Board gamers foster connections and fight loneliness by rolling the dice
When Luke Atkinson started a tabletop gaming club more than a decade ago, only 10 people turned up to its first session.
They squeezed into a small room at the local library to play a single game, and it was an altogether modest affair — but at its end, Mr Atkinson was jubilant.
He had only moved to the small town of in Kadina on South Australia's Yorke Peninsula earlier that year, and alongside a friend, Mark Dennett, had founded the group with the idea of making community connections in his new home.
In that light, the first event had been, for him, an unqualified success.
But he could not have foreseen how his and Mr Dennett's club would prove an even greater one: the group, 13 years on, now has its own building, and more than 300 people come there to play games throughout the year.
Copper Coast Tabletop, the gaming club the pair started, still runs three times weekly out of a former weigh station in the nearby town of Wallaroo.
They play everything, from Monopoly and Cluedo to miniature model games like Warhammer, or the card deck-builder Magic: The Gathering.
The club has, in many ways, been the beneficiary of the board-game popularity boom that has blown the industries out to an estimated $18.8 billion globally in the past decade.
But its success is also attributable to a larger social movement that has become particularly important in regional communities — combating loneliness.
It's no secret making friendships can be difficult for people moving to regions, particularly if they don't play sport. And Mr Atkinson knows that all too well.
So when he arrived in Kadina, he thought one of his old hobbies might help him and others who felt the same way.
"When you first move to a town, you don't know anyone, and generally there's a lot of close-knit friendship groups because they've known each other for generations or went to school together," Mr Atkinson said.
"And I've loved board games and miniature games since childhood, for both the challenge and their artistic value, and I wanted to offer that same joy and connection to the wider community.
"Because developing an environment where people can just come and enjoy hobbies and not feel like an outsider … and just connect with people, that's so important.
"Moving to a new place can be lonely."
According to the Department of Human Services (DHS), 27 per cent of South Australians experience persistent loneliness, while 20 per cent experience persistent social isolation, meaning they had infrequent social contact for at least eight weeks at a time.
The DHS says South Australians are the second-most socially isolated people in the country behind the Northern Territory.
Flinders University senior lecturer in social policy Ben Lohmeyer said in Australia, young people in particular were more vulnerable to loneliness than previously thought.
"Having choice over where they do that, particularly if they're choosing something that's a shared interest, sounds like a great way to build connections and get to know other people."
He said it was important for people to have a "third space" — somewhere outside of work and home.
"It could be sport, a religious community or a shared interest like gaming.
"But that third space is really important to give us a sense of connection and combat things like loneliness."
Across South Australia, on the Eyre Peninsula, another group of gamers gathers.
In Port Lincoln, Steven Johnson from the West Coast Youth and Community Support group runs games sessions every Thursday and it expands to more than board games.
"We noticed that a lot of the clients I was working with, a lot of the people that I met, were gamers of some degree and shared a love for gaming," Mr Johnson said.
"Through my program we try and link people who are a bit isolated in the community back into their community in all the wonderful areas that it has."
He said the community was created for people who felt isolated and wanted to make friends who shared a similar interest.
"It just lets everybody come together in the same physical space and actually create some friendships."
Back in Wallaroo, Mr Atkinson reflected on the 13 years and the hundreds of people who have come along to Copper Coast Tabletop to play.
"This community is something special," Mr Atkinson said.
"For many of our members, especially those with social needs, the structured nature of games provides a framework for interacting, helping them build confidence and a sense of fairness.
"We've seen many people grow — not just in gaming skill, but in confidence and connection — and that's what keeps us going."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
A Plastic Ocean Oratorio from Omar Musa and Mariel Roberts Musa, and a new Chapter for Guy Blackman
Omar Musa and Mariel Roberts Musa's collaborative performance work The Offering is subtitled 'A Plastic Ocean Oratorio'. For Musa, it is 'an offering of borderlessness in an archipelago of humanity'. It confronts the present – climate change, colonisation, personal histories – with an imagined future narrative through Omar's inimitable spoken word and Mariel's fearless cello, which we'll get a sneak preview of from the Riverside Theatres rehearsal room. Guy Blackman was a Pink Floyd-obsessed teenager living in Perth when he started a Syd Barrett fanzine which eventually morphed into the beloved indie record label Chapter Music. For 33 years the label has released albums by Australian bands and artists like NO ZU, Twerps, June Jones, Laura Jean, alongside reissues and compilations from international artists like Kath Bloom and Smokey. This year Guy is winding the label back, choosing to focus solely on reissues. He chats to Andrew about three decades of change in the music landscape, and about his new solo album Out Of Sight , which belatedly follows up his 2008 debut Adult Baby. And Andy remembers Alfred Brendel, the pianist who has died at the age of 94. The Offering is at Riverside's National Theatre of Parramatta 25 - 28 June. Out of Sight is out now via Chapter Music. Music heard in the show: Title: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 73 'Emperor', i. Allegro Moderato; ii. Adagio Un Poco Mosso Artist: Alfred Brendel, Vienna Symphony Orchestra/Zubin Mehta Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven Album: The Legendary Mozart & Beethoven Recordings Label: Brilliant Recordings Extracts from The Offering written and performed by Omar Musa and Mariel Roberts Musa Title: Let Me Let You Let Me Down Artist: Guy Blackman (feat. Julien Gasc) Composer: Guy Blackman Album: Out Of Sight Label: Chapter Music Title: I Love Myself For You Artist: Guy Blackman Composer: Guy Blackman Album: Out Of Sight Label: Chapter Music Title: Leather Artist: Smokey Composer: John Condon Album: How Far Will You Go? Label: Chapter Music Title: Downhearted Blues Artist: Margret RoadKnight Composer: Alberta Hunter, Lovie Austin Album: LONG TIME… Label: Chapter Music The Music Show is made on Gadigal, Dharug and Gundungurra Country
