Board Game Day brings dozens of gamers to Milpitas Library

Strategy, role playing games not kids' stuff.

The Milpitas Library opened its auditorium to the Fremont Board Gamers Group for the first time on Saturday, Aug. 19.

Claude Robinson started the group in January, spurred by the increasing interest in board games since the pandemic, and inspired by the success of a similar group in Oakland. The group initially met at the Bigger Better Games store in Fremont and now sets up at the Fremont Library every other Sunday.

Jonathan Cheung and Johnny Chin joined Robinson to lead the expansion of the group. They approached Nicole Sam, Milpitas Library’s adult reference librarian, to host a meet for adult gamers from around the Bay Area. Sam asked the group for their games wish list, which included Bohnanza, Codenames, Carcassonne and Patchwork.

Board Game Day drew 35 gamers to the Milpitas Library to discover new games, and share their own. Tim from Pleasanton joined a table and made new friends from Milpitas. On the other side of the library auditorium, Zach shared his Barrage game with Erik and Kathryn, carefully laying out all pieces and going through the rules.

Barrage is a resource management strategic game in which players compete to build dams, increase their storage capacity and deliver all the potential power through pressure tunnels connected to the energy turbines of their powerhouses.

Cheung, Chin, Richard Kwon, Anthony Ha and Jonathan Jang rolled nine dice and exchanged ninja and sword items, trying to manage both offense and defense in their Ninja Master game while others watched.

The Milpitas Library will host Board Game Day on the first Saturday of every month, from noon to 6:30 p.m. For more information, visit https://www.meetup.com/fremont-board-games-meetup-group.