Jay McKeown is the director of BroCon. A yearly three day cornucopia of board gaming, cosplay, console gaming and all things gaming gaming (yes I said it twice). He’s a Regular at thur night games, is despicably young and has a super power of inhaling rules and being right about them far too often

I caught up with Jay (wasn’t hard) and asked him what makes him happy about gaming and gaming cons

Jay. When did you first start gaming ?

I got into gaming big when the Lord of the Rings movies came out. I started buying the DeAgostini Battles in Earth magazine and that in turn brought me to our LGS for the first time. As I got older Warhammer took over from there, and after several years of that the cheaper options of board games, X-Wing and console gaming took over. Gaming evolution at its finest…sort of.

How did you become involved in Brocon and why do you do it?

In the con’s debut year they wanted to run Warhammer but had nobody knowledgeable in the subject. So I did my thing and invited myself onto the committee and it sort of stuck, and then grew to the point where I am now running the whole show. Running cons it the best and worst thing you can ever do in my opinion, and that’s why I am still here…that and nobody else wants to do it, ha.

What’s your favourite bit ?

Of gaming? Winning…no, really though, it’s that intrigue of seeing where any given game might go. I’m a sucker for the mechanics. Of running a con? The moment it begins and the moment it ends; they each have their charm.

Cosplay is quite a specialist area. What attracted you to it ?

Honestly, it was already there when I showed up. But it is one of the largest parts of the con and shows perfectly just what a con is all about; having a laugh with your friends, everyone else’s opinion be damned. It demonstrates perfectly the sort of comfort zone that nerd events of all kinds have brought about.

What is it that people love about gaming ?

I reckon the escapism of it all. It’s great not to have to worry about real life for a few hours and be at ease.

You attend a lot of conventions What makes a good games convention?

I am going to echo what many of con regulars have figured out as of late, and that’s having plenty to do. The shininess of the whole spectacle will tide you over for maybe an hour or two, but when you are paying €15-30 for a weekend depending on the con, you want to be entertained from start to finish. And that includes trying to appeal to as many different types of people as possible, not just niche groups.

If your house was burning down what would you save?

Blasphemy inbound, but it would have to be the Playstation. It is the most expensive thing to replace.

If you had a grand only to spend on gamying what wouldn’t you buy ?

I can’t really answer that question for marketing reasons; I may need some sponsorship for the con down the line somewhere. I can tell you what I would buy though; War of the Ring and Forbidden Stars. Best games of the year for me.

What’s going to be the next big thing in gaming?

Honestly, not a clue, and the whole thing about gaming is the here and now is good enough until that comes.

Harvey O’Brien runs a regular boardgames night in his house every week, he’s a founding member of the South Dublin BoardGamers, he knows a thing or two about games and he has a beard. I’ve had the pleasure of joining him and his guys for games some time back and they’ve now become regulars at the various Knavecons (which is really just a big games night with lots more people).   I caught up with Harvey to ask him a little bit about running a games night and what it’s all about.

1. Harvey you run a regular games night.  Why’s that then?

Because I enjoy it. It’s fun to meet up with people that enjoy modern gaming and play whatever hits the table. It’s sociable, it’s relaxing, and it’s good for the brain. It’s also generally just good craic. We play a couple of times a week in SDBG. When we started playing as a group, it was just three of us. We played in our homes (and still do), so we’d just rotate hosting week by week. Sometimes it was also simply practical to go from house to house, if someone had a particular game they wanted to play, they’d put it on the table at home before the others arrived, get all set up, etc. As time went by and more people began to join us, it was simplest to keep the three primary venues as a kind of focus. It also meant there was no pressure on anyone else to be a host, particularly when some of our members were in rented accommodation or had housemates or whatever. It also gave the group a solid centre: you’d know that something would happen in one of the three venues at least once a week, and you could just come along and play. Tea and biscuits provided. No crisps… 😉 As time went by, we added more nights, and more types of nights, ranging from what we’d call an ‘open night’ where there’s no fixed game or numbers, just whatever people feel like and whatever accommodated the numbers, to a ‘closed’ night where you had a specific game with a specific number of players required, and then we’d have the ‘epic’ nights where we’d meet on a Friday and play through to the wee hours on Saturday with some big box game like Twilight Imperium or Game of Thrones. These days we still have the three ‘central’ venues, but others do host, particularly those that can only play at the weekend because of family commitments.

