About

Games Night Guru is mostly written by me, Sam.

But tabletop gaming is largely a social activity, and there are many people who contribute indirectly: family and friends I play with, people who have allowed use of their images and not least pal Joe who helped design and build the site and contributed to the content over many years.

Although the solo-game aspect of board-gaming has been steadily growing, a massive part of what I love about games is the connection they cultivate in a world where we are increasingly isolated and focused on screens. Board games offer a social structure: a reason to gather together, interact, engage our brains, play. They offer cognitive, tactile and haptic feedback; the fun of figuring something out, the joy of pitting one’s wits against each other – or combining them – a challenge it’s okay to fail at, a story, surprise, laughter. Modern games also offer a huge variety of choice; not just thematically, but in the weight of decisions, the length of time, collaborate or compete, ponder gently over a Sunday morning coffee or go nuts on a Saturday night.

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Games Night Guru is, with a few exceptions, not an encyclopaedic learning resource, and steers clear of going into the intricacies of the rules, especially on more involved games. Most games have a rulebook online somewhere, either with the publisher or available for free at boardgamegeek.com. The idea here is a rough guide to the game along with some subjective thoughts on my experience of it. Please note the word subjective!

I have preferences and they tend towards less dense experiences with some heads-up interaction. However, I can enjoy almost any game and for me that’s the key thing about the hobby. If I walk into a room and everyone wants to play a long, heavy, complicated, strategic puzzle, then count me in: it’s more about the players than anything else.

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You can contact me on gamesnightguru@gmail.com