Serious, casual, convivial, contested: the role of place atmospheres in the production of the UK’s social board gaming scene

The last decade has witnessed an unprecedented and somewhat unexpected surge in the popularity of board games, both in the UK and globally. Following a steady increase in the mid- and late 2010s, global board game sales soared during the COVID-19 pandemic and are predicted to rise further with no end in sight. This quantitative growth has been accompanied by a qualitative shift from niche to mainstream, driven by wider societal trends such as the rise of analogue nostalgia and the popularisation of geek culture. The key contributors to this ongoing transformation are social media, popular TV shows, new retail channels and, last but not least, new spaces of play. The practice of board gaming, traditionally associated with the domestic sphere, is currently expanding into the public realm of cafes, pubs, community centres and other spaces of consumption, leisure and socialising outside the home.

The paper presents findings from a multi-site qualitative study of the UK’s social board gaming scene, which explored the scope, reasons and implications of the ongoing board game revival and its contribution to the social life of UK cities and communities. Drawing on 50 in-depth interviews with event organisers, attendees and business owners and participant observations at 24 venues spanned across six regions of England, I explore how place atmospheres and their social, material and temporal components shape gaming audiences, contribute to the production of convivial spaces and blur and challenge the boundary between serious and casual leisure.