What we’re about
We're a local community centered around board games, card games, and pen & paper roleplaying games. We get together every Wednesday at Empire for an evening of intermediate to advanced board games. We often raise money for local charities and give away board games, generously donated by sponsors.
If your board game preferences lean more toward the classics such as Monopoly, Clue, Mexican Trains, and/or similar light games, please check out other Albuquerque Meetup groups, as Dukes Night caters specifically to modern, more complex games.
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- The Road to the World Series of Board Gaming - Terraforming MarsEmpire Board Game Library, Albuquerque, NM
Empire wants to send YOU to the World Series of Board Gaming 2024 in Las Vegas! Play for your shot at a Stay And Play pass to the World Series of Board Games, a $1050 value!
Tickets for each event are $15 and can be purchased on our website here: Empire Online
EVENT STARTS AT 6PM
Please be here and ready to play at 6.
There will be no "teach" for these games. Participants must know the rules of the game they are playing.---------------------------
What is Road To The World Series of Board Games?
Beginning in March, Empire will be holding a series of tournaments each Wednesday night:
Each tournament will be one of the 16 games to be played during the World Series of Board Gaming.Winners from these tournaments will qualify for a championship night, to be held at the end of the season, where our winners will compete for the Grand Prize. (Stay And Play Package for WSBG, including 5 days of gaming and tournament entries, and 4 nights hotel stay $1050 value!)
The WSBG main event games cover a wide range of genres and complexity levels. Games at the WSBG this year are:
Wingspan, Great Western Trail, Ticket To Ride, Heat: Pedal to the Metal, Ark Nova, Brass: Birmingham, Lost Ruins of Arnak, Ra, Earth, Dune: Imperium, Acquire, Azul, Terraforming Mars, The Castles of Burgundy, Cascadia, Splendor------------------------
What does a ticket to our Road to the World Series of Board Gaming event get you?
$15 gets you entry to the event, and all day open play. You will also get a free drink with your entry, and 3 raffle tickets.
Each night will feature a GIVEAWAY RAFFLE! Each participant will receive a raffle ticket, and a copy of whichever game is scheduled for the following week will be raffled off.
Players can earn extra raffle tickets in the following ways:
1 Ticket: Sign up ahead of time! This helps us know how many players we will have, and how many copies of the game we need to provide.
1 Ticket: Mark as going on either our Facebook event or Meetup page for the event.
1 Ticket: Share the event on Facebook, or share a photo from one of our WSBG events and tag us in it on FB or Instagram.
-----------------------Tournament Structure:
Each night, participants will play one of the 16 games played at the WSBG this year. Each night will consist of up to 16 players.Round 1: 4 games, of up to 4 players each. Winners advance to Round 2.
Round 2: 4 Players play to become Store Champion of the game being played that evening.
Champions will be invited back at the end of the season to play in our Tournament Championships, to compete for the Grand Prize.
Where applicable, we will use rules adjustments or specific modules/expansions, based on WSBG practices.Championship Day Structure:
We will be using a similar structure to the WSBG for semi-finals and finals games, with a slight difference.
Semi-Finals: Players will be grouped together to make up to 4 games, as evenly as possible. A seeding system will be used to create the match-ups for the semi-finals tables.
Games will be chosen as such: At a table, any games that were won by a Champion at that table may not be played. Out of the remaining games, the player who has won the most Championships may choose the game for that table (Home-field advantage.) If players are tied, or there is not someone with multiple wins, the game will be randomly drawn from the remaining games.
Finals: The semi-finals winners will play 1 more game for the Grand Prize. This game will be randomly drawn, from games that none of the players have previously won a Championship or semi-finals game.
- Blood on the Clocktower - For new and less experienced playersEmpire Board Game Library, Albuquerque, NM
Join us for Blood on the Clocktower with the best community and Storytellers in town!
We'll play a minimum of two rounds - more if time permits!
We'll be using the Trouble Brewing scenario this session it's perfect for new and less experienced players.And yes, we even teach the game before we start but in the interest of more playing and less preamble we ask that everyone check out a how-to-play video such as the one found here:
https://youtu.be/M-aZP47Nm9gTickets for this event are $15 per person and include a free drink or dessert.
Space is limited, so get your tickets here: Empire OnlineTickets must be purchased in advance. These events fill up!
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Why play at Empire when free events are available?
Experience: Our Storytellers have been running Blood on the Clocktower events several times a month for over a year!
Community: Our Storytellers are great at running games, sure, but they have also cultivated a welcoming and respectful player community. New and returning players are both welcome and encouraged - and respect, well, the people who play at Empire respect not only one another's preferred pronouns and personal beliefs - but also everyone's time. Flakes are a rarity, and we are usually notified in advance so that necessary adjustments can be made. You won't experience delays in the game due to half-committed people wandering around - we're here to play!
