the board room – How To play

Folkestone Harbour has opened its latest destination space – The Board Room.  Here you can enjoy Iron Pier beer, local wines and spirits and a good range of non-alcoholic options.  You can also graze on boards of charcuterie and cheese whilst you play on the board games on offer. To book a board visit the Folkestone Harbour Arm website.  Ryan Hurley works for the Social Gaming Group, the company behind the games.  Folkelife grabbed the opportunity to learn how to play…

“The Social Gaming Company is based in Oslo, Norway and we work with businesses – bars and restaurants – to increase their competitive socialising offering.  Competitive Socialising is an industry term which basically means bringing fun and games into hospitality venues.  There’s been a huge increase in this in London and it mainly uses games that everyone can play.  You don’t ever have to have played before to have fun, and even win. So it’s great for all ages, genders, abilities.” 

18 ft shuffleboard

“These shuffleboards are incredibly satisfying to play on.  They come in two sizes, 18 and 22 ft, which takes up a fair space in a venue.  The Board Room at Folkestone Harbour is the largest venue yet on that site and has two boards for up to 8 people on each.  Think of the game as similar to curling – the ice game in the Olympics – but with metal pucks sliding down a wooden score board.  The aim is to get your pucks into the scoring area and knock out your opponents.  Slide it too fast and you will fall off the board at the other end.  

“These shuffleboards are the first in Folkestone.  We have some in Canterbury and Ashford, so I wouldn’t be surprised if a league sprang up soon!   This game ties back to our links in Norway.  If you go into a bar, instead of a pool table, there is a shuffleboard to play on.  I joined the company six years ago and this game has been growing like wildfire across Europe.”

fly-by darts

“The darts are a new addition for us, having just taken them on last year, and this is the only venue in Kent where you can play.  The dart board has cameras to record your progress and does the adding up for you.  That makes this much easier to play than normal darts in a pub.  Then there’s the choice of games you have on offer. You can play the usual 501, and then the shorter 201 games where you need to get to zero by playing a strategic game.  Then we have other options such as Killer, Shanghai and Høggern which is a Norwegian game.  These can be played with up to 8 people and encourage you to target your opponents on the board. 

“Killer is incredibly popular.  You gain lives and once you have the maximum you can target your friends to take away their lives.  You learn who your friends are with this game!  If you’ve got a work social going on, it’s a good way to gang up on the boss if you know what I’m saying.  It’s everyone’s favourite game.”

ongoing support

“My job is to make sure these guys here know how to play and that everyone has a good time.  It’s a hard job, I live in Deal and I get to come here and play darts and drink beer.  I have to say, this is officially the nicest venue we have our boards in.  The install team couldn’t believe the view!  So I’ll make sure this place works well even if I have to visit every week.”