Cardboard City Games Club

Come one, come all!

Join a broad mix of friendly folk for a spot of socialising and strategising with some of the best modern strategy board games around. Enjoy a meal and a relaxing beverage. There are no fees! And beginners are very welcome.

http://photos4.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/a/e/4/4/600_448364612.jpeg

Cardboard City Games Club welcomes anyone who wants to have good fun with good people and great board games.

You won't see Risk, Monopoly, Scrabble or Hungry Hungry Hippos - try Cafe Games for those! But, you will find Catan, Agricola, Carcassonne, Dominion, Puerto Rico, Power Grid, and much, much more.

Bring along your favourite game(s), grab one from our extensive library, or just join a table and learn a new one whilst making some new friends.

I'm new here, what should I do?

Never heard of these games? Not been before? No problem! Our friendly local gamers are happy to teach and make newcomers feel very welcome. We have several new players each week, and many of these games are very easy to pick up and learn. You'll be having fun in no time!

http://photos4.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/d/b/d/a/600_127016282.jpeg

What are these modern board games we play?

Many of these games are "Eurogames". These are board games that emphasise strategy, play down luck, often lean towards economic and historical themes, and usually wrap up in about an hour or two.

A hallmark of these games is that you don't need to eliminate the other players to win and you get to do interesting stuff even when it's not your turn.

Other games tend to focus more of theme / story, often with a lot more luck in theme. Some people call these "Ameritrash". But we don't resort to name-calling here - all modern strategy games are welcome!

http://photos2.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/8/a/e/600_124202222.jpeg

You name it, it has been made into a board game!

You might find yourself in a fast-paced auction bidding for stocks in an American railway company, building a power grid across China, forging a galactic empire, attracting great thinkers to your palace in Renaissance Italy, ploughing a field in 17th century Germany, hammering out a trade deal as you settle the island of Catan, saving the world from global warming, defending your dynasty in ancient Mesopotamia, running a Japanese sushi bar, co-operating to manage a deadly pandemic, rigging elections in revolutionary France, setting up a wine business in Portugal... and so much more!!!

http://photos1.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/d/f/e/0/600_127017312.jpeg

I don’t have any modern games, can I still play?

Of course! There are always plenty of games to play! The club also maintains a large library of classic easy-to-learn games for anyone to make use of on the night, and you'll easily find someone keen to teach (or you can even teach yourself, if you'd prefer !)

For those that own their own games, we heartily encourage you to bring your own games along to play and teach too, of course.

http://photos4.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/d/b/3/0/600_127016112.jpeg

Games you won't see.

Whilst we have plenty of good chatter over our games, we don't permit loud party games (it can get too noisy). We also don't do role-playing games either - we recommend the MAGE night meetup in the city for people keen to try those.

http://photos3.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/7/a/c/8/600_140431432.jpeg

So what is in this "Games Library" you mentioned?

We have over 50 games, all picked to be mostly newcomer friendly, top-rated, and easy to pick and learn on the night. The library contents are tracked on our BoardGameGeek profile here: https://boardgamegeek.com/collection/user/CardboardCity (https://boardgamegeek.com/user/EurogamesMelbourne)

Every week, money raised in our optional raffle goes into a fund to keep our library well stocked. The raffle features selected games, some new, others in great second-hand condition, and is a great chance to support the club whilst hopefully walking off with a new game.

http://photos1.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/7/c/d/a/600_140431962.jpeg

Who runs this?

With the help of a few friends, the club is run by Ben. Look, there he is above, pointing out a very interesting card in Shadows over Camelot. Ben's dirty secret is he mainly owns thematic 'Amerithrash' games, but some how has taken over a mostly 'Eurogames' club, which puzzles but mostly amuses him. He's also English and a rather nice chap - if you're not sure what to do on the night, ask Ben!

You mentioned a raffle?

Yes ! We are running a raffle most nights where we aim to have three great prize games to give away. Any profits from the raffle go straight into a fund which covers any basic running costs (minimal) and new games for the library.

Tickets are $2 each, or 3 tickets for $5 (there may be a 10 tickets special too)

In the spirit of good transparency, a spreadsheet of this fund is maintained online (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MrsKpMm2Fb1q9y2vYlF8cobD9nCR9zWp9J5nip_hnjI/edit?usp=sharing) for anyone to view.

Where do I find out more about modern board games?

For more information on board games visit http://www.boardgamegeek.com/