Hi All,

With a bit of delay, hereby the Quarterly Winter Newsletter that is rounding up the 2016 activities and giving you a hint on the 2017 upcoming fun!. Grab a coffee or tea for your reading.

Boardgame Monkeys Status Update

This is probably the part that you are looking for the most. Let’s start with the group statistics & validation of our 2016 objectives and then continue with the staff update.

Media Coverage
Let’s start with a turning point for our group; having the VRT television coming to Brussels to film one of our monthly sessions was really a highlight of 2016. If you missed the video, catch up over here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5YQTbt9vB0

They filmed the whole gaming night for the program Fans of Flanders and eventually trimmed it to a 2 minutes pitch about our group. It does give a good representation of a key value I’m trying to bring into the group; being socially engaged, building friendship and having qualitative fun time!

I would also take this opportunity to remind everyone that we are a group from individuals coming from very different horizons, cultures and with different life experiences. Recently, I got some troubling feedback reported about a few individuals who spoke disrespectfully and used stereotypes during one or the other session. I would ask you to keep an open mind, avoid any comments that might be wrongly perceived (even if it’s meant as a joke). Be respectful of all players at the table!

As a reminder, the 2016 objectives I’ve set for the group was the following:

Reach 500 members
• We reached a peak at 575 members in March 2016.
• After a cleanup of 150 members in April 2016 and another cleanup of 78 members in June: we are today still at 473 members.
• We have an average of ~23 new registrations every month. Which is the double compared to last year at the same period.
• A new cleanup will be made in February 2017. The new objective will be to stay “below” the 400 registered members in 2017. We don’t want more people, but we want quality members.

Increase the participation rate to sessions:
• Improve the conversion rate from new to regular members above 50% (today’s average is~25%)
• We “lost” several regular players last year, due to the “expat way of living” with people moving to other cities.
• PG did not have the time to do a deep dive analysis (like last February) but we certainly did not reach the 50% target. We do see a slight increase in the overall active member statistics, so it goes in the good direction.
• We’ve seen an increase on average of 10 additional people joining the monthly Join & Play sessions in the last 3 months.

Increase the # of sessions:
• Increase the frequency of events (ideally we pick up on thematic nights that are fun & different).
• To this effect we launched the Dice & Mini’s (focus on miniatures); it shows the limitation (around 15-20 attendees) and actually in parallel other tables started to be set up; Therefore in 2017 I’ve opened it up to other types of games (why set limitations anyhow?) in order to have a 2nd “official” night. This gives us the 1st and the 3rd Wednesday of the month.
• Oliver led with a few other organizers/volunteers the Conflict Simulations night (intro to wargames). After several sessions, the reality is that we haven't really managed to attract any regulars, the other hosts. For wargames, the "explain on the spot" approach hits its limit. Oliver took the wise decision to stop the series after the turn-out dropped session over session. Thanks to all who put this in place, with all due merits to have given it a try.
• Switching from Thursdays to Wednesdays gave the possibility for regulars to set up tables the other days. One of the clear advantages moving our activities to Outpost was the possibility to host sessions other days, including 26 weekends’ sessions (which was previously non-existent at La Table).

Rewards for organizers:
• Support the longevity of Event Organizers motivation/efforts
• The «all for free» model works only until people get tired.
• Get new blood in to «lighten» the schedule of existing.

With the transition to Outpost, we also introduced the “discount” for Events Organizers. This is a way to compensate the efforts you’re putting into hosting tables during the monthly events and at other moments. I believe the model works pretty well – but also shows some limitations. Although, I did not hear anybody complain in the last 12 months!

I’ve been wondering if I could do more; like a financial retribution or something similar. This would only be feasible if we start asking a small fee (like a 1 or 2 euro participation fee) for the events we organize; but giving this back to the organizers means you might receive 2-5 euros for the night, which in practice barely cover 2 of your drinks … so all in all, in the end, having a discount is much better that way.

The downside of this system is the need to start tracking the Events Organizers activities and literally count the number of sessions they are hosting on a yearly basis. This generates also a barrier for those who would like to set up sessions on a more casual basis, without hard constrains of being Organizer. With this in mind, I am thinking about alternatives to this discount (to change it with something more neutral such as sponsoring of the group but not discount for individuals).