2. What’s your earliest memories of gaming?

Well, that depends on how you define gaming. Modern gaming is one thing, but of course I played all the regular games as a kid. My childhood was spent mostly in West Clare, and I remember many nights in the dark during ESB black outs playing 45 with my family by candlelight. Seriously. The 70s. Actually I had my first taste of modern games with HeroQuest, which I bought in Easons in the late 80s. I quickly swallowed up that whole MB cycle of ‘new’ games, but it was years more before I came across this game called Carcassone and went online to find out what it was all about, where I discovered BoardGameGeek and my eyes were truly opened… It was about a year after that I think I finally connected with Jimmy and Niall and formed SDBG.

3. What’s the essential elements that make a good games night?

Everyone needs to feel welcome and comfortable. We are in our homes, so it’s like welcoming any other guest. It’s obvious, but everyone is there to have fun. Yes, your definition fun varies depending on personality, but that’s part of the balance of hosting. You have to take into account who’s coming and what kind of games or game systems they enjoy, and it’s often a question of bringing out a mix of games that will suit the group. It can be tricky, but we all have a good enough range of games that we can generally find something that works. Depending on numbers, you might break into a few separate games and then swap around, or run some party games like werewolf or Shadow Hunters to get everyone playing together. Sometimes people will want to play old favourites, sometimes they’ll be hungry for shiny new stuff. You’ll generally know from the people coming what games might not be suitable at all, or which might be a stretch but might work. It’s good to throw a bit of a challenge in there sometimes, but you don’t want to put anyone in a position of being bored or frustrated. You get a sense of people’s tastes early on, and quite honestly, you’ll know very quickly whether they’re a fit for the kinds of things the group plays in general. That’s also part of the trick with running a games group anyway – personality – and again once you start with a known centre, you work out from there and generally will get a group going that plays well together.

4. Is there an optimum number of gamers for a games night?

Again, it depends on what kind of night you’re planning. If you’re doing an open call, you could end up with ten or twelve people, or with two. On the other hand if you want to play a game that is ‘best’ with a given number, like Battlestar Galactica for five or Dungeon Lords for four, then you have to either make sure there’s enough players to make up another full game or lock down your numbers. It also can depend on physical space, and not all of us have the same amount of room. Some games are table-eating monsters. Conquest of the Empire is one, which we do actually play from time to time (an old favourite), or Railroad Tycoon, which I think is officially the largest map. War of the Rings: CE is a beast as well. Again though, it very much depends on what you’re doing. Jimmy has an awesome wargame set up in a separate room, with proper terrain and painted metal miniatures, and there are regular wargamer sessions running Napoleonic scenarios for two or four players. I guess it’s a bit of a ‘how long is a piece of string’ question, really.

5. What do you love about hosting games nights?

Again, we’re all there for the same reason. You get to play the games you’ve bought, or games you want to play that someone else has brought, and you know that the people you’re playing with are going to treat the gaming in the same spirit you are. It’s not like playing video games online, which is sociable in its own way. Before I got into this, I was playing World of Warcraft. While I made some actual friends there, and I’m still in touch with them, and it was sociable, it’s still not the same as a bunch of folks sitting around the table sharing a laugh over a gag that you had to be there for…

