Running a Games Night

In addition to the general stuff that I discussed in my last article on setting up a gaming event, I’m going to cover a few things here that I think are important to remember or plan for when organising a games night.

The first thing is to decide if you are planning your games night as a once off event or if you may decide to do it again on a regular basis? In either case you are probably best advised to approach the first one as if it were a stand alone event (in case you decide to never do it again afterward for whatever reason and find yourself feeling obliged not to let people down who are expecting another event) but there are some important differences in planning.

The next important consideration is what are your aims? What do you want to get out of your games night?
- Is is simply an opportunity for you and your friends to have some fun? That makes things much easier – you just need to plan for people you already know and there is no need to put the word out. Also, as it is just a bunch of people who know each other it will mainly run itself on the night.
- Is it a team-building / group building exercise? Game nights are often a great way to get to know a group of extended friends or colleagues better. This requires a little more thought when you come to game selection however you’ll probably need to include some more social games. Also choice of venue becomes a little more complicated – a friend’s living room probably won’t cut it. Somewhere convenient for everyone where all can feel comfortable and on an even footing is probably the best plan.
- Do you want to meet new people with similar interests? This requires a lot more effort and a bit of advertising (word of mouth would probably get you some new faces but possibly not – you may just end up with people you know) choice of venue becomes especially important and selection of games gets much harder (you are probably best off just bringing as many games of different types as you can get your hands on).
- Are you fundraising for something? You will probably need to advertise quite strongly and make sure that all potential attendees know about charges beforehand. It’s also very important to try not to clash with any other events in the area in this case as you can lose a lot of your potential income (game club fundraising is a whole other kettle of fish and I’ll go into it at a leter date – perhaps when I have got a bit better at it *grin*).

Choice of venue. Where is your games night going to be?
- For once off games nights this is pretty much as simple as it gets. Somewhere comfortable, convenient and warm with plenty of table surface is all you need. Whatever additional considerations you have are secondary to those. Once people are comfortable and have space they’ll enjoy their games.
- If you are planning on running an event that might happen again you will probably want to make sure you choose a venue that you will be able to get again at a later time for example if you are running the event in a friends living room it might be fine once but will (s)he really want a whole bunch of people turning up on a semi-regular basis? If you are using a public facility – will you have trouble getting bookings in the future etc?

Selection of games. What are people going to want to do?
- First off, what will you want to play? You should have a general idea what kind of game you want to play (and you must play games – you’re setting the example that others will follow).
- After that, a good rule of thumb for a games night is to try and have games that seat a variable number of people and have at least enough games that you could cater for twice the number of people you expect (to allow for unexpected arrivals and also to cater for people waning to change games).
- Depending on the duration of your event (usually about 4-6 hours for a good games night) you will want to make sure you dont have more than one game that takes a long time to play as you may find that there is only a small group floating and mingling… (Of course if this is just a small bunch of mates hanging out to play games you may want to stick to one game for the whole night!)
- Types of game is an important factor. Remember that for may reasons (religious considerations, personal preference, literacy and numeracy etc) some games may be unsuitable for certain people attending your games night. If you are dealing with a group of close friends or family this is ok as you will probably know their preferences and needs but otherwise (even if you are only expecting extended friends and family) you should expect a surprise or two… There is nothing more embarrassing than organising a games event and realising that, while cousin Jimmy is only barely numerate, all the games you have chosen require fairly extensive math skills. I would strongly suggest not excluding any type of game on the basis of preference of some attendees – they will be free to choose what they play – but do try to cater for as many tastes and needs as possible.
- Are you thinking of having an introduction to roleplaying as one of the game choices? If so make sure that your attendees know beforehand as some people have very strong views on roleplaying (right or wrong – this is not the forum for that discussion) and having that kind of discussion flare up at your event will not be the desired result.
- If you have contacted games reps or the local games club or a friend with a library of games – make sure they are aware of any requirements / constraints you may have placed on games selection to avoid confusion.

Will you have people to teach some of the games?
- For small groups it is fine for the group to learn a new game together but as your group gets bigger and there are more and more people you increase the risk that there will be at least one or two people there who want to get kicked off right away and just have someone show them how to do things.
- Again, your local games club or games rep is good for help in this regard but you are also almost certainly better off to include at least one game you know so any friends of yours who are a bit shy will be comfortable learning from you (as the night progresses, if things go well that person may very well be the one teaching other new friends).

Closing up time.
Make sure everyone knows beforehand what time the event is finishing. There is nothing so disheartening as when you are running a good games night and people start to have to run off early – except of course when someone starts a brilliant new game five minutes before the event is supposed to close up (you can always relocate that game to a pub / someones house – but it still causes inconvenience and may reduce their enjoyment of the gaming experience.

That’s about all I can think of for running a games night. (I may rush back tomorrow and add more!)
If I have missed anything or anyone has questions, additional points, more information etc etc – please post as many comments as you like I’ll try and answer or get answers for all of them!