I will debrief the proposals during the next Events Organizers team meeting (we try to hold them approximatively every 6 months).

On my side, I still take the cover for the payment of the Meetup subscription and other events involving material (such as for example the Halloween party where I bought a script + material). Don’t know if I will continue in the coming year(s); I might do like 2 years back a special “jar” to cover the Meetup subscription of 60€/year. I am also thinking about doing a Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign at some point to cover this.

Half Year Clean Up

Despite my usual cleanups where I remove about ~ inactive100 members at a time. We are again above the 500 members registered on the Meetup page. I will clean for this start of the year a wooping 164 inactive members who did not visit the Meetup Page in the last months and/or never attended any of our events. Once more; the purpose of this cleanup is to keep only group members who are a minimum active and engaged with boardgames. They will be able to register again if they decide to be involved again.


Upcoming 2017 activities:

All what is written below still needs validation with the Events Organizers team, by the time you read this newsletter I am past due to share with you the Winter Newsletter, thus, I decided to give you highlights now and an early spring newsletter with the finalized details once it has been discussed with the other Organizers.

Part of the 2017 objectives will be to grow further with the purpose to have up to 75 participants per monthly session. Today we reach 60 attendees, so we are not that far ahead. In 2018, ideally we would have around 90 attendees per session. The objective is to establish a regular flow of 100 attendees per session by 2020. Why are those number important? Because it allows us to have an “impact” as a group when we go play somewhere; it does help to open doors and be recognized within the boardgamers community.

We are somehow victim of our success! You all have noticed that when someone is posting an event with open spots; those get filled up within 30 minutes that the table was opened (and often it’s the same people who are booking the slot, simply because they have the app installed with some alerts, or, they can check the Meetup more often). This means we have a high demand for a lower offer that we can currently provide. Solutions?
• I’m am considering opening up a 3rd regular session on Thursdays. (We used to have 20-25 people playing when events where booked on Thursdays). This could also be a possibility to renew our engagement with La Table Food & Games; but let’s be very clear on this; I need to get to an agreement with them upfront … and that’s certainly not a done deal!! This would mean the 1st & 3rd Wednesday of the Month at Outpost and the 2nd Thursday of the Month at La Table (or elsewhere?).

• Motivate more members to setup tables, which implies increasing the number of Events Organizers; probably by modifying the eligibility criteria (and potentially the current deal with Outpost).

• Offer something new, such as a quarterly Brunch/Food Event which would be an extra opportunity for people to meet, build up their relationships in the group and play boardgames! This one is already somewhat concrete in my mind but needs the team approval.

Another wish that I couldn’t fulfill last year was the organization of the 1st Boardgame Monkeys gaming weekend! It was announced in one of my previous newsletter but with the baby coming along and the implications (logistics, reservations, …) for which eventually the ownership falls back to me even if I have various people willing to help out; we could make it. This year, I promise we will at least do a gaming day, to start small and learn from the experience before expanding to a full weekend (with other aspects to consider).

Personal PG's Update
We come to the end of another year. They just seem to fly by at the moment. This last twelve months has been an interesting time for the Boardgames & Tabletop industry. Yes I do put a capital letter on both terms – as they gradually grew through the last few years to become part of “day to day” of many of us.

You can call me a gaming geek – although we’re far from my past gaming experience with my daughter who’s just 18 months old … oh boy! Babies do slump up chunks of your free time that flies so fast you wonder how she went from 2.29 kg to 10+ kg’s in barely 18 months. That said, the good news is that I can already get out some of the HABA gaming boxes from “her” collection.

Although she’s not following the rules yet – she does like to grab them and tear them apart – it’s nice to see her adapting to the pieces and dices.
I did keep track for a full year (it’s the 1st year I consistently do it) of all my boardgames activities through the BGStats app (IOS) https://www.bgstatsapp.com which has been continuously developed since 2 years it’s launch a few years back.

