Board game industry B Corps Big Potato, Gibsons Games, and Talking Tables made up an eclectic mix of companies and board game titles to grace the menu when Board Game Club hosted its first event of 2024 on Tuesday, 7 May at the Century Club in London.
Inspired by World Earth Day, and in partnership with Products of Change, this week’s event presented a line up of board game titles from companies now taking active steps forward to reduce their environmental impact by designing sustainability into the games they produce.
The evening featured titles from the popular party game specialist, Big Potato – including Sounds Fishy, Don’t Say Umm, and Herd Mentality – as well as Products of Change members Gibsons Games and Talking Tables. All of which have, within the last few years, achieved official B Corp certification as they continue to drive both social and environmental impact through their operations and company ethos.
Board Game Club also marked one of the first public appearances for Tactic Games’ Mother Earth, a new release that not only focuses its gameplay around the importance of protecting the planet but exemplifies the Finnish board game company’s approach to sustainable design and the use of recycled and recyclable materials within its gaming portfolio.
Other titles on the menu included a card game themed around the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, produced by Creature & Co, a collection of games from Haba, and a new version of the Thames & Kosmos classic, Ingenious in which plastic packaging has been removed and replaced with FSC-certified paper and card materials.
“Working with Board Game Club on its World Earth Day inspired special was a brilliant opportunity to showcase what sustainability can look like when companies start to get serious about reducing their environmental impact,” said Rob Hutchins, editor and community manager at Products of Change.
“It was great to be able to talk about sustainability in the context of board games and incredibly interesting and insightful to see how that conversation plays out in a physical setting. There’s a wonderful synergy between design and play and this week’s games menu included a really diverse mix of titles that showcased just how successfully sustainability can work alongside creativity to produce brilliant board games that people enjoy playing.”
Board Game Club has over the last ten years become a staple of the burgeoning London local board gaming scene, well attended by hobbyists and enthusiasts as well as brand owners and industry insiders.
Board Game Club’s Mary Bobroff, said: “It was lovely to be back at Century Club for the first Board Game Club of 2024! It was a brilliantly fun evening, and it was great to be able to showcase a real variety of games to our members, all of which were made from companies working in a more sustainable way.
“It was also fantastic to welcome back many familiar faces and meet plenty of new ones too. Our next event will take place on Tuesday 4thJune at Century Club, and the games menu is already looking fantastic. We’ll be issuing further details on how companies can get involved in Board Game Club in the coming weeks.”
