Board Games Hit a High, But Local Shops and Gamers Struggle

By David Alexander

When Vincent Flesouras was a kid, he was super into science fiction. He read every sci-fi book in his school’s library. It became an outlet for him, a medicine for isolation. Before long, he wanted the fun to be more interactive, so he turned to role-playing and board games.

 “If I could escape into my own world, being poor in rural Arkansas didn’t seem so bad,”  Flesouras, now 47, said. 

That passion for games is something that never left him, even now as an engineer at Stanford. He still makes time each week to play Pandemic, Cthulhu Wars or another of his favorite games. 

With the COVID-19 pandemic in full swing, we have all likely experienced a similar isolation. As we are sheltering in place, we are discovering we have more free time. It isn’t that we are without things to entertain us; it is just that there is only so much time we can spend on social media or binging Netflix. What we crave isn’t entertainment; it is something to dull the malaise and ennui isolation causes. 

We crave human interaction.

But scratching that itch without being able to have cocktails with friends at our local watering hole or catch the latest Christopher Nolan movie in theatres is difficult. For those in the gaming world, those like Flesouras, the question becomes how to do what they love during a country-wide lockdown that discourages, or in some cases simply prohibits them from, sharing space with people.

Typically, board gamers and role-playing game (RPG) enthusiasts would pack into game shops or host games in their homes. Although many game shops reopened briefly, with Santa Clara County’s return to Purple tier, hosting games in-store is still not an option. Many are struggling.

“This is not really not the right climate for any kind of social activity and in-store gaming is just that,” said Rachelle Laxson, manager of Game Kastle, located at 1350 Coleman Ave. in Santa Clara. “This used to be a place where people would just hang out with the cashier for an hour.”

While gauging whether interest in gaming has increased has been difficult, Laxon said the sale of Warhammer 40K products and Living Card Games — games that release a core set and virtually unlimited expansions — such as the Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones and Arkham have increased. 

Since Warhammer involves painting miniatures and Living Card Games have a deck-building aspect, Laxson said both have elements people can do alone while preparing for in-person play. Getting shipments has been a “nightmare,” she added.

“This year has beaten a lot out of us; people are just happy to still be playing what they can,” she said.

“It has been really hard not to play games with people.”

Anna Warren Cebrian, founder of Isle of Gamers, located at 2770 El Camino Real in Santa Clara, said shifting events to online was touch-and-go. While some board and card games — like Magic: The Gathering — don’t transfer to online play as readily, the Dungeons & Dragons sessions she holds for kids has seen a large uptick.

“We suddenly had people with kids at home and a lot of time,” she said. “I know as soon as we open [in-store] gaming again we will be flooded; they are chomping at the bit to come in.”

Because of the pandemic, many gamers have switched to online platforms such as Tabletopia, Board Game Arena, Fantasy Grounds or Roll20, which provide a digital tabletop that allow people to play their favorite games remotely. In recent months Among Us, an app game released in 2018 that boasts a similar concept to board games such as Secret Hitler and Resistance, has seen its popularity grow, likely because of its party game feel.

Local board game enthusiast Donna Elliot, 39, said she switched to playing board games online. When COVID-19 hit, she had to figure out something. Her family had always had a game night growing up. Not playing board games wasn’t an option. While playing some of her favorites such as Seven Wonders, Forbidden Island, Sherlock Holms: Consulting Detective, and, yes, Pandemic, remotely scratched the itch, something was missing.

“There is only so much ambience you gain from being on a camera,” she said. “You lose some of that tactile experience … a lot of people are starved for things to do.”

However, gaming remotely hasn’t been all bad. Elliot said she has been playing more with some of her friends that have moved away from the area, a trend she likely sees continuing post-lockdown. 

“I hope that the pandemic, if nothing else, gets kids into board games and gets that passion to continue to a whole new generation of board gamers,” she said.

One of the bigger gaming companies, Wizards of the Coast — which produces roleplaying and card game juggernauts Dungeons & Dragons and Magic; The Gathering — has even begun accommodating those sheltering in place. The company’s Stay At Home. Play At Home. campaign offers resources and free downloadable material to play D&D at home.

According to the company’s site, Wizards of the Coast believes “the social connection playing games, including D&D, can continue to be helpful for those of us who feel isolated or alone in our homes in order to stay safe from transmission. As social distancing impacts our ability to get together in person, we wanted to offer resources and advice for more remote play.”    

Requests for interviews with sources at Wizards of the Coast, Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds went unfulfilled at publication.

One local gamer made use of his shelter-in-place time in a different way: to design his own game. Chris Marrone, 41, had played roleplaying games in his mid-20s. He hosts a board game night at his house with friends on Tuesday nights. Back in 2017, he began crafting his own: Chaos Arena — a tactical gladiator-style game where players control evil characters vying to be named champion. Once the lockdown hit, Marrone had some time off work, which meant more time at home.

A father and husband, Marrone altered his weekly game night because of the pandemic, but some things, as in Elliot’s case, are likely to carry onward afterward. Originally, the Marrone’s group met on Tuesday because that was the day local pizzeria Mountain Mike’s had deals. But, the day stuck as did the setup he put in his garage to distance him and his friends from his family. 

“Because of COVID, I was actually able to finish it,” he said. “We are going to stay out there and play. I wouldn’t have done that if COVID wasn’t a thing.”

Gamers interviewed for this story united in games’ appeal: they give players a mental workout, they have a social element and they provide an escape from the banality of daily life. For many gamers, gamers like Flesouras, the act of playing — that escapism and camaraderie — is an exercise in good mental health, the same as it was when he was a kid in rural Arkansas.

“To me, you have to treat yourself to something at the end of the day and the end of the week,” he said. “You make your own fun, because you are stuck at home.”