Wednesday night = sports night? No! Wednesday night = board games night.
The Newcastle University board games society meet every Wednesday from 6-9pm in the Barbara Strang Teaching Centre to indulge in hours of gaming fun, and it only costs £5 for the year.
As I sit with its members, attempting to follow the wildly confusing rules of “secret Hitler”, it is clear that this is a society which its members hold close to their hearts.
Their social secretary, Nicki Whitford, a 3rd year at Newcastle University said that the “board games society is something that has really improved my university experience.”
Many members I spoke to also credited the society as a place where they met key members of their university life.
Like Dylan Tandy, a 2nd year student who (amongst a chorus of “awhs” and “ohs”) told me that the society “means a lot because it’s how I met my closest friend group.”
Or Ryan Finch, a 4th year student who met his 2nd year housemates at the society, or his girlfriend, 3rd year student and secretary of the society, Boyona Todorova, who joking told me that their’s is a “love story born over board games.”
Boyana said the society is “pretty low-pressure”, with the format of their weekly socials simply being to grab a board game, sit down and play.
“You come whatever week you want to, you just grab a board game, you sit down, you play.”
Boyona Todorova, secretary.
The socials go beyond these weekly sessions however, with the committee also hosting other events throughout the year, such as Christmas socials or their recent pub quiz, as well ‘collab’ socials with societies such as D&D, tabletop or blood on the clocktower society.
They also host board game tournaments twice annually.
Entry into the tournaments is included in the £5 membership and gives members a chance to earn their money back said their secretary, Boyana, with members having the chance to win up to £50 in board games if they win.
The society, at least in its weekly socials, is sober, a notion appreciated by some members like Dylan Tandy and Max Thomson (both 2nd year students) who don’t drink.
They said that not drinking is a benefit of the society, especially thanks to the bonus of “not looking after drunk people.”
The society’s social secretary, 3rd year student Nikki Whitford, said that the society are sober so that they can be a “place to socialise without anyone feeling like they are being pressured into drinking.”
She said that it is “really important” to provide a “safe space that you can go [to] every week and just do something nice.”
“I think it’s a really important space, especially with the social expectations that come with being a student, to have somewhere that’s a nice little safe space.”
Nikki Whitford, social secretary
The society members had little negative to say about the society, aside from Max Thomson who said that the rooms that the weekly board game socials are hosted in can be too small, making it difficult to fit everyone in.
The social secretary Nicki responded to this. She said that the committee “are working on getting bigger rooms or multiple rooms a week.”
However, it is currently a struggle due to their Wednesday evening slot being “a very popular time for societies to run.”
So, whether you’re a board game connoisseur or, like me, have no idea what’s going on when someone tries to explain the rules, the board games society ensures that they have the time for you.
Memberships for the Board Games Society are available on the NUSU website for all Newcastle University students.
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