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Top 10 Games of 2016

These top 10 games we played in 2016

  1. Bang: The Dice Game
  2. Codenames
  3. Sushi Go
  4. Firefly Fluxx
  5. Machi Koro
  6. Tiny Epic Galaxies
  7. Carcassonne
  8. 7 Wonders tied Stoner Fluxx
  9. Paperback tied Joking Hazard
  10. The Resistance: Avalon tied Exploding Kittens

Lincoln Atheists Gaming Group

LAGG

Lincoln Atheists Gaming Group started when Lincoln Atheists was still a social club. A handful of members expressed interest in playing games and started meeting to play tabletop games.

Interest from others was shown and these heathens started playing regularly. The group started off meeting every 3 weeks, then slowly grew to every other week, alternating between Friday and Saturday. This helps to accommodate those who have to work weekends.

Naturally, with regular meetings a friendly competition has formed and has been running since 2014. Seasons run from January through December, and awards are presented for overall wins, participation, and win/attendance ratio. In addition, players are nominated for funny categorical awards.

Any one can join in the benefits of tabletop gaming. Just show up to one of our regular Tabletop Gaming events.

What is tabletop games?

Tabletop game is a general term used to refer to board games, card games, dice games, miniatures wargames, tile-based games and other games that are normally played on a table or other flat surface.

The term is used to distinguish these types of games from sports and video games. The term is also used to distinguish role-playing games from role-playing video games and LARPs, although role-playing games may not necessarily require a wide playing surface.

Gaming is good for you.

Tabletop gaming promotes many positive social and cognitive benefits like increased communication, teamwork, planning, and is an excellent stress relieving activity.

With playing tabletop games comes laughter. Laughing has been shown to increase endorphins, those are chemicals that bring up the feeling of happiness. Sharing laughter and fun can promote empathy, compassion and trust with others.

Along with laughing and increasing your endorphins, they can help you lower or maintain your blood pressure. This release of endorphins help muscles to relax and blood to circulate, which evidently will lower your blood pressure. High blood pressure is associated with greater risk of artery damage, heart disease and stroke.

Playing a tabletop game helps practice essential cognitive skills, like problem solving. The hippocampus and prefrontal cortex especially benefit from playing tabletop games. These areas of the brain are responsible for complex thought and memory formation. Board games help the brain retain and build cognitive associations well into old age. By reducing the risk of cognitive decline, such as that associated with dementia and Alzheimer’s. Keeping your mind engaged means you are exercising it and building it stronger. A stronger brain has lower risks of losing its power.

Research has shown that negativity, depression and stress can reduce your ability to fight disease. Positive feelings and thoughts, like the laughter and enjoyment that always comes with tabletop games, prevents these effects by releasing some chemicals that fight stress and boost your immune system. A simple tabletop game could give rise to the ‘survival genes’ and activate them in your brain, making the brain cells live longer and helping to fight disease.

Board games help children develop logic and reasoning skills, improve critical thinking and boost spatial reasoning. Playing different types of tabletop games can also increase verbal and communication skills, while helping develop attention skills and the ability to concentrate and focus for longer periods of time.

Many tabletop games require the use of fine motor skills to pick up or move pieces, actions that take both coordination and dexterity. Regular practice and activity improve these basic skills, which is important for children, people with mental or physical disabilities, the elderly and those recovering from accidents. Tabletop games are very helpful when they are added to occupational therapy treatments, as well in places like classrooms for special needs to help improve muscle and nerve function over time.