It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed any board games here, but that doesn’t mean that there hasn’t been a lot of board gaming activity going on for me.

To update:

— Game Night Social continues every Tuesday night from 6-9 p.m. at the Garage Food Hall in Indianapolis. And it looks like we’re likely to extend into 2024.

For those unfamiliar, I serve as a sort of board game concierge for this weekly event. For each session, I have about 40 games available, ranging from simple-access familiar-to-the-masses titles like Uno and Stratego, to more involved hobby games such as Alhambra, Kingdom Builder, and Wingspan. The emphasis is on games whose basics can be learned fairly quickly and that can work in the time we have. I rotate the selection and always bring some new ones each week (Recent newbies included After Us, Fit to Print, and Wandering Towers).

We get a wide mix of players — some coming deliberately for Game Night Social and others who just happen to be there. The greatest pleasure for me comes from strangers connecting over a board game (one week featured a very LOUD game of Gimme That!), couples finding new ways to enjoy each other (Timeline has been a big hit with two-player parties), and families realizing that their kids can have just as good a time playing Reef Route and Kayak Chaos as they would if they were parked in front of a video screen.

It’s all free and players can play while taking advantage of the many dining and drinking options at the Garage.

— The folks at The Speak Easy, an entrepreneurial co-working space in Indy’s Broad Ripple neighborhood have asked me to perform similar duties — only biggie-sized — for its inaugural Connect: Gaming event on Nov. 4.

I’ll be bringing an extensive game library there for folks to borrow and I’ll be teaching games throughout the day. In addition, Indy Tabletop Game Creators will be upstairs playtesting and showing off prototypes, Plow Digital will be offering video game demos and testing, Video Game Palooza and Hope Training Academy will be hosting a vintage arcade in the annex, and guest speakers will be sprinkled into the mix throughout the day. Connect-Gaming runs from 10 a.m.-10 p.m., giving plenty of time to try a bit of everything or deep dive into whichever interests you most. Tickets are $10-$15.

(The downside here is that I can’t get to Who’s Yer Gamers’ annual Thanks4Giving game day. If you are in Central Indiana, I hope you get to one event or the other.)

— I also contributed my annual Best Games of Gen Con story to Indianapolis Monthly magazine. Give it a read here. And once again I’ll be selecting a game to include in Quill magazine’s annual journalists’ gift guide.

— And I had a blast hosting another session of Pub Trivia at the Society of Professional Journalists convention in Las Vegas. Eleven teams compeating, original questions, fierce and fun competition … who could ask for anything more?

— Yes, I’m available for private parties and public events. Drop me a note if you want to discuss the options.

I hope to have more reviews up soon. In the meantime, happy gaming.