Face to face gaming venues needed

For the first article of the new year I thought I’d go a tad philosophical in terms of board gaming in Yorkton.

Our city seems stuck in a sort of no man’s land in terms of what is available here and our population.

Certainly hitting near 20,000 in population is a big step, and the service area is huge, but we remain a small city.

And, as a small city we don’t quite have the population base to have the sort of gaming opportunities you are likely to find a slightly larger centre.

If, or when, Yorkton hits 30,000-plus things will likely change, but that plateau is likely delayed years as talk of a new potash mine in the area to fuel such growth has quieted completely.

But as it is, game clubs are hard pressed to find footing in the city. As an example, a chess club in Yorkton has come and gone over the years, where in a slightly larger city a chess club is almost a fixture.

In Yorkton though, based on numbers alone, there are only so many chess players, and fewer still wanting to play in a club setting.

The reality of small numbers also means issues with finding suitable and affordable venues. There are small meeting rooms around the city, but if six people are meeting for chess the cost is still an issue. That said you want a public venue, not someone’s basement.

At least with chess, a club has popped up on occasion. Other games you might expect to have clubs are not so fortunate here. The list includes Go, checkers, backgammon, Mexican Train dominoes, an evening cribbage club, etc.

It would be great to see such options, and there might be an opportunity for some venues to try such evenings in the new year. In that regard thoughts turn to organizations such as the Yorkton Family Resource Centre or our public library.

Or it might fall to a local coffee spot to offer space, since in many larger centres board games and coffee shops go hand-in-hand. That can mean small, locally-owned shop such as Fresh On 5th, but could just as well be an A&W already open in the evening with lots of space to dedicate an area to gamers.

In terms of gaming, to see some of the well-known games, become the reason for people to get out from behind their televisions, away from cellphone texting, and socialize face-to-face, would be a great thing to see in our city in 2015.