Membership & League Information

Officially formed in May, 2006, the Edmonton Board Gaming League focuses on bringing a variety of gamers in the Capital Region (Edmonton, St. Albert, Sherwood Park, Stony Plain, Spruce Grove, Leduc, etc) together to learn, master, and compete in all genres of tabletop games: board games, card games, miniatures games, and more!

Every two months or so, our members vote for a single game for the League to focus on. Each focus game will start with at least one practice night to learn the game followed by two consecutive tournament nights. A combination of attendance and score on these three nights count towards each member's league rating. The member who scores the highest league rating over the three focus game events wins the focus game tournament (and could earn additional points!).

Every 3-4 months the EBGL hosts or helps organize an optional weekend or evening "Special Event" for members only, where there may be an entry fee but door prizes and awards are typically given out to attendees.

In-between each focus tournament we host an "Open Gaming" night where members are free to bring and play any game they want. Only attendance is counted on these nights. Open Gaming nights are always a good night to bring out brand new or older, out-of-print games that we don't normally get to see much.

Location

The Edmonton Board Gaming League is closely partnered with it's largest commercial supporter and sponsor, Mission: Fun & Games, in St. Albert. As a result, the EBGL hosts most events in the large, private games room at the Mission: Fun & Games store in St. Albert.

Expenses

As with any gaming organization, the Edmonton Board Gaming League comes with a few expenses that are shared by the members. The following expenses are expected by all members:

Season Registration Fee. At the beginning of each season, all members are required to pay a $10 season registration fee, which goes directly into the League's Prize Pool. At the end of the year, awards and prizes are purchased from the total funds accumulated through the prize pool and kickbacks from our sponsors.

Games. Members will take turns buying a copy of the "game of focus" if insufficient copies are owned by members of the league. We always ask if any members are interested in buying the game before assigning someone. Because of this, members usually only have to buy 1 game a year. Games purchased by members are theirs to own, but should be left with the League organizers until that game is no longer "in focus". In 2023, the average cost of a focus game was approximately $87 CAD.

Rules

Attendance. League play nights during an 10 month "season" (Jan - Oct) are officially every second Friday (bi-weekly). A few days before every game night a reminder email is sent out reminding members of the upcoming event (if they are registered for automated emails). It is the member's responsibility to respond in the appropriate event forum if they plan to attend before the RSVP deadline or else it will be assumed they are not attending. Because this is a league environment, we do expect our members to attend at least one of the official club events every three months. Beyond the minimum expectations, everyone in the club is welcome and encouraged to attend as often as possible. If at least 4 people are not signed up for a league play night, it will be cancelled.

Judges. Each league play night (and especially tournament nights) one member per table will be assigned as a "Judge", meaning they are responsible for reading the rule book and making final calls on any rule disputes. On practice nights, the owners of the games are automatically judges.

Scoring & Stats. To encourage competitiveness, every member has a recorded "league rating" in addition to other stats, such as number of wins, second place wins, draws, losses, practices attended, etc. Attendance and earning "victories" on any official league events combine to build your overall league rating. The member with the highest league rating at the end of the EBGL season will earn the coveted League Champion title.

Mandatory Bonus Fun

Achievements. In the name of fun, players can also try to earn special achievements during official league events by completing amazing feats during tournament games, performing safe, unintentional acts of silliness, hitting career gaming achievements, or by getting into special events where attendance is limited. These achievements are applied to a player's permanent league profile for bragging rights - and could help one earn the coveted "most achievements" award at the end of the season.

Awards. At the end of every year the EBGL hosts a special awards night to formally announce and hand out awards and prizes to members who have shown top performance that year in areas such as "League Champion", "Rookie of the Year", "Most Improved Player", and even "Most Member Referrals".

Promotional Events. The EBGL is always looking for gaming industry and local game store sponsors and/or partners. We will, occassionally, work with our sponsors to promote their products/stores in return for certain benefits to our club members, such as free advertising, tournament and door prizes, discounts, and more! For example: the EBGL teamed up with the Edmonton Oilers/Oil Kings to host the first ever Board Game Bonanza event at Rexall Place. Member involvement in these events is strongly encouraged and will always count towards their league rating.

Game Demonstrations & Prototype Testing. The EBGL has, on occasion, invited game publishers and/or designers to League events to demo new games (pre-release) or have the League playtest new game prototypes and provide feedback into the design process. As a result, we have even earned game testing credits in certain published games. The League also has a few members dabbling in game design and welcome anyone to bring in their own prototypes for ideas or testing.

If all of this sounds interesting to you, click HERE to register to become a League Member today!