How one board-game night rewired my whole week
I showed up alone, knowing nobody, dreading every second of it. I left with seven new friends and a date on the calendar for the next meetup.
I never quite understood how people just show up to events alone. I always figured you had to arrive with someone, or you'd end up standing in a corner with a glass of water.
Then I found the weekly board-games meetup at Tel Aviv University. Monday at six. I told myself: I'll come for half an hour, and if it's weird, I go home.
I stayed for five hours. We played Catan, we played Codenames, we laughed at bad moves, we cursed whoever stole our longest road. Nobody asked what I do for a living, and nobody was trying to sell me anything.
I came back the next week. And the week after. There's something magical about a board game — it gives you an excuse to be near people without the pressure of small talk. The rules already exist; you just have to step in.
If you're on the fence about going — go. Worst case? You lose at Monopoly.