There is a board game group in Montevideo that meets once a month for an all-night game extravaganza (8 PM – 8 AM). People bring games, food, drinks, and fun.

We attended said extravaganza this weekend and had a blast. We were among some of the first people there (chalk that one up to not embracing the late night culture), despite the fact that we were fashionably late and walked around the neighborhood trying to find the address. Turns out the place was just above a group of men grilling over a fire in the street. The board game group rents out a space that looks like its made just for their purposes. There are numerous chairs and tables to set up board games on, a microwave to heat up food, and a fridge. The A/C doesn’t work so well, but at least there are bathrooms.

The first game we played was a card game with creeper zombies and random keeper objects like donuts. It’s one of those games that you only want to play every once in a while and by the end you remember why you haven’t played it lately. It took forever for someone to win.

While we battled it out with our zombies, there was a near-steady stream of people arriving (maybe a group every 20 min or so). By the time we finished with our zombie game the new arrivals had already started other games, so we started another game (Agricola) with the same group of people.

I had never played before and our Uruguayan friend explained all the rules of the game to me in english. So much for learning board game vocabulary. It seems like many of the games that people brought were the english versions, but that may have been because when our friend visited us in the states he bought an extra suitcase to fill with board games to take back to his friends.

A large group of people arrived around 12:30 with cupcakes decorated like the board game, Settlers of Catan. I ate some wheat.

We left shortly after their arrival, although it was clear that the party was really just getting started. Next month we’ll be prepared by bringing our own munchies, caffeinated beverages, and our own board games to share!