News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
The Bachelorette Aus star Georgia Love set for seven-figure move
Former Bachelorette couple Georgia Love and Lee Elliott's bayside house will head under the hammer with $1.5m-$1.58m price hopes on Saturday. The ex-pair, who announced their split earlier this year, are selling the four-bedroom home at 63A Wickham Rd, Hampton East. A newsreader on the Australian Radio Network, which owns Melbourne stations KIIS FM and Gold FM, Ms Love met Mr Elliott on The Bachelorette's 2016 season. 'Hectic' bidding war pushes Hampton East home $268k over reserve The Bachelor Australia: Inside the mansions and its sell offs Also a podcaster and writer, Ms Love has worked as a journalist across Australia's commercial television networks and on A Current Affair, Studio 10, The Project and Today. Public records show that she and Mr Elliott purchased the house in 2021, the same year they were married. According to PropTrack, the abode will be one of 910 Victorian residences set to be auctioned this week. The home features an open-plan living and dining space with twin bi-fold doors that open to a shaded entertainer's area including an outdoor barbecue kitchen. Siemens appliances and a waterfall-edged island bench are showcased in the indoor kitchen. The main bedroom has its own dressing room, balcony and dual-vanity ensuite. Other highlights of the 2015-built home include a freestanding bath in the main bathroom, Tasmanian oak floors, blockout blinds, double-glazing and a double garage. Hodges Sandringham director Angus Graham said that about 30 buyer groups, mostly couples, had inspected the house prior to Saturday. 'I think it's extremely well-built, with hydronic heating and really well-sized and spacious large rooms with high ceilings,' Mr Graham said. 'It ticks a lot of boxes for many people.' Another house heading under the hammer this weekend is a Victorian-era, three-bedroom pad at 1 Peel St, Newport, with a $1m-$1.05m asking range. The Agency Williamstown property partner Noah Lautman-Wurt said that more than 100 groups had inspected the property, that would likely require work including re-levelling and replastering. 'It has been attracting all sorts of buyers, first-home buyers, those upgrading from their first home, builders and would-be renovators,' Mr Lautman-Wurt said. Victoria recorded a 67 per cent clearance rate from last week's auctions.
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
Alice Springs Beanie Festival draws a crowd with 7,000 woolly creations on display
It took almost half a decade for Tim Henderson to sweep up and collect enough of his dog's fur to craft a woollen hat. The Alice Springs eye specialist had made a "mad suggestion" to one of his patients to collect his pet's hair, to make it into a beanie. When his patient passed away, Mr Henderson felt he had to keep his promise. "She told me I had to do that. So in her honour and memory, I did," he said. After years of collecting, knitting, and trial and error, Mr Henderson's beanie, made entirely from his dog's fur, is on display this weekend — among almost 7,000 unique creations — at the Alice Springs Beanie Festival. The quirky beanie festival was born from humble beginnings in 1997, in the remote Indigenous community of Yuendumu in Central Australia. The aunt of Jo Nixon, the organiser of this year's event, had been making beanies with the women in the tiny — at times, freezing cold — desert community while holding an English workshop. She would return to Alice Springs later that year with almost 100 hats. Not knowing what to do with them all, Ms Dixon said her aunt chose the obvious route and held a party. "We hung these 100 beanies from the roof … and we invited all of our friends and had a band and made pumpkin soup," Ms Nixon said. "We sold out of beanies within an hour." She said from there it "snowballed", growing into an official festival that now attracts thousands of people from across the country over three busy days. While knitting has had a recent resurgence in popularity among younger people, finding a new generation of volunteers to run the festival has been difficult. "We're victims of our own success," Ms Nixon said. Ms Dixon said next year's festival, which will be the 30th event, is expected to be the last ever, unless someone else comes forward willing to carry it on. Joy Downs, who travelled from Moss Vale in the Southern Highlands of NSW to Central Australia exclusively for the beanie festival, said she was devastated the event was coming to an end. "I get a lot of alpaca fleeces which I turn into beanies, and I thought I just had to come up and have a look because it's just such a unique [festival] that I hadn't heard of before," she said. Deb Taylor Thompson, a previous festival winner and volunteer who made two warm hats this year, has been knitting since she was four. She said it was unlikely the art of knitting would die out, as she was seeing younger people take up the craft, motivated by its therapeutic benefits. "I teach a lot of people … and knitting is becoming a much more popular trend in parts of Melbourne," she said. Ms Nixon, who's been at the helm of the beanie festival from day one, said she still couldn't believe how the once-niche gathering had grown into a widely celebrated event. "There is a joy in wearing a beautiful beanie and walking into the supermarket and people saying 'are you wearing an Alice Springs Beanie Festival beanie?'," she said. "Beanies are a wonderful way of wearing a piece of art."
