Resurgence of analog games proves that they are not just for play

Kathleen Donahue, proprietor of Labyrinth Games & Puzzles, stands in front of one of the many shelves of games in her store. Donahue created Labyrinth to provide the Capitol Hill community with an environment where they could interact with others through playing games.

It’s a typical Thursday Board Game Night at Labyrinth Games & Puzzles. Community members gather around plastic tables and chairs that have been set up on the store’s sales floor. Among the controlled chaos of people dealing cards, rolling dice and moving game pieces, chatter about people’s work days and families fills the air.

Located in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, Labyrinth was created eight years ago. Kathleen Donahue, its owner, had the idea for Labyrinth after not being able to find Mancala, an ancient strategy game, anywhere around Washington. When she told her husband, he said that she should create a toy store in the Capitol Hill neighborhood.

The thing is, Donahue didn’t like toys. But, she did like games. And with that thought, the idea for Labyrinth was born.

“I wanted it to be a really welcoming, super fun environment where people could come in and play with stuff,” Donahue said.

Labyrinth hosts about 700 events every year. That includes community outreach game nights, senior game days, birthday parties, game tournaments and more.

Labyrinth is not the only place where board games have become popular. In fact, they are expanding into new fields and becoming more complex than they were in the past. Board games are now being used in classrooms and clinics, and they are even being used to promote peacemaking skills.

“There has been a resurgence of interest in analog games because I think that people are missing that human connection,” Donahue said.

Elizabeth Caravella, an adjunct literature professor at American University, teaches a writing course called “Work/Play, Game/Write.” In this course, students learn how games can boost productivity. Caravella said games are useful in classroom settings, but only if they are implemented properly.

Because of this, Caravella argues for “gameful design” when implementing games in classrooms. She said gameful design includes deeper design elements, such as allowing players to “try on different identities.”

Max Raabe is currently earning his master’s in game design at American. He is working with iThrive Games, a non-profit organization dedicated to designing games that help with teenagers’ social and emotional development. Their goal: Design the Critical Strengths Engine.

The Critical Strengths Engine is an analog role-playing game that will be used in clinics and at home to help teenagers with their social and emotional learning skills. Raabe said a teenager without social anxiety could use the engine to see what someone with social anxiety feels like.

“We want it to be a system that allows people to get a sense, kind of, of what other people’s lives are like,” Raabe said.

Board games are also being used to promote peacemaking skills. Lual Mayen is a game designer, visiting scholar at American and founder of the company Junub Games. Mayen was inspired to design peacemaking games after spending 23 years in a refugee camp in what is now South Sudan. Mayen said that young people there can benefit from peacemaking games- and since they grew up in war, they need to learn how to solve issues peacefully.

Mayen created the peacebuilding board game Wahda. In the game, each player has five characters that they are protecting from war. If a player’s character dies, the character can be brought back to life by drawing a conflict resolution card. The conflict resolution aspect of the game allows players to give their opinion on how to peacefully solve a societal issue, or an issue in their own lives.

For the staff members and customers at Labyrinth, playing analog games creates opportunities for face-to-face interaction and a sense of community.

DeVante Lockamy, a regular customer at Labyrinth, said that he sees the benefits of both video games and board games. However, he said that playing video games is more of a “solitary experience.”

“I don’t play a whole lot of multiplayer video games, but here most of the games I play are, you know, with big groups or at least with a few people,” Lockamy said.

Sarah Weishampel, events coordinator at Labyrinth, said that a woman came into Labyrinth about a year ago and was at first too shy to play games with others. The woman asked a staff member to help her find a group of people to play games with. Now, she is a regular at Labyrinth.

Will Lippincott and Setorie Nelson are both regular customers and volunteers at Labyrinth. As volunteers, Lippincott and Nelson are able to help the store put on its different events and programs.

Nelson said he enjoys that Labyrinth allows him to embrace his competitive side and make friends.

“I’m a very competitive person, so I love playing board games,” Nelson said, “and I’m also a very shy person, so coming here and having a place where a bunch of people come, and you don’t necessarily know everybody you’re playing with, helps me get to make new friends and meet new people.”

Lippincott said he keeps coming back to Labyrinth because of the sense of community that the store creates. He said he likes playing board games because they allow people to use their imaginations.

“Board games, like reading, instead of watching YouTube or watching a movie, allow you to kind of expand your mind, use your imagination,” Lippincott said. “The board in front of you is not just a piece of paper.”

Watch this video on how Labyrinth is helping to build community through games.