THE HOBBY: TALES FROM THE TABLETOP: 3 ½ STARS. “sweet-natured, earnest doc.”
SYNOPSIS: “The Hobby: Tales from the Tabletop,” a new documentary now playing in select theatres, looks at the subculture of board games through the people who love playing them.
CAST: John Hague, Dan Corbett, Elizabeth Hargrave, Tom Vasel, Candice Harris. Directed by Simon Ennis.
REVIEW: A movie about games that focusses on the players, “The Hobby: Tales from the Tabletop” is a loving tribute to those whose hobby transcends a pastime to become an obsession.
From a board game philosopher and an ultra-competitive player named Dan Corbett who admits he injured himself running around his cottage in celebration after beating his mother-in-law at Trivial Pursuit to a media creator for the BoardgameGeek platform and the “Roger Ebert of board games,” the film is affectionate, cheery look at people who could “never [be] bored in a world with board games.”
This isn’t a movie about “Monopoly” or “Risk.” It’s about more modern games like “Blood Rage,” “Wingspan,” “Settlers of Catan” and “Ticket to Ride” but you won’t learn how to play those, or any others.
What you will learn is why people play them. “We don’t stop playing because we grow old,” says one gamer. “We grow old because we stop playing.”
Director Simon Ennis profiles Starla and Mik of Our Family Plays Games, a popular YouTube channel devoted to bringing more diversity and inclusion to the board gaming hobby. “Our focus is family and fun,” Starla says.
We also meet John Hague, a board game designer hyping his indie game “The Last Summit,” BoardGameGeek podcaster and designer Candice Harris, who says, “We need to break out of the mindset that boardgames are this thing that only nerds do. Board games are rock and roll,” and take a trip to the World Series of Board Gaming in Las Vegas.
Passion, commitment and competitiveness are the glue that bonds all of the players, but as gamer personality Tom Vasel says, the thing that makes the games meaningful is not the rules or the playing pieces, it’s the people. “People are meaningful,” he says.
“The Hobby: Tales from the Tabletop” is a sweet-natured, earnest doc that finds the humanity in a group of quirky characters and the simple pleasures of companionship and community. “We get a chance to talk together, to joke together,” says Starla of playing board games with her family, “leave our problems alone and just enjoy being.”
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