Board & Card Game Enthusiasts, Birmingham & West Midlands

Online Boardgame Evening

Another opportunity to play boardgames and cardgames online with other group members. There are no hosts, you pre-contact each other. Please read both 'GENERAL INFORMATION' and 'EVENT SPECIFIC INFORMATION' below, thank you!

1. GENERAL INFORMATION

Meet virtually during social distancing, and beyond, each Monday 6pm-10pm. We play using "Boardgamearena.com" and via other recognized websites. RSVP here, get yourself a free account, and then add yourself to our online group. Play with other members who are available.

Once established, you can optionally upgrade yourself to a premium account for a nominal fee of around £2 per month, which gives you access to even more games and features.

Join text communications within our group page at 6pm, with the option of a voice call within Facebook Messenger which remains open until everyone is finished, and is useful for rules explanations.

Some people have account names which differ to their meetup.com profiles, so please ensure you are identifiable to other members by also providing you real and meetup names.

1. Get yourself a free account with boardgamearena.com 24+ hours in advance in order that your chat facilities are activated

2. Go to "Community" and choose to join "Birmingham Central Boardgaming" (scan down to bottom right) or use link https://boardgamearena.com/group?id=3866947

3. Get familiar with the website, click on your profile icon to see notifications, update preferences etc. Also familiarize with any games you'd like to play, via "Games". Also ensure you have access to FBM.

4. Logon in advance of 6pm on the night, and contact others attending, who will be marked as being online on our group page. Please note that we are unable to monitor meetup.com during events

5. Enjoy!

6. EVENT SPECIFIC INFORMATION

From Early 2020 to Spring 2021 we ran general online club nights playing multiple games, where members joined freely when able. However with attentions now diverted to resuming normal gaming later this summer, our online club nights have taken a new direction.

Participation is based on a fixed number of members meeting at an agreed time to play a pre-agreed game or games. If time allows, players may spontaneously play other games afterwards of course.

1. When placing an RSVP, you should also state clearly in the comments section what game (or choice of games) you might like to play.
2. Also state number of players, and start time (if later than 6pm).
3. If flexible, or willing to host/teach, say so, more people may respond. But if you RSVP without follow-up or suggesting what to play, you may be ignored unfortunately.
4. Ensure you swap online usernames or whatever enables you to find each other easily at the event start time. If anyone needs rules explained first, allow 30 mins before starting the game, and let everyone know.
5. Once there are enough/maximum players, please indicate so that others know they will need to join/create another game table.
6. Our regular event hosts may join your games (and even help with rules) by prearrangement or offer if available. But we will only attend games where we have indicated among the comments.

Games at The Hop Garden

Venue: The Hop Garden, 19 Metchley Lane, Harborne

Come and join us at the Hop Garden on Tuesday nights and play some games. Plenty of tables and good lighting all with some cracking games and delicious ales. All gamers are welcome and newcomers will be looked after by resident expert, award winning games designer, Andy Hopwood.

The official games session hosted by Andy will run from 6.30pm but you are welcome to come down and start playing at any stage from 5pm. The staff go home at 10.30pm so we would ask that you time your games accordingly and do not start anything new after 10pm. It is free to play but we do ask that you buy any and all drinks from the venue.

There is plenty of street parking near the venue and it's just a short distance from Harborne High Street. The venue is an old building and it has not been possible to make it wheelchair friendly, if you have any special needs please get in touch with Andy and he will let you know the exact situation and see what can be done.

We ask that all attendees abide by standard rules of conduct. We are a diverse and open minded group. Insulting or inappropriate comments are not welcome. We all tend to play games with each other but it is ok to prefer to play certain games with your own friends and polite refusals are acceptable. If in doubt, talk to Andy.

• Play Chess Round-Robin (Sociable Mini Tournament)

• Chess - This is the master game of logic and strategy for two players. We normally play monthly, so don't forget to RSVP to earlier and later event iterations too!

• Venue - The Good Intent, 32-33 Great Western Arcade, off Colmore Row, Birmingham B2 5HU. Probably upstairs.

• Time - 6:30 pm, we start right away.

• Suitability - This event is for existing players of all standards, and is of a sociable nature, but is not for those who have never played previously sorry, as we are not able to offer tuition in the time available.

• Games - These will be played at set times through the evening to ensure that everyone gets their fair share of play-time

• Equipment - We will bring a few chess sets/boards and clocks, though in case of high numbers, please let us know if you could bring more if necessary

Format:
There will be a friendly series of game rounds throughout the evening, commencing approximately half-hourly. Each player will have a time limit of 10-15 minutes per game. Everyone will have fun and will get to play other players throughout the evening.

Attendance:
As with all events, please RSVP courteously, which means that no-shows and withdrawals in the last 24 hours are forbidden. Thank you for your understanding. Minimum attendance=6

Members of both GO:HeartofEngland and Board&CardGameEnthusiasts are invited to this event, so we'll aim to reflect RSVPs on both as far as possible. Numbers will hopefully be viable providing we avoid late drop outs, so please ink into your diaries thanks!

Monthly 2nd-Hand Games Trading (Online Event)

An informal and friendly opportunity to exchange or obtain new games in your collection!

Some of you may have participated in a 'Boardgames Bring & Buy', where gamers trade (swap, sell or buy) their second hand games with each other, perhaps at a local games convention, or using an online website. In the first case, there can be the burden of conveying bulky items prospectively, or in the latter case, there can be the cost of packaging and delivery or collection. On a trial basis, we are aiming to create a more hassle-free framework for members. Inevitably we need rules aimed to help avoid scams and timewasters.

The Process to be observed:

• An online event is created on last Thursday of each month to cover the following month (e.g. late July's event will cover August).
• Members may leave details of any games they wish to buy or sell 2nd hand with a proposed price, up to a max of 5 items per entry.
• If selling, this price must represent a worthwhile reduction on RRP and reflect the condition of the game.
• Where buying this must not be a pittance (we suggest at least half RRP, again recognizing dependence on the item's condition).
• In either case, keep messages concise and accurate, make private contact to agree and exchange further details.
• Personal games collection only, no commercial trading.
• In addition to actual games, items closely associated with board gaming may be offered, but items outside the hobby aren't allowed.
• Offers may be made, but persistent haggling is actively discouraged.
• Do not contact group organizers please, we do not undertake oversight, other than to sanction profiles who abuse the process.
• Payment method (& receipting) must be agreed between members.
• By default, collection is at a local group event on our webpages during the next month, which members must observe (but other arrangements may be made only if both parties agree).
• If any of our venues are unsuitable for collection, we'll aim to advise, and collection outside in a public place may still work fine.
• Requests may be resubmitted on a following month's event page, but should be withdrawn as soon as an item is traded.
• You must RSVP in order to comment or to propose a trade, noting that his event does not allow guests
• Please do not post about games trades on our other group events, or on other areas of our website.
• Absolutely no scamming or timewasting will be tolerated. Keep it friendly!