6. What games do your group have a soft spot for?

We are pretty inclined towards shiny and new, and with several fairly voracious collectors among us, there’s a steady supply. We do a BGG geek list every month with our own ‘most played’ and ‘most epic’ game of the month. Splendor has been very hot for the last six months or so. But some games have never been far from the tables, like Game of Thrones, Eclipse, Mage Knight, Ankh-Morpork, Chaos in the Old World, Dungeon Lords, Lancaster, or Mare Nostrum. We’re in the middle of a Twilight Struggle league right now, actually. I guess if there’s a game we have a certain affection for it’d be Twilight Imperium, the old grand dame that doesn’t get played that often, but has generated some great stories over the years. And of course there’s Heroscape, the greatest toybox in modern gaming, which comes out every Christmas for an epic child-friendly and later adult all-night session. Likewise Arkham Horror gets a spin around Halloween and/or Gaelcon. Also, different people are into different particular games, and would play them away in a closed session, like block wargames, or even a little RPG action. We’ve made a few stabs at campaign play in things like Pathfinder the card game and Imperial Assault. But I guess all that comes under ‘shiny’, right?

7. How do you recruit members for your group?

We’re on a couple of web sites and groups. Our main site is currently hosted by Big Tent, which is a US based group hosting service. We attend the cons with our little signs letting people know what we’re about. We get traffic via BGG and word of mouth: friends of members, families, etc. We have a process for acceptance, which is only fair given the fact we’re in family homes, not public venues, so we like to invite people along to an initial game and see how we all get on. This is that personality fit thing I mentioned. It’s very rare that someone is actually turned away, but again, you know pretty quickly when you meet us if you’re going to enjoy gaming with us, so it’s a mutual thing.

8. If someone wanted to start a regular gaming group what would you recommend?

Consistency is the key. You need to meet regularly, and so have at least a core group of people that you are certain will be around. Jimmy, Niall, and I have been doing this for about eight years now, and in all that time at least one of us has hosted something almost every week. I think it’s important that your members know that kind of stability is there. Now, life is life, and we’ve had to cope with various family logistics over time, and we have members that are very keen to invite people to their homes as well, and that’s absolutely great. But equally we have some members that we see only very occasionally, and they’re welcome every time. We only ask that you stay in touch, and respond to the annual clean-up email if you’re still interested at all. Again, the point is we have that centre to organise that, and you build a group on that, and then build layers of craic around it. Like I said, people should feel welcome and comfortable, and when the ground is solid, it’s a lot easier to feel that way. You have to be a good host, and though you have ground rules (no crisps!!!! ;)), you need to be able to respond to the different members’ preferences and needs, while also having fun yourself. The bottom line is, as I said, we’re all gamers, and we all want to enjoy ourselves. That should never come at anyone’s expense, so being sensitive is part of it. So is having the piss taken out if you, of course. We’ve all been there. I roll ones, by the way, and there’s a zone of chaos around me where probability ceases to obey the laws. Ask me sometime about the game of Relic where everyone at the table was both astonished and in fits of laughter. Look: the bottom line is if you want to build a gaming group, you’re going to want to make it so people will want to keep coming back and more people will come. Be organised but open, welcoming but attentive, and above all PLAY! Like yourself at Knavecon, Vic, you have to get away from the desk and hit the tables, right?

Dr. Harvey O’Brien

Film Studies

http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-16331-6/action-movies

Dr. Harvey O’Brien
Film Studies
http://cup.columbia.edu/book/action-movies/9780231163316

In a continuation of our series on why we love gaming, I’m looking at gaming with your children.

Borys Zabinski is a gamer, blogger and manager of the kids corner at Knavecon and Knavekids.  He’s a regular gamer at our Thur night gaming sessions and can be relied upon to pull out some weird and often wonderful Polish boardgame we’ve never seen before with a name only he can pronounce.  He has a great knack for engaging younger gamers and I caught up with Borys and asked him a few questions on gaming from a family point of view

