We’re very happy to announce that our After-Hours Game Nights for adults are making a comeback. By teaming up with Discord and the online gaming platform Board Game Arena, we can come together while still keeping our distance. We’ve really missed seeing you all at Game Nights this past year, so we hope you’ll join us again online.

How will it work?

First of all, we’ll be posting the link for our Discord server on the calendar event and our Facebook event page about half an hour before we start so that people can have extra time if they want it to get used to the format.

Through the chat service Discord, a large group of people can be online together at once. It’s a fan favorite for gamers across all platforms and it’s already been put to great use by our Youth Services team to run their virtual game nights. We’ll have a different server for the grownups, but of course we’re still asking everyone to keep things classy.

There are options for text, voice, and video chat with the service; but we’ll be focusing on voice chat so that it feels more like coming together around a game table. That means that you’ll need a microphone either plugged in or built into your computer or mobile device in order to chat with us, but that’s not necessary just to play a game. Text chat is still there for you in a pinch and we’ll be using it throughout the night to help people get set up.

Once we’re on Discord together, we can decide what to play. Then staff will set up game rooms on Board Game Arena and provide the links in text chat. You don’t need to make an account to join us on either Discord or Board Game Arena but if you’re interested in having one, both are free. The library has a premium account on BGA so as long as you’re playing with us, you get an even bigger game catalog to choose from at no extra cost!

BGA works by showing the game board and all its pieces on screen in the web browser. Only you can see any pieces that are meant to be a secret to other players, but everyone can see each other’s moves just as if they were playing in person. Some of the staff members tried it out last week to make sure it was working for the program and we had a blast playing Incan Gold. There are short games and epics, 2-player games and games for 8 or more. We can also break players off into voice chat channels specific to each game board so with enough players we can run as many games as we want.

This is a first for us as it may be for many of you, so there’s sure to be a bit of trial and error involved. Don’t let that deter you, though! The program will grow and change as we get the hang of it, just like our in person game nights did. And just like those nights, it’s sure to be a lot of fun. We can’t wait to see you again.

Game on!