What was once popular only at home has grown to a full-blown community in Oshawa. Table-top gaming popularity is on the rise, with more stores, tournaments and players popping up locally.
Oshawa is even home to spaces that cater specifically to the gaming community, fit with tables and tiny buildings, also called terrain.
There are many different types of table-top games, everything from historical war games to sci-fi, fantasy, superheroes and robots.
Long-time player, Timothee Davout of Oshawa, has been playing table-top games for about six years and has noticed the influx in the local community.
“I think the player base has grown,” said Davout. “More people are showing up to tournaments, more women are coming to tournaments, more places are holding them.”
He started playing around the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, during a period when everyone was home.
“I started building and painting miniatures while I was home during the pandemic,” said Davout. “It was a good way to pass the time. I was really excited when the stay-at-home order was lifted and I could finally go out to play with people.”
Since the pandemic, Davout has had the opportunity to play in many tournaments. As well, he’s joined a local story-driven league that focuses on narrative play with his team.
“I knew there were a lot of players who I chatted with online in forums, but I was surprised to see the local community grow,” he said. “I didn’t know it would become so popular.”
Local game store owner, Rick Metcalf, said he noticed an uptick in business during the pandemic.
“You would think that the pandemic would hurt it, but it actually grew it,” said the owner of Addictive Hobbies & Games. “More people were home and looking for things to do, so they start picking up different hobbies.”
Metcalf said table-top gaming became so popular his business tripled during the pandemic.
He was one of the first table-top gaming store owners in the area. Now there are several across Oshawa, including Over the Top Gaming o Simcoe Street and Brew Wizards on Celina Street.
“I would say that table-top has really grown in the area and I would like to take credit for that in a way,” said Metcalf. “It was kind of not in the area at all, and I just built up a really good community and it just keeps growing.”
While table-top gaming has grown into a popular hobby, he said that wasn’t always the case. He recalls a slower time when he first opened his business in 2016 and he ran it out of his house.
“The side of my house, it was set up as a hair dressing salon, so I started out in there,” said Metcalf. “Then I moved to a place called Simcoe Mall, which was a big, huge flea market open seven days a week.”
Since then, the table-top gaming community has grown enough for Metcalf to grow his business, Addictive Hobbies & Games.
He’s had the opportunity to expand into a solo store front in an alleyway in the heart of downtown Oshawa.
“I just keep growing and taking more and more of the alley,” said Metcalf. It is currently located at 13 King St. W.
According to worldmetrics.org, the table-top gaming market was valued at USD $52.1 billion globally in 2023.