1. Borys, what was gaming like for you as a kid?

Just to give a little background: as a kid I was living in communist Poland in little town – there were no boardgames in early 80’s apart from Ludo (which was and still is called ‘Chinese’) and one really big hit: it was Monopoly clone called Eurobusiness. If you ask any Polish person in age bracket 35-45 to name his/her first boardgame, probably 90% will tell you it was Eurobusiness ;).  In late 80’s few more boardgames were available with some Polish companies freely copying Western games like Talisman (called ‘Magic and Sword’) – nobody cared about copyrights those days. Some of those games were really big sellers with total prints of over 40 thousands per print! With limited access to computer games anything that had ‘game’ in title and looked like it was designed in (rotten) West was big hit and we played those games all the time. I am sure I have played Eurobusiness over 100 times…

2. Did your family have an interest in gaming?

My parents have absolutely no interest in gaming at all 😉 Except for Eurobusiness (which I think they have played over 50 times). This in mind I have to say that I have found my father’s Snake and Ladders published before WW2 😉 (must still be somewhere in the attic in Poland). They would consider games as childish even these days.

3. What benefits do you think gaming has for children?

I like to say educational but everything in life for kids is educational. Main benefit is entertainment and fun. I am all about having fun while playing games, other things like maths skills, reading skills, ability to think ahead etc. are there anyway and we all know about those ;). I am always trying to pass few interesting facts about game’s theme we play (be it videogames history if we play Boss Monster, geography and history facts if we play Tigris & Euphrates or who is Mi-go if we have a quick session of Eldritch Horror 😉 ).

4. What type of games do you think kids like?

Different kids like different games. I have three kids, each one different character. My two boys age 9 and 6 really like negative interaction and love to do bad things in games to their parents, problem is when they are a target. Daniel (9) really hates coop games, he likes to play and make decisions himself. Robert (6) is OK with coop and see no problem working together to win (and share a win!). Maja (4) hates any type of negative interaction in games or even any type of violence in games. Every family need to try few games and see what they like.

5. What age do you think kids should start gaming at?

As early as possible. Give them games to play with components. Let them punch tokens when you have new game. Show them cards. Play simplified rules, even play full rules for round or two (I have tried Through the Ages with Daniel when he was 6). Do all of this and you will have 24/7 gaming partner in 10 to 15 years! (well, unless you introduce them to Minecraft…)

6. How do you deal with kids of different ages and abilities all playing the one game?

ou just need to find a game that will fit everyone (even adults). Game like this would be famous Turtles game. Of course sometimes this is not possible and I try to simplify rules to fit youngest but still keep it interesting for rest of the group. Other option is just play with youngest and let him/her move pieces or roll dice – for 3 or 4 year old that would still be great fun (at least for those 5-10 minutes 😉 )

7. What is it you enjoy so much about gaming?

I love videogames (as any other gaming in general) but recently moved into boardgames ‘full time’. I love the real multiplayer aspect where you see all of the opponents, love those ‘in your face’ moments or back stabbing 😉 I like playing with kids as well but this is different as you need more patience, sometimes you need to let them win, sometimes it can be real pain in the ass (yes!) but in the end it’s very enjoyable experience (especially when you can see their progress).

8. What would you recommend to a family who wanted to start gaming with their kids?

First of all I would recommend to attend Knavecon or Knavekids where you can check different games to see which one suits your kids gaming style. Cooperative games are also safe choice as you do not play against each other and allows younger kids to participate in play and share win – Forbidden Island and Forbidden Desert are very good and easy to learn games with great theme. I like a little bit more of randomness while playing with kids as this will give them more chances to win – dice games like Zombie Dice are great example here and have proven to be perfect gateway games at previous Knavecons. If your kids love storytelling and have great imagination than Dixit or Story Cubes (there are many different versions) will be perfect – some of Dixit sessions with kids are amongst best we have ever played. Do you think your kids are more into maths, analysing, bluffing? Try some of Reiner Knizia designs, these might be out of theme and a little bit dry but I think some of his smaller games are amongst best kiddies games – Turtles (aka Ribbit), Bucket Brigade, Bee Alert and many more. Again, Knavecon and Knavekids are best places to go to check what your kids like or dislike, start easy with small and quick games and build you library introducing more complex games over a time.

