Each Thursday at Eureka Springs Gaming, located in the line of businesses at the community center, the small game store becomes packed with often more than 20 tweens and teens all eager to roll dice. They aren’t participating in traditional board games but instead are playing Dungeons & Dragons, one of many table-top roleplaying game systems and the most popular in its sphere.
The kids take control of a character of their creation, and just like board games, follow a system of rules to keep the game flowing. A “Dungeon Master (DM)” acts as arbiter of the rules and presents the scenarios of the game – Rescue the townsfolk from an invasion of undead, bring back the shiny Macguffin to the local wizened wizard, defeat the Dark Lord and bring peace to the land. It’s roots are fantasy and sci-fi, the likes of Tolkien, Pratchett, Zelazny and many more.
Chris Poe, owner of Eureka Springs Gaming and DM for many of the kids, said that the event gives the kids “much needed chance at extracurricular, screen-free interaction.” With social interaction and environments moving online “this is a brick-and-mortar altnernative to that platform. By showing up they assert their independence, and in gameplay they get to hone skills of critical thinking, teamwork, resilience, and sportsmanship.” He also notes they get to have fun.
The activity also gives the kids a chance to express and stretch creative muscles. No character they make is the same. Ask any one of them about their characters and the answers are complex. They spend time both in game and outside of it, pondering their character backstories and motivations. The free-nature of the event makes the event accessible with Poe saying, “Eureka Springs families face a high cost of living, and it’s hard to justify recreational expenditures. By making our game space free… we encourage people from all walks of life to sit down and play and maybe make some new friendships while they are at it.”
This is not Poe’s first-time running D&D for kids. “When I taught middle school at Clear Spring, I would run a weekly D&D campaign which incorporated the week’s learning into the storyline, and assessed how well they grasped the material.” He said that it helped “facilitate learning in a playful manner” and “took away some of the pressure found in a typical classroom setting.”
He also had positive words to on board games which tabletops stem from in some regard. “Since childhood, I’ve loved the way that board games bring people together and gives us positive motivation to take into everyday life.”
The game store has other events it hosts free with Wednesday afternoons dedicated to the Pokémon trading card game, Fridays for Magic the Gathering, and a monthly music series called The Listening Room. Poe said that the goal is to “continue to provide free services to our community members of all ages and to expand our events to encompass more interests.”