By Jahdai Spikes
The board game community has grown significantly over the past few years, a great deal due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Many people turned to board games during the pandemic as a way to have fun while staying safe.
For some, this meant getting back into the old board and tabletop games they used to love. For others this meant trying something new they thought was interesting but didn’t have the opportunity to play before. Either way, many people have found a new love for board games with a slight difficulty getting them and finding others to play with.
“People have been, however, very understanding about doing whatever we need to do to stay safe …. and people were still understanding because people wanted to come in and game,” said Blackrowan Games co-owner Christine Mabry.
Blackrowan Games
Covid shutdowns introduced problems for board game businesses to stay afloat throughout the pandemic, leading to some places closing temporarily and shifting to a more online-focused model.
But now, more than two years into the pandemic, locations are again open in person and working to rebuild communities.
One place doing this is Black Rowan Games in Tracy.
Rather than shutting down, the business adapted to the changes and pushed through. Black Rowan Games is the largest board game store in Tracy with a wide selection to choose from. The store also sells dice, play mats and miniature figurines.
“For a whole year until the governor opened everything back up for entertainment, we were retail only. Meanwhile, though, while we were closed we got a website set up, we delivered locally to anyone who ordered through the website. That was kinda how we survived for those three months,” said co-owner Christine Mabry.
Black Rowan Games provides a board game library where patrons can try out any of the provided games with friends, as well as several different tables to rent and play at.
“We really wanted a place where people could come and sit down and game because that was something we really enjoyed,” said Mabry.
The store has a very active community as they hold many events and tournaments throughout the week for things like “Magic: The Gathering,” “Warhammer,” “Dungeons and Dragons,” “Pokemon” and more.
“We have lots of events going on, which really is our purpose in this store, to be a gathering place for the community and a safe and inclusive environment,” said Mabry. “We are inclusive and welcoming to all communities and we just want to make sure that people know that it’s important to us that people are physically and emotionally safe when they come here.”
For more information regarding events go to www.blackrowangames.com.
Black Rowan is one of the most popular board game places in the 209 area, but there are many other great places trying to regrow their communities as well. Below is a map with several different stores in the 209 area marked, as well as pictures and a brief description of each store.