This is how it looks like for me in 2016:
• I have a total of 121 plays – 58 unique games – 6 locations (*note: I regroup festivals/friends locations) – 43 named players (I do use “dummies 1 to 5) for people I randomly play with.
• I played (Top 10) the most with Louka, Nadia, Guillermo, Filip VU, Inge, Cindy, Vini, Bernard, Henrik and Ozana.
• About 36% of my gaming time is spent at home (Warland), 27% at Outpost and the rest at Festivals, friends and as last La Table (I still had my plays from January/February 2016 there – those will fall off in 2017).
• I play mostly on Sundays, Saturdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays followed by the other weekdays – in that order.
• Pathfinder ACG (box 1 & 3) is my top played game this year, followed closely by Robinson Crusoe, Imperial Assault, ASHES, Splendor, Mölkky (in festivals only) and Orléans (who has been ramping fast in last 2 months with 5 plays).

You probably wonder – why do I share this with you? Well, maybe it will motivate you to install & try the BGStats app which is truly awesome (I believe there is an equivalent for Android users called , or, at least discover a bit more about me and my gaming habits. Indeed, one of the Boardgame Monkeys building stone is shaping a community of boardgamers and friends, beyond just the actual boardgaming.

Short retrospectives like above, gives you also as a boardgamer some perspective on preconceived thoughts; for example when you claim the name of the game you definitively “love” … but played only 1x time through the entire year, while other games in your collection where played 10+ times.

Boardgaming Industry Update [Skip if you follow the boardgaming news regularly – Read if you want a summary about events in the gaming industry]
Moving on to a larger scope, there were happenings worldwide. Games Workshop and Fantasy Flight (who was bought over by Asmodee) ceased their long partnership.
Since 2008 Fantasy Flight Games and Games Workshop have worked in partnership to bring some truly enjoyable and entertaining games to the tabletop. However, in early September, the companies revealed that Fantasy Flight Games license was due to expire, and would not be renewed.

All Games Workshop-licensed products already announced at the time are still scheduled to be released. The only this that appeared to be negatively affected was the pre-order of the Warhammer 40,000: Conquest Store Championship Kits and Quarter 1 Tournament Kits, as they were cancelled outright. As of 28 February 2017, the Games Workshop-licensed products will be leaving the Fantasy Flight Games catalogue; so if you have a collector mindset like mine, better get them on your shelves now! Why? Well, for one, you don’t know if Games Workshop will release them, moreover, with which quality and box content. That’s already a reason enough.

Asmodee continued to bring publishers and studios into its fold, as well as established a more formal regional structure (which is a plus for us gamers). The just formally announced that they bought over Millenium (Spanish distributor of FFG games) – as expected and Edge (French translation of FFG games) – as expected, but also Heidelberger who’s a known German Publisher and Distributor (both hats)! This was certainly less expected, although the CEO Harald Bilke recently passed away and the structure remained very familial oriented. This should allow Asmodee to increase their distribution into German territory and at same time acquire a big catalogue of German-style (Euro-style is a better word?) game.

Talking about games, a lot of them came out in 2016. More than last year even, but what really strikes me is the number of expansions (Essen 2016 was all about that some reviewers even commented). One phenomena that for many just “passed by” is that but Kingdom Death: Monster (yes that’s the name of the game) is shaping up to be the most funded Kickstarter campaign of all time. Not the most funded tabletop game. No, the most funded Kickstarter campaign, of any! For anyone still sceptical about how popular tabletop and boardgames has become, this should at least begin to change their mind (back to my capital letters in Boardgames & Tabletop).

In the America’s, just last November saw one of the world’s most well know tabletop games, Dungeons & Dragons inducted into the US-based National Toy Hall of Fame. Other nominees were Cluedo and Uno, as well as Transformers, pinball, Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, Nerf, Care Bears, colouring books and bubble wrap. Dungeons & Dragons was included with two other inductees, Fisher-Price Little People and the swing.

Companies take it “global” not only for their business but also for the boardgamers, which they target more and more like “fans” of their products. I’ll pick on one example from Mantic who’s organizing across the world on January 14th, Kings of War players will be gathering together at home, at clubs or at local stores to play through some epic games of mass fantasy battles. See their Facebook event page.The International Campaign Day will be a truly global event. Players from around the world have signed up to play.

If you managed to read all through this point - that means you read about 7 word pages of text that I blurped out as newsletter for you. It hopefully was not a (total?) waste of your time and you learned a bit more about the group. I will very most likely return to a video format for the next session - so stay tuned !

Cheers,

PG