2004-03-24 RussCon Report

Austin gamers -- the term players prefer -- are a mostly 25- to 50-year-old crowd that prefers games that require more strategy than luck, such as Settlers of Catan, a German game in which players are settlers in the undeveloped land of Catan. The object of the game is to build the longest road and the most cities and towns.

Axis and Allies, an American board game about World War II, is also huge. So is Puerto Rico, another European game in which players are landowners in Puerto Rico during Spanish colonization. They raise crops and build factories to send goods back to Spain. These games don't require aggressive play as in attacking your opponent like chess. Rather, the competitive aspect comes from building empires and not going for the jugular.

Many of these gamers gather at Great Hall Games in Dobie Mall where, on any night of the week, an organized group such as Austin Board Gamers is hosting a play session. Owner Rob Smith doesn't mind if they stay until midnight on Fridays. It's good for his business, and he has set up playing tables in a separate game room to accommodate the interest in board gaming. On Wednesday nights, the Austin Go Club plays Go, an ancient Japanese game.

"It's really a community," says Kevin Dunn, a massage therapist who plays board games on Friday nights at Great Hall and returns on Sundays to play tabletop miniature war games, where adults get into playing with toy soldiers. "We are in the same world," Dunn explains about gamers. "It's a way to blow off steam, and it's very competitive."

Players like the social aspect. "You meet a lot of interesting people," says Jeff Shaevel of the Austin Go Club. "When we get together to play, it's like our happy hour."

Beer and wine, food and music in the background is part of the local scene, especially when gamers gather at someone's house. Mark Fullerton of Austin Board Gamers maintains a message list of more than 100 players to notify them of upcoming events, whether someone is hosting play at home or at Great Hall Games or Dragon's Lair, another Austin business where players congregate.

"Most of the people we see in here are Gen-Xers," says Smith of Great Hall, which is enjoying the increase in sales as more people get into gaming. "They are well educated with comfortable incomes. Many are in the high-tech field who play as a way to relax. And yes, they want social interaction. They like real live people sitting across from them instead of playing games on the computer."