Sherri Haight started Palouse Board Gamers 14 years ago as a place for people to get together and enjoy games.
Before the stay-at-home order they met Fridays at the Moscow Shari’s Cafe and Pies. They would gather for a few hours to bond over their love of board games.
In response to the stay at home order, members of Palouse Board Gamers came together to plan weekly game nights online.
“This is really good because people like being able to reach out and connect with people, and playing a board game against the computer just isn’t the same thing,” Haight said.
Meeting through Discord, an online chatting program, the members play games on one of two websites that host virtual games. Game nights start at 6 p.m. every Friday.
Haight said while she would normally help coordinate game nights, this one was coordinated by the members of the club.
Haight said meeting online has helped keep the sense of community the players had from the in-person meetings.
“It’s very friendly. I mean, you can’t stick your tongue out at people when you have a good move. I know there’s a lot of people who are playing who are stuck at home alone right now. It’s really good for people to be able to get together and meet folks,” Haight said.
The games they play on Fridays vary but can include a wide swath of games, Haight said.
“We tend to mostly play what you would call the modern euro game or the modern board game, although a lot of the classics will get pulled out too,” Haight said.
The group is always welcome to newcomers, experience with board games is not necessary, Haight said.
“What’s interesting is that I didn’t get a chance to organize this myself, the group did on their own. They said, ‘you know we need to still be meeting.’ And so several folks with initiative got together, and they created a board game arena and a tabletop group, and they got a Discord server,” Haight said.
Kali Nelson can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @kalinelson6.