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"Chess is as much a mystery as women" (Purdy)
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I got to thinking. If you wanted to hold a game event, and you wanted people to show up, what games could you hold? What do real people actually leave their house to play? Or, another way to think about it, if I wanted to play a particular game, but no one in my social circle played it, what games could I, realistically find an event where I could play that game?
(By "game" I am excluding sports, or anything primarily physical, like Pool or Darts)
Here are ones I know of:
Chess
Magic: The Gathering
Backgammon
Go
Checkers
Yu-Gi-Oh
Poker
Bridge
Euchre
Scrabble
There are also certain others that are favorites at game conventions or at public events held at game stores. I don't attend a lot of game cons, but I'll try to throw in some that I know of that, if I wanted to play them, I could reliably find an opponent by going to a game convention.
Various "rail" games.
Warhammer
Various "miniatures" games. (I don't know if there is one set of standard rules used, but I always see WWII miniatures, and Napoleonic miniatures, at game conventions.)
I'll let others fill in the game convention games. I'm looking for games that are reliably and predictably found at game conventions, so that, if I really wanted to play that game, I could be relatively certain that I could find an opponent by going to a game convention. In other words, if a game once appeared as an event at a particular convention, it doesn't count. Likewise, if one guy always hosts a specific game event at a specific convention, it doesn't count. However, if you see that there is a game convention being held at the local university, and you can assume that it will probably have a ....X.... event, then X counts.
Whether or not I show up at a tournament is affected much more by scheduling and other things in my life than the games themselves. I wanted to come to Canton for your event last fall, but I simply could not make it. Distance and cost are the next most important factors to me.
Clark
Certainly some people will go to a game convention without necessarily looking to see what games are being played. We play "games" pretty generically, and if there's a convention, there's bound to be something we like.
What I'm really looking for is trying to find out what the full extent of the "gaming universe" in the United States consists of. I'm specifically excluding things played in the home. In other words, lots of people play "Pictionary", but there aren't (to my knowledge) organized Pictionary events. Also, lots of people play games on the Internet, but I'm excluding them because they are in home activities, that happen to extend beyond the boundaries of the home. (I'm not trying to imply that IAGO shouldn't include them. It's just not what I'm interested in with this question.)
As best I can tell, the gaming universe consists of game conventions, events held at game stores, and occasional tournaments that feature a single game. The games I listed were ones for which I've seen tournaments advertised that are open to the general public.
via google, I did find a couple of other card tournaments. Multi game events featuring Hearts, Bid Whist, Canasta, Spades, Pinochle and something called "Wizard"
http://www.grandprixtournaments.com/index.htm
One of the sponsors was a site that advertised an annual Spades tournament.
There are gaming groups. People hook up, set up a meeting time or times, then get together to play all sorts of games, though they are generally the popular games, like Euros. Some groups meet at each other's houses, but others meet in a public place, like a bookstore or library, or a game store. These people do not fall in your "played at home" category, because they are often fairly large groups who meet in public places on a regular schedule, and they play a very wide range of games, though most are easy to moderately difficult games.
Yes. There are also "gaming clubs". I should have included them. They should be included in what I was talking about. I was looking for examples of where people could go to play games, and what games they can play, with people who are not already their friends. They probably escaped my mind because I was thinking in terms of event organizing, but they definitely fall into the category of things I was thinking about.
Here in the Detroit area, I know of Chess clubs, Go clubs, Backgammon and Scrabble, and one sort of "general purpose" gaming club where a variety of games are played. I've only been to one of their meetings, because I only recently learned about them. Euros and Rail games seemed to dominate.
For tournaments, either they are usually held at game conventions (WBC, Origins, Gencon, etc...), or run by associations. For play, check Meetup for Meetup groups. People also do meet in houses, but they are generally game clubs.
I am of the belief that the abstract strategy community needs to start attending game conventions and run their events. You get venues for no cost and traffic. I am of the belief chess clubs, and so on, who want to run tournaments, should do them at game conventions.
What you do have for mass appeal is simple rules, and depth, with some aesthetics in how the equipment looks. Having a hook into things people are familiar to what they are comfortable with, is what counts. This is why Connect Four does resonate, as does Blokus (Tetris). The simplicity of abstract strategy games, plus their lack of relevant theming, enables them to be timeless. Once a game gets here, and people keep playing, the game has longer legs than a themed game. The Gipf series also made a cross over into the gaming world, due to the pieces looking good. I do believe most people, and almost all games, at least have one abstract strategy game they have an affinity for.
I will say this also, you are very likely to find people to play, online. Abstract strategy games lend well to online play, for practice purposes. I don't believe one loses anything when they do that, from a pure play standpoint. However, for tournaments, physical venues would be needed. Also, being able to play with people in person adds a social dimension.
So, let me say here, on this. Everyone attend a game convention, and bring at least two players with you as your "staff" and a few copies of a game you want to promote, and play it at the convention as an event. And then open it up to people and offer to teach people the game. If you can find people local, and it is a local event, more power for that. This then could serve as a basis for a game club.
I agree with Rich wholeheartedly about using game conventions as free venues that will attract people.
On the other hand, I will disagree in part. Over the course of the last year, I have gotten into the local Chess community, and understand it a lot better than I did a year ago. You will almost never see a Chess tournament at a game convention. The two communities really are worlds apart in the way they approach things.
The first and most obvious difference is that Chess players want everything quiet while playing. That, though, is just the beginning. After playing for a year, getting rated, running a USCF tournament, and generally hanging out at Chess clubs and events, I no longer think that Chess is just another abstract strategy game. Of course, in terms of its rules, there is nothing fundamentally different between Chess and any number of other abstract strategy board games, but the rules are just the starting point. The meta-game of Chess is completely different from any other abstract strategy game in the United States.
When I first started this involvement, I had an idea to hold a "Chess and other games" tournament. It would feature a Chess tournament that would be the biggest draw with the most players, while other tournaments of Chess variants and other abstract board games would be played during and after the Chess tournament.
i now realize that wouldn't work. If you held a "Chess and other games" tournament, the Chess players wouldn't show up.
I suggest having the convention give people a quiet area to play abstract strategy game tournaments there. Have a foothold in the general boardgame area, but run the tournament in a more quiet part.
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