East Portland Tabletop Arcade (Hobby games at the Midland Library)

Happy solstice! For the past six months or so, I've been organizing a board game meetup on the first Sunday of every month at the Midland Library at SE 122nd & Morrison. Our last event had thirteen attendees and saw plays of Pandemic, Elder Sign, TRND, Here to Slay, Flock Together, Epic Galaxy, Fluxx, Procession, and Lost in R'lyeh.

For next month, I've reserved a community room on Sunday, January 4th, and I'd love for anyone that's interested to come join us! This time, we'll be coming back to room 1B, the middle of the large meeting rooms near the front of the building. These rooms are explicitly for community use and open to the public, so I'm hoping for a pretty friendly, relaxed gathering. So far there's been a mix of interest in shorter/lighter games and longer, more involved games, and we've been able to organize pretty organically without anyone having to wait too long. Still, if you're interested in something longer or more complex, I'd suggest arriving at the beginning so we can get that going from the jump.

My partner recently reminded me that when we hosted game nights many years ago, we used to bring out a few selections each time with a thematic connection, and I thought it would be nice to revive that tradition. Playing these is hardly mandatory, of course - I'll have a number of other games with me, and I hope that anyone who attends will feel free bring stuff that they're interested in getting to the table. With that said, since it's the beginning of a new year, I thought I'd bring a few titles that are in some way or another about celebrations:

HIGH SOCIETY (Knizia, 1995, low complexity): Players bid against each other to acquire the various trappings of wealth (positive-number and multiplier cards) while avoiding its pitfalls (negative number and divisor cards). While bidding, though, keep an eye on your remaining cash - at the end of the game, even though all those positive-number cards might add up to a win, the player with the least money isn't even considered for victory.

MOLLY HOUSE (Kelly & Wehrle, 2025, high complexity): Players take the roles of the gender-defying mollies of early eighteenth century London. Throw grand masquerades and cruise back alleys while evading moralistic constables who seek to destroy your community. Be careful, there may even be informers in your midst!

REBEL PRINCESS (Byrne, Guerrero, Peláez & Virgós, 2023, low complexity): Snow White, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, and many other fairy tale princesses are celebrating a five-day party. The prince charmings, who have not been invited, will try to infiltrate the ball to propose marriage to the girls. As a princess, you have to avoid marriage proposals and remain single and independent after the celebrations.

The library itself is quite nice, especially after its recent facelift, and is just a couple minutes' walk from the 20-Burnside bus and a maybe a five or ten minute walk from the 122nd Ave Blue Line MAX stop. As far as food options, Bridge City Taproom is right across the street, there's Just Tea about a block away, and Los Francos Food Truck, Don Pedro, Victorico's, Bon Bahn Mi, Gold Garden (Chinese), and Sisters (Ethiopian) all within a few blocks.

Alright, I think that's everything for the moment. Please let me know if you have any questions, and I hope I'll see you there!