Philip Kosloski explored the growing trend of board-game cafes in today’s piece. These are coffee shops and pubs that keep board games out for customers to play as they enjoy their coffee. Your first thought may be “How do they keep track of the pieces?” but the more important question to ask may be “Why the move back to analogue?”:
“Board games force people to sit, look at the person across the table from them and have an actual conversation. In an age where most of our smart phone usage is bordering on an addiction and person-to-person conversations are rarer and rarer, board games are the anti-drug.”
Aside from providing an alternative to digital communications, board games are also beneficial in promoting healthy social interaction. Mary Flanagan, a Professor of Film and Media Studies at Dartmouth College, said, “Board games structure social interaction in a really safe and helpful way. Face-to-face conversation is getting weirder and weirder. Board games help us get along and communicate.”
The digital world is all-invasive in our day-to-day life; we are assaulted by commercials and messages from the moment we wake up till bed. Perhaps it may be best to take a step backwards and let the world just spin without us while we play Scrabble. We would like to ask you:
