JJV's Offs

Hello everyone!

Welcome to a new opus of « JJV Offs » !

"Inventions are the keys that unlock the doors to the future."

When I launched the game nights in Vaison and the surrounding area, some people expressed doubts about whether it would work… It's true that initially, it was something new and rather abstract, as it had never been tried before here.

And then, they started to fill up at the store. Which was already a good start, but I was already envisioning events outside the store in various locations within the first year.

Later, they also started at other venues, some of which I've partnered with for the past seven years. I'm very happy when I see these game nights become a regular occurrence and that I can lead and engage with a number of players.

Since COVID, the in-store game nights have been harder to resume. Which I can understand, because I steered them towards discovering games, which is more geared towards a beginner and family audience.

It was a deliberate choice after Covid to ensure that board games wouldn't become reserved for an elite group of knowledgeable players again. In my other free time, all types of games are available, from beginner to intermediate to expert level.

By going to the games festival, as one of my distributors' sales reps told me, "incognito," I discovered how some professionals treat the public. Beginners aren't always well received because, and I quote, "if you don't know at least a little bit about it, it's a waste of time."

"Tourist mode," as I like to say, I also got to see some passionate colleagues, thankfully. But this kind of behavior towards beginners, or even complete novices, is detrimental to the gaming world.

I've had many beginners who became intermediate or even expert players after a few months or even years. Why deprive yourself of discovering potential players just to stroke your own ego?

That's not how I see the gaming world at all. Board games are primarily about bringing people together around a common tool that allows them to play by the same rules and have fun together. Board games are a way to share good times together around a table.