A popular trend that turned into a weekly event at Centretown’s Raw Sugar Café has come to an end – for now.
Despite the overwhelming community support shown for Beats and Boards nights over the past three and a half years, co-founder and host Robert Parungao says it’s time for a revamp.
The event will remain a social-mingling, board-game-playing, vinyl music outing that’s open to anyone.
But, Parungao says he’s moving away from the regular weekly event and hopes to host more sporadic (or even monthly) Beats and Boards nights.
He also says he wants to make the locations unique and accessible in Centretown and possibly into Old Ottawa South.
Parungao says the change has to do with his own lack of time.
“I like being involved in the community but I have several projects on the go (and) I’m winding a lot of it down to reassess all the new things I want to work on,” he says.
Owner of Raw Sugar, Nadia Kharyati says it’s been a fun three years partnered with Beats and Boards.
“When I started this there was no board gaming in Ottawa at all. There was just Beats and Boards . . . with maybe a few gaming events for a specific type of board gaming person but I never felt that it was something that was accessible,” says Parungao.
Since the creation of Parungao’s event, two board-gaming cafés have opened their doors: Monopolatte in Centretown and The Loft Board Game Lounge in the Byward Market.
But, Parungao says Beats and Boards was created around a more social and inclusive concept than the board-gaming businesses.
Centretown gamer, Danielle Blais describes it as an icebreaker event for people stepping out of their comfort zones.
“You go somewhere where they offer beer, you only choose games that are 40 minutes long, you throw a DJ on and all of a sudden it becomes something that the general public wants to do,” says Blais.
On Nov. 10, Beats and Boards hosted its final night at Raw Sugar Café.
More than 50 people hopped from table to table laughing and playing games of varying intensities while DJ and co-founder Paul (DJ Hobo) Skorupski played vinyl records.
David Narbaitz, owner of Monopolatte, who was attending the event, says mixing groups up and playing music is a great way to meet new people and something Beats and Boards does well.
“There’s so many different types of board games and some are more serious . . . but others are very social and the music just makes the board games gel better.”
Narbaitz has been attending the event for about three years and lends several of his games to the Beats and Boards library to help keep it fresh.
Parungao says he expects to continue working with Narbaitz in the future.
“There’s something here that’s fun and unique and different than the other board gaming places in the city,” he says.
With the turnout he’s had from the community over the past few years, Parungao says he isn’t ready to walk away just yet.