Huntington's Main St. Board Game Cafe Hosts Kid And Teen Programs

HUNTINGTON, NY–The Main St. Board Game Cafe is featuring afternoon programs for students ranging from Grades 1-12.

Students in elementary school (grades 1-2 and 3-5 are separate groups) can participate in the Afternoon Board Game Club, while middle schoolers and high schoolers get the Teen Dungeons & Dragons Club.

Didi Feuer, 30, the store's director of games and programming, said the programs are designed to make learning fun, and that they give kids an opportunity to unplug from their screens and expand their minds in a fresh way.

"The magic of face-to-face, immersive gaming is that when kids tackle their goals in a board game, be it carefully advancing pieces across a grid, settling the island of Catan, or negotiating with enemy goblins in a dragon's lair, they are developing multi-layered strategies without even realizing they're gaining those skills," they told Patch. "We are sure that parents will see a difference in problem-solving confidence, creative energy and strategic skill over the course of just a few weeks of board gaming."

The Afternoon Board Game Club runs on Wednesdays from 4:30-6:30 p.m. at $45 per class, with a snack included. Elementary school kids in both age groups will learn a wide variety of strategy games under the guidance of the store's staff while spending time with friends. They'll start with simpler puzzle games like Mancala and Quarto before eventually tackling complex, multi-layered games such as Catan, Takenoko and Imhotep.

Game choices are custom-picked for each age group to highlight a set of cognitive skills.

The Teen D&D Club will run on Tuesdays from 5-7:30 p.m. at $35 per class. It will be divided into middle schoolers and high schoolers, who will learn how to play role-playing games, a genre where they create their own characters and make decisions that will shape the story as it unfolds. The club will focus exclusively on Dungeons & Dragons, the world's most popular RPG. An expert game master will narrate the story which will be decided by the players themselves.

The Main St. Board Game Cafe recently opened up at 307 Main St. in Huntington, offering people the opportunity to play board games while enjoying hot or cold refreshments and a drink.

If you're interested in signing your child up for either program, you can register here.