Tension is thick in the air as a group of officers sit huddled around a table. They mutter among themselves and gesture animatedly at the board laid out in front of them, which is a world map with lines connecting different cities.

The stakes are high: the officers have to stop the spread of four diseases and prevent a global pandemic. As one officer pulls a card from a stack on the table and flips it over, someone lets out a whoop of relief.

The officers are staff from the National Library Board (NLB), playing the cooperative board game Pandemic. Once a month after work, on Friday evenings, they gather at the NLB office to play board games with fellow enthusiasts.

The NLB Boardgames Circle, as the group is known, has about 50 members who stay connected via an informal WhatsApp group. At each game session, some 10-12 players show up – a different mix each time, sometimes armed with their own games and snacks for sharing.

The group is currently led by four members, including Lim Tze Min, Director of the NLB’s Data Office. When he joined the NLB in 2021, he found out that there was an existing board game community whose activity had slowed down during the COVID-19 pandemic. With the help of three other officers, whom he calls his “co-conspirators”, he restarted the group and gradually grew its base through word of mouth and internal NLB emails.

Having grown up playing board games, Tze Min was keen to meet people who shared his interests. “As a leader, I also know that communities of common interests help to strengthen the organisation,” he adds.

Creating Community, Not Cliques

In medium-sized public agencies, it’s not always easy to get to know other people in the organisation. “The board games group is a great place to meet people who have the same interest,” Tze Min says. “Our biggest goal is to build friendships across the NLB.”

A lot of thought goes into ensuring that the community is inclusive and sustainable. Each session typically begins with a few rounds of light games (such as Tiny Epic Galaxies, which can be completed in about 30 minutes). This is so that those who turn up later – from being held up at work or by longer commutes, for example – are not excluded.

Longer games that require more rounds or complex strategies start later in the evening, after most people have arrived. The group also plays different games each week to avoid creating cliques.

“While we each have our favourite games that we will repeatedly play, the aim is to try different games outside our usual comfort zone and interact with new people.”

To keep the interest group sustainable, they are aiming to expand the core group of organisers so that there is always someone around to coordinate sessions should others be away. The idea is to have more people who can take charge of the logistics, bring games that they own or know, and teach the game rules.

Skill-Building Gameplay

Many of the games the group plays involve hypothetical or even fantastical scenarios – think pirates, spaceships and magical villages. But the skills needed to play them are very real.

“There is a natural link between making good decisions at work and making good decisions while playing games,” explains Tze Min.

For example, in Atlantis Rising, players work together to prevent the city of Atlantis from sinking into the ocean. Their task is to build a cosmic gate that can save the city, but they have a tight deadline before the island sinks and a limited pool of workers and resources. The players also face uncertainty in the form of random incident cards that make it harder for them to obtain these resources.

In some ways, the decision-making process in such board games mimics that of work scenarios we can all relate to. In both cases, a person has to optimise limited resources, deal with uncertainty and mitigate risks, while trying to achieve a time-sensitive goal. It’s also important to make decisions with limited data, discern decisions from outcomes, and avoid the paralysis that comes with trying to analyse every possible outcome, says Tze Min.

At work, Tze Min oversees data strategy and leads a team of data and research analysts who provide insights for NLB’s decision-making needs. He says: “For me, the long-term outcome is that people who play board games mindfully will develop better instincts for decision-making.”

The Long Game

The biggest goal, however, is still to build lasting connections. The NLB Boardgames Circle is one where “we can meet more people across the organisation, and have fun while getting to know each other better”.

Tze Min’s interest in board games was first formed through family staples such as Monopoly and Risk, then strengthened by games played with school friends who are now long-time gaming buddies.

The NLB Boardgames Circle has forged similar strong bonds. Former staff who have moved to other agencies still drop by on game nights to participate and keep up friendships. The members range from experienced board game players to newbies, as well as interns and those with 10-20 years of working experience.

“We also see folks who are curious about games and join us for a light and fun session. My personal ‘KPI’ is to integrate them into the community,” says Tze Min. “When we play together, we get to learn a lot more about what makes us tick.”

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