Limerick Gaming Blog

We love games, that’s why you’re reading this, you wouldn’t take part if you weren’t enjoying yourself and consistently games make people happy. Now as you and I probably know it’s much more than just games. So what is it that floats peoples boats?  In what will be a series arc for several posts, I’m going to talk to a number of people (who know stuff) about what really beeps their jeep about gaming.

So with no further adieu I’m going to hand you over to our first expert a buddy of mine, Darren Quinn.  Mental Health Professional and above all, avid gamer…

“Do what you love, more often. It’s good for your mental health!”

The following is based on my experience both as an amateur boardgamer & a mental health professional.

I work as a counsellor and noticed that a question I often ask is “What makes you happy??”.  I was thinking this week “Darren, What makes you happy & how can it affect mental health??”  The first part was easy – “Board Games”. The second part though took a little more thought and research.

So I thought and researched and this is what I came up with.

Face-face real contact: How nice it is that in this day & age of Selfies, Snapchat & FaceTube that I can sit down in a comfortable, warm space with people and spend a number of hours engaging with something that we all seriously  enjoy.  Rather this than sitting at home alone, isolating oneself, which is a major factor in depression.  The importance of real communication and genuine connection cannot be understated when it comes to one’s mental health.

Reduced risk of mental health issues: Keeping your mind engaged, which you are more likely to do if you enjoy yourself, is a major factor in reducing the risk of cognitive decline (including Alzheimer’s and dementia). The more you engage in such activities the stronger your brain becomes in fighting the risk of such decline. The brain is like a muscle, the more you work it the stronger it gets.

Stress reduction: The recent spike in interest (and sales) of Adult Colouring Books in this country is generally attributed to the mindful nature of spending time focusing on an activity for a period of time (i.e. getting away from the phone/laptop/tablet). I’m confident that this sense of spending a period of time focusing, forgetting my troubles as it were, when playing games is a huge contributor to the reduction of stress and anxiety in my life. Now, I just need to figure out how to achieve the necessary number of points for victory with just 2 sheep, 3 cattle with 2 turns to go. Also worth mentioning is the correlation between stress reduction and body relaxation, which lowers blood pressure. As a person with a history of high blood pressure in my family, I am fully aware that high blood pressure is associated with greater risk of artery damage, heart disease and stroke.

Goal achieving:  A number of people I encounter have issues with achieving goals. Setting goals and figuring out how best to achieve them is common among most games (e.g.  Get the most points by focus on production & shipping of corn). The more one does this in gaming, the better they become at it. Practice makes perfect right? Cognitively speaking if a person believes they can achieve any goal then they can achieve goals. So if I have achieved a goal in a board game, why not one in life. I truly believe that board gaming increases one’s ability to set and achieve goals, an invaluable life skill.

Problem solving:  Gaming helps us in exercising essential cognitive skills, such as problem solving. Many of the most popular games out there are puzzles (e.g. Pandemic, Five Tribes).  In essence a puzzle is an exercise in problem solving. Again it is my belief that the more problem solving engaged with in gaming, increases my ability to problem solve.

Child Development:   A friends’ child was recently asked by an Occupational Therapist to play a game called Rush Hour. This game comes with a board, cars and a number of cards which simulates a traffic jam. The player needs to figure out how an ice-cream truck gets out of each traffic jam. Essentially this involves the player moving the various cars around the 3-D board so that the ice-cream truck can escape. From this I can see how board games can be helpful in occupational therapy.  I know they certainly helped this little boy, increasing his co-ordination, spatial awareness and motor development. Now he’s moved onto Rampage and is having great fun flicking monsters around.

Feeling Good:  Simply put, the benefit of laughter, togetherness & banter. A player constantly messing up a rule, a bragging player who thinks they’ve won coming unstuck, just simple funny moments that happen during the game and things people say playing them. Laughter increases endorphins (the chemical in the body related to our level of happiness) which makes us feel good. This sense of feeling good fosters an atmosphere of trust, fun and togetherness, which in turn leads to better self-esteem and self-value.

Darren Quinn