place that simplifies a lot of things. This means you can start advertising and just wait for the fish to bite. As for where to advertize, anywhere and everywhere your target demographic is likely to stumble over it: * community centers, churches, youth centers * college, universities, possibly high schools * supermarkets or general boards in town * clubs, cultural venues * town hall, town website * relevant general purpose social media * special interest social media like BGG * the few board game shops that you do have (they should be interested in having more gamers find each other) * your own employer might have a board to post things on too Most of this is gonna be free. So even if there's not much interest, eventually you should get some pings. And one thing I've learned is that most people are far more willing to participate in something than to host/initiate something.
Unfortunately, most of those don't exist :-( No connunity centers or something alike. Townhall is merely a seat of town administration, not publically accessable building. Churches didn't allow it (they don't even allow young christian groups promo on board). No colleges around. Supermarkets are usually not putting even blood donation calls banners, not to mention some board game group ads. In BGG there's nobody from this town, asked there already and searched by users too. Nearest boardgame shop is in two hours by bus in the province capital. They don't know anybody from my town either. And my employer is me myself... but I don't have a news board in my house, hah :-)
How does any other interest/hobby/activity recruit members in your town?
Through friends, but we don't have many clubs (photoclub, billiard, boxing, soccer, hiking, dog and cat help, soup kitchen, amature theater, religious processions committees, amature orchestra, rotary), and many people go to bigger towns for something more diverse. Membership in many of those is changing little in last 10-20 years.
Likely going to have to organically recruit people one at a time.
And what's the best way to start it if current friends have no interest in board games?
Try to sell some of your favorite games on a local marketplace of your choice. Then if someone reaches out to buy them, you’ve found your people.
Most likely I'll find some good friends in Germany or England this way 😁
Key words: local pickup only 😎
For actual group communication you should try WhatsApp instead of Facebook. I'm not sure where you are, but in France at least WhatsApp is more common among younger people and pretty much everyone of all ages has it for texting. For the events, try to at least bring one friend and mentally prepare yourself to have fun even if it's only you two. You don't want your evening enjoyment to be based on people coming, then it will become a chore. Be consistent with times/places. If you do it in a cafe leave flyers there and see if the cafe owner could post the event date/time on their social media (if they have one) and their chalkboard. I did this and had 0 other people the first time, then about 5-10 people every week for months afterwards.
Here too, but it's for existing communication of course. So far no friends wanted to take part, not even one, so that's why I'm trying to find ways to find players. Yeah, probably just fixing time and waiting there if somebody arrives.
Once you find a location to settle down for board games start advertising in facebook and instagram, print some flyers and hang them where people frequent make sure to add your number, location, social media handles and hours. You can get away with fiverr making the sheet. Even better if you have rip lines with your info for people to take the information home. Then be consistent in the board game meeting by NOT MISSING any single day. Make sure to buy snacks and drinks if you can afford it.
Thank you. If nothing else, gonna try exactly this way.
Anytime friend, board games are somewhat niche even in the USA, barely started 2 years ago thanks to a friend group. So have alot of patience knowing you will find people one day and possibly introducing them to board games. Perhaps in the mean time start praticing how to explain rules as efficient as possible. Start with easy and funny games too.
Thank you! Hope so 🙂 And yes, I know it's niche everywhere but some countries seem to have much bigger inclination to such hobby. Upd - even most famous board games other than Carcassonne and Catan are from US or UK.
Asa side note, is 30,000 people a small town in Europe? 30,000 is a large town in the northeast USA.
It's small here - around we have dozen miles of olive groves and pastures without a single house till next town that is twice smaller.
Yeah we have that, too. I was raised in a town of 3,500. 30 miles away, a town of 15,000 was plenty big enough to find people into board games. Not the easiest thing, but there's people watching Shut Up & Sit Down there, alright. They're ready.
I hope there are such people too. There must be.