| The
Baltimore Sun
Thursday, November 25, 2004
At Ludo Club, card
and board games
are a good move
|
Mike
Farrell, who describes himself
as "a
professional couch potato," comes to the
Ludo Club once a week to play
cards.
"I live by myself," he explained
between rounds of pitch. "I've
got family and friends, but
they
can't get together regularly to
play." Evenings at the
Ludo Club
add variety to his social life.
It is
"like seasoning
in a stew," he
said.
|
 |
|
Eucher,
pitch
and Mah Jongg
are part
of the fun
The
Ludo Club is a venue for
board and card game enthusiasts to find partners to play
games. Ludo means "to play a
game" in Latin.
"It gives you something to
do
other than go to a bar or walk
around a mall," said Steven
Meyer, who owns and operates
the club with his family.
The club is tucked away in an
office park just south of the city
line, between Arbutus and Lansdowne. The location feels a bit
odd — at 7 p.m. on weekdays
when people arrive, the rest of
the offices in the complex are
closed and lights are off. But the
Ludo Club's storefront is aglow
— and on a recent Wednesday
there was a small but rowdy
group laughing and trading banter about the games.
Meyer provides several services at the venue. He organizes
those who want to play a particular
card or board game into
"clubs." He runs clubs for euchre, pitch, mah jongg and
Scrabble.
Clubs meet once a week for
five or six weeks to play a regular game. People pay $8 a night to
participate. Players can bring
alcohol or purchase light refreshments from a snack
counter.
Meyer teaches new people
how to play games and distributes copies of the rules.
A game library with more
than 300 titles is in the rear of
the venue. Titles include such
classics as checkers, chess and
Risk and more obscure games
such as Diplomacy, Can't Stop
and Mogul.
On the first and third Friday
of the month, the venue sponsors an open-game night, which
is more of a free-for-all. The next
one
is Dec. 3.
|
 |
But, those Interested in participating can come by most
nights and find a game. At the
moment, the best nights are
Tuesdays and Wednesdays from
7 p.m. to 10 p.m. However, those
interested should call Meyer to
work out the best day to come.
Meyer became interested in
games after watching his mother-in-law's mental functions decline
when she was living in a
nursing
home.
|
| "She had
lost her mind and
was basically in a state of dementia. I thought, 'Is this going
to happen to me?'" Meyer said.
"I did some research, and I
found out that your brain is in a
lot of ways like a muscle; use it
or lose it."
Meyer became a bit obsessed.
He bought games on eBay,
sifted through thrift stores and
ordered them directly from
manufacturers in Germany and
England.
In their home, "Every closet
that should be holding clothes is
holding games Instead," said
Meyer's daughter Kristln.
Meyer and his wife shared a
hunch that there might be others out there who would want to
meet for game nights. In March
of last year, they opened a club.
Both of Meyer's children work
Identified by their black button-
down shirts bearing the Ludo
Club logo.
Thanks to local ads and word-
of-mouth, the club has attracted
a small, dedicated crowd of players.
On a recent Wednesday night,
16 people — split into groups of
four — participated in games of
pitch and euchre.
Small black tables are neatly
arranged in the carpeted room.
Sturdy and comfortable chairs
surround each table. Old board
games decorate the walls.
The evening had a kind of.
wholesome fun to it. Friendly
ribbing spilled from one table to
the next. Side conversations
varied from gossip to Christmas
plans.
"I will play like the animal I am," declared Joe Lague,
26, as
he gathered cards that had been
dealt. Lague comes with his
friends once a week to play euchre — a game similar to bridge
that is popular in the Midwest.
"Look, I can't be Interviewed
and play cards at the same
time," Marianne Dixon, 62, said
after losing a few hands to
Lague. But she kept talking,
playing, laughing and losing.
This didn't seem worry her —
she'd be back next week.
The Ludo Club is at
3761
Commerce Drive,
Suite 412.
Call 410-536-GAME (4263) or
visit www.theludoclub.com.
People interested in starting a
new game "club" or playing
should call in advance.
|
|
