With all the technology being created, it may seem that board games have become an obsolete pastime of yesteryear, but Newtown residents would disagree.

Many families are still turning to tried-and-true board games as a means of spending time with friends and loved ones.

Newtown resident Juli Pankow and her husband, Dale, have been collecting board games since they were children. Now with a 12-year-old son, Jeremy, and a 15-year-old daughter, Hailey, their collection has grown with their family and amassed a size of nearly 100 board games in their game closet.

Her family enjoys board games like Blokus, Pay Day, Pandemic, and Harry Potter Trivia. She says she mainly looks for games "that have some difficulty and lots of strategy involved but with fairly easy-to-understand instructions."

Ms Pankow says Friday nights are not officially crowned game night, but she frequently plays them with one or more of her family members as a good way to wind down from everyone's busy weekday schedules.

"It is a great social activity, [because] we can talk about things while we play," said Ms Pankow.

Eric Paradis is another Newtown resident who enjoys the social aspect of playing board games. A few years ago, he used to host family games at the C.H. Booth Library that were for young children, and his daughter even hosted an event last year as part of her Girl Scout troop. Both he and his daughter are so passionate about spreading the word that there are high-quality children and family board games out there that they have blogged about it on Beyond Candy Land.

Currently, he hosts game nights a couple times a month at his house with a group of friends.

His personal board game collection has a variety of games, including card games like Dominion and Splendor. He also has Axis and Allies, Sho-gun, and Fortress America that are war games from the 80s. Some newer games he has purchased include Eight Minute, Nevermore, and Daybreak. His favorites, though, are the cooperative games Pandemic and Betrayal at the House on the Hill; the strategy games Twilight Imperium, Agricola, Power Grid, Compounded, and Brew Crafters; as well as Robo-Rally and Dead of Winter.

Join A Club

Board game enthusiasts should know they are not alone. Whether people grew up playing games with their family and friends or just have discovered the joys of board games, seeking out opportunities to start or join a board game group is a great way to meet like-minded people.

For young adults, the Chess Club is an established group at the Newtown High School. It is for all high school grades and gaming abilities, the only prerequisite is a love of board games. The Chess Club meets every Thursday after school in teacher advisor Dr Steve Malary's classroom.

Mr Malary is a science teacher at NHS who helped reactivate the Chess Club back in 2002. He finds that students who play board games, like chess, can gain skills that benefit them in school. He said chess "gives students an outlet, and also is an opportunity to work things out with their mind, the habit of being able to participate, work out possibilities, evaluate a position, and make a decision about what move to play. It carries over into other disciplines, in particular mathematics."

The NHS Chess Club also gives students the chance to participate in the Chess Team, which travels to compete in tournaments.

Ultimately, the Chess Team gives students the opportunity to play chess with friends and classmates. Club members like Miles Martiska enjoys playing the board game because, "It's relaxing, and I used to play chess when I was younger."

Chess Club member Bryce Bisset enjoys the game of chess for its laid-back atmosphere. He explained, "There's no rush for the game of chess in general. It is a lot more of your own thinking based on what other elements there are. Everything you do and every action that happens in entirely dependent on how you set it up."

Of course, the NHS Chess Club members do not just limit themselves to only playing chess; they also cite a number of other board games they frequently play with their friends and family, like Stratego, Checkers, Backgammon, Settlers of Catan, Risk, and Trouble.

Borrow A Board Game

Not sure about investing the money in a board game collection quite yet? The C.H. Booth Library lends a variety of board games for all ages, and new games are constantly being added to their more than 50-game collection.

On the second floor of the library, in the young adult section by the DVDs and CDs, there are shelves of the latest board games, as well as a few modern classics. The latter including the board game version of the popular 1970s computer game The Oregon Trail - the covered wagon game even still boasts iconic lines like "You have died of dysentery."

Some games are competitive while others are cooperative, and there are games for skill-building such as deductive reasoning, matching, prereading, and fostering creativity.

One of the most popular board games that the library has right now is the new secret agent game called Codenames. Young Adult Librarian Kim Weber describes the game as having teams where one gives and the other guesses the one-word clues based on the 5-by-5 card grid to identify the agent. She says it is a good family game for all ages.

Another recent addition to the library's collection is the multiplayer board game Splendor. Players try to collect prestige points and cards are marked with emerald, sapphire, ruby, diamond, and onyx gems. Already it has become one of Ms Weber's favorite games, and has been a hit with families who have borrowed the game.

The library steers clear of overly popular board games like Monopoly and Clue. They want to offer a wide assortment of games that people may not have even heard of previously.

Ms Weber and Children's Librarian Alana Bennison started circulating the game collection last June with funds from the Friends of the Library and also with the Children and Young Adult's supply budget.

For those interested in borrowing a board game from the library, there is no limit to the number of games a library patron can check out, but keep in mind, the board games have a loan period of seven days with one renewal and there is a late fee of $1.50 a day. Game recommendations are welcome, as the library is always searching for new and exciting board games to add to the collection.

With so many fun board game options, residents will never get bored of board games.