What we’re about
Join us on Discord, Board Game Arena, and Board Game Geek! Meet other board gamers and play games of all kinds! Exercise your brain, have fun, meet new people, and share your love of gaming with other enthusiasts in the Essex County Gamers! Our events take place at board game cafés, public libraries, and hobby shops across Essex County, MA and beyond! Though our group plays a lot of board games, we welcome and encourage gaming of all kinds--cards, Backgammon, tabletop role playing games, Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, etc. We welcome new event hosts if you're interesting in running your own events--reach out to the Leadership Team to ask about hosting! We look forward to seeing you at the gaming table!
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- 10/31 Weekly Heavy GamingThe Castle: Restaurant and Bar, Beverly, MA
Do you enjoy heavy games on the strategic side of the hobby? Then join us Thursdays in Beverly at The Castle! The games are heavy but the atmosphere anything but!
Because we play heavy games, which we define as games weighted 2.5 or higher on BoardGameGeek.com, we have some rules to maximize everyone’s enjoyment. If this is your first time, read the Group Rules linked below, and the direct message the hosts will send you with additional details to help you understand how the group functions.
Here are the main things you need to know:
- Everyone wanting to come should RSVP by hitting the ‘Attend’ button by 2pm each Sunday. If you say you are attending, we ask you to make a firm commitment because it often spoils the games when someone no shows.
- We take turns picking games each week. We use the event chat on Meetup to coordinate game picks and seat selection. If it’s your first time, you will want to read the Group Rules below to help you understand the game pick and seat selection process.
- Games are not taught at the table. All players need to learn the rules to their game by Thursday.
- Games start NO LATER THAN 6:00 pm. Many of us arrive early for dinner, and games can start as soon as all players are there.
- The Castle charges a $6 gaming fee per visit. We encourage you to eat and drink at The Castle during the event! Due to the size of our group each week, The Castle will apply a gratuity to attendees' checks.
Other Tidbits
- Track the weekly picking rotation on our Pick List Google Doc
- Read the Group Rules Google Doc
- If you want to join the Heavy Game Thursdays guild on BoardGameGeek.com to see other regulars' game collections, go to: https://boardgamegeek.com/guild/3982. We often will bring games for each other if arranged beforehand!
- The Quest to Defeat Letter Jam (6pm Game Start)The Castle: Restaurant and Bar, Beverly, MA
If you like word games, come to the quest to defeat Letter Jam! Letter Jam is kind of like a cooperative version of Wordle but each player has their own secret-to-them letters that make a different word. Players use other players' letters to make clue words to help as many other players as possible guess their secret letters. It's hard to explain, so please watch the Letter Jam Tutorial by the game maker if you haven't played before. The game is difficult to beat and consider this the beginning of a long quest to win!
ALWAYS CHECK THE EVENT PRIOR TO COMING IN CASE OF CANCELLATION! Attendees are welcome to come as early as 5:30 PM but, to give time for staggered arrivals, we won't start playing Letter Jam until 6:00 PM. We usually play two rounds of the game and break up game play around 8:00 PM. The Castle Restaurant & Bar charges a $6 gaming fee per player, and all attendees are encouraged to order food and beverages while gaming. The Castle does a great deal to support our Meetup group, so we need to support them too!
If you enjoy this event and want to make it a more frequent occurrence, talk to Kerri about becoming a co-host. Kerri can only host this about once per month (if that) but co-hosts are very, very welcome to join the team!
