feel good
Board gamers foster connections and fight loneliness by rolling the dice
Luke Atkinson says he started the group Copper Coast Tabletop to make connections after moving to the area. (ABC North and West: Declan Durrant)
When Luke Atkinson started a tabletop gaming club more than a decade ago, only 10 people turned up to its first session.
They squeezed into a small room at the local library to play a single game, and it was an altogether modest affair — but at its end, Mr Atkinson was jubilant.
He had only moved to the small town of in Kadina on South Australia's Yorke Peninsula earlier that year, and alongside a friend, Mark Dennett, had founded the group with the idea of making community connections in his new home.
In that light, the first event had been, for him, an unqualified success.
The group attracts more than 300 people to play games each year. (ABC Eyre Peninsula: Declan Durrant)
But he could not have foreseen how his and Mr Dennett's club would prove an even greater one: the group, 13 years on, now has its own building, and more than 300 people come there to play games throughout the year.
Copper Coast Tabletop, the gaming club the pair started, still runs three times weekly out of a former weigh station in the nearby town of Wallaroo.
They play everything, from Monopoly and Cluedo to miniature model games like Warhammer, or the card deck-builder Magic: The Gathering.
The club has, in many ways, been the beneficiary of the board-game popularity boom that has blown the industries out to an estimated $18.8 billion globally in the past decade.
But its success is also attributable to a larger social movement that has become particularly important in regional communities — combating loneliness.
Game board's common ground
It's no secret making friendships can be difficult for people moving to regions, particularly if they don't play sport. And Mr Atkinson knows that all too well.
So when he arrived in Kadina, he thought one of his old hobbies might help him and others who felt the same way.
"When you first move to a town, you don't know anyone, and generally there's a lot of close-knit friendship groups because they've known each other for generations or went to school together," Mr Atkinson said.
Tabletop gamers meet three times a week in a former weigh station in Wallaroo. (ABC North and West: Declan Durrant)
"And I've loved board games and miniature games since childhood, for both the challenge and their artistic value, and I wanted to offer that same joy and connection to the wider community.
"Because developing an environment where people can just come and enjoy hobbies and not feel like an outsider … and just connect with people, that's so important.
"Moving to a new place can be lonely."
Tackling social isolation
According to the Department of Human Services (DHS), 27 per cent of South Australians experience persistent loneliness, while 20 per cent experience persistent social isolation, meaning they had infrequent social contact for at least eight weeks at a time.
The DHS says South Australians are the second-most socially isolated people in the country behind the Northern Territory.
Flinders University senior lecturer in social policy Ben Lohmeyer said in Australia, young people in particular were more vulnerable to loneliness than previously thought.
Ben Lohmeyer says a shared interest is a good way to connect with other people. (Supplied: Ben Lohmeyer)
"The key thing we want when tackling social isolation and loneliness is giving people a chance to make meaningful connections with others,"Dr Lohmeyer said.
"Having choice over where they do that, particularly if they're choosing something that's a shared interest, sounds like a great way to build connections and get to know other people."
He said it was important for people to have a "third space" — somewhere outside of work and home.
"It could be sport, a religious community or a shared interest like gaming.
"But that third space is really important to give us a sense of connection and combat things like loneliness."
A hobby from coast to coast
Across South Australia, on the Eyre Peninsula, another group of gamers gathers.
In Port Lincoln, Steven Johnson from the West Coast Youth and Community Support group runs games sessions every Thursday and it expands to more than board games.
Steven Johnson started a Port Lincoln board-games group to help foster connections in the regions. (ABC Eyre Peninsula: Duncan Bailey)
"We noticed that a lot of the clients I was working with, a lot of the people that I met, were gamers of some degree and shared a love for gaming," Mr Johnson said.
"Through my program we try and link people who are a bit isolated in the community back into their community in all the wonderful areas that it has."
West Coast Youth volunteer Brett Pullham observes the virtual Dungeons and Dragons board. (ABC Eyre Peninsula: Duncan Bailey)
He said the community was created for people who felt isolated and wanted to make friends who shared a similar interest.
"It just lets everybody come together in the same physical space and actually create some friendships."
Jack Treagus, Mr Pulham, Ryan Walker and Mr Johnson duke it out in a Dungeons and Dragons game. (ABC Eyre Peninsula: Duncan Bailey)
Something for everyone
Back in Wallaroo, Mr Atkinson reflected on the 13 years and the hundreds of people who have come along to Copper Coast Tabletop to play.
"This community is something special," Mr Atkinson said.
"For many of our members, especially those with social needs, the structured nature of games provides a framework for interacting, helping them build confidence and a sense of fairness.
"We've seen many people grow — not just in gaming skill, but in confidence and connection — and that's what keeps us going."