By Srujan in Thoughts 💭 — 25 Mar 2023

Board Games & Puzzles

I've been introduced to Board Games via Karan, my flatmate in Mumbai who had no less than a hundred games in his collection back then. As I've moved out later on, the hobby didn't grow on me due to lack of opportunities.

Almost 3 years later, I've moved to Bangalore and when looking for avenues to meet new people, get new hobbies, I come across reroll.in
I've been a regular there, until pandemic and went almost every week to attend and play some games. I've also spread it to few other dear friends of mine. By the time pandemic hit us, I've already owned a couple of games that we'd casually play at home. During the course of covid, I've bought various games and grew my own collection to a humble twenty plus.

The games have various kinds of mechanisms, different levels of complexity and impressionable amount of deception. There are quite a few lessons learned and applied tactics that evolved me as a person.

As time progressed, I've expanded the circles of friends as well as gamers. The interesection is quite big lately! I host frequently in HSR at StoryZone , an arts community space started by Nisha.

Places to expand hobbies:

Cafes and Meetup groups in Bangalore:

Online Groups:

Board Game Geek is an online community and a definitive source for board games and card games. The platform has reviews, ratings, new releases, prices (internationally), images, etc. of almost all the board games. The community is ever growing and gets interesting insights about kickstarter games too.
Telegram group for a trusted Meeple Market in India, where we buy/sell/trade board games: https://bit.ly/30RIgNQ
Bangalore Board Games: https://chat.whatsapp.com/LikmoRQqoqAHviMS3bt6bp

Print-n-play:

Certain games often have print and play versions available online. Sometimes, free of cost (such as secret hitler), sometimes at a minimal cost. They're good way to test out the game and get into hobby without spending too much money.

Recommended way is to join the above meetups, as the hosts often have a diverse set of board games and enthusiastic players within communities.