Last year at SPIEL we talked with a lot of LGBTQIA+ publishers, designers, organisers and attendees. One subject that kept coming up was how nice it would be to have an LGBTQIA+ area of the convention where we could benefit from the proximity, whilst also providing a very safe space for our community. I did reach out to the SPIEL organisers but it seems that it wasn’t going to be possible to organise anything official this year, so I figured why wait for something official when ReRoll Works can put its feet forwards and make this first step!
When booking our stand for the convention, we have paid for an extra space which we’re running under the community brand of Board Gayming in Amsterdam. Don’t let the gay in the name distract too much though, it’s definitely an LGBTQIA+ community – we just don’t have a more appropriate punny name for the group.
We have a community of board game lovers in Amsterdam we’ve been growing over the past 5 years. We host weekly events at Amsterdam’s favourite Gay Bar called PRIK (it means “bubbles” in Dutch) as well as regular, more cosy events at our office space in the north of the city, including our monthly XL events where we meet on a weekend and play games all day!
At SPIEL we’ll be hosting games in a similar fashion for members and allies of the LGBTQIA+ community. The choice of games is a combination of games from LGBTQIA+ designers as well as a handful of our group’s favourite games. All the games will also be explained by a member of the group so no previous experience is needed.
We particularly welcome folks who are flying solo at the convention or in smaller groups! We understand how tough it can be to get some games in if you don’t have a gaggle of buddies for the weekend, so we help to take some of the stress out of this by grouping folks together seamlessly. In addition to getting some games in, we’re also present to talk to! Again, especially if you’re flying solo, come round for a chat.
We’re at booth 2E220!
Check out the Eventbrite page and our Facebook event.
Games from LGBTQIA+ designer games:
- Barpig
- Happy Campers
- Kitty Cataclysm
- Caution Signs
- Secret Clue: Animals
- Make it to Monday
- Houseboy
- Stonewall Uprising
Some of our favourites:
- Cheese Thief
- Magic Maze
- Coup
- Tiny Epic Galaxies
- Loony Quest
- Skull
- Exploding Kittens
- Flamecraft
- Crash Octopus