By CARLOS WOODCOCK, Contributing Writer
By 2pm on Saturday the Strafford room was filled with people looking to get out of the cold and enjoy some board games. The tables set up throughout the room were flooded with people of all ages playing a multitude of different games at the second annual gathering of Syndicon 2.0.
Syndicon is an annual board game convention put together by the University of New Hampshire Board Gaming Club, and was held on Saturday and Sunday from 10:30 till midnight in the Strafford room of the MUB. The convention was open to UNH students, as well as any board gaming enthusiasts in the surrounding communities.
In general most people have had a least some exposure to the run-of-the-mill board games such as “Monopoly”, “Life” and “Clue” but those walking into Syndicon found a much more diverse variety of games to play. Titles like “Ticket to Ride” or “Settlers of Catan” many Syndicon visitors had never heard of before. Some of the games may have looked daunting on first sight, especially for someone who didn’t know the rules to any of them, but as the community organizer Joey Miseirvitch said, one of the big points of this convention and of the Board Gaming club is simply to teach new people how to play a variety of great games which they might pass by otherwise.
The walls of the Strafford room were lined with tables that were stacked with hundreds of games available for anyone to play. The UNH Board Gaming Club owns roughly 35 different games, but on top of that community members also brought hundreds of games from their personal collections and set them out for others to enjoy.
Syndicon also included a raffle on both days of the event that featured prizes donated by community members, as well as local board gaming stores such as Diversion in Portsmouth and Go 7 Games. The proceeds from the raffle went towards purchasing more games for the Board Gaming Club and paying for the fees to hold the event.
In terms of numbers in attendance to the event Miseirvitch said that numbers just keep going up. When they held Syndicon last year there were about 45 people in attendance, and this year they expect well over a hundred. As far as the club goes he said that they see about seven new faces a week.
In this age of electronics and video games, board games might get looked on as a dying form of entertainment, but events like Syndicon prove that that isn’t true. The community is thriving behind the scenes and at Syndicon the people who love these games were more than happy to extend a hand to newcomers and work to show them why they love the hobby so much. Sharing the hobby is a huge part of being into board gaming. As Miseirvitvh passionately said, “board gamers are probably the most giving people.”
For anyone who missed Syndicon and is interested in board gaming, the convention will be held again next year around the same time, and the UNH Board Gaming Club meets every Friday from 6 to midnight and is open to all students.
