In a board game café in Edmonton, David Plamondon opens Pe Metawe Games—Canada's only Indigenous-owned board game store—and watches something rare happen: people who had been left out of a hobby for decades finally feel welcome. The tabletop gaming industry has spent years excluding Indigenous folks, women, LGBTQ2S+ communities, and people of color through poor representation and geographic and economic barriers. Plamondon, a Cree game consultant with deep ties to Treaty 8 and Treaty 6 Territory, founded Pe Metawe in 2021 with a clear mission: to honor Cree culture by creating a safe, welcoming space for anyone willing to respect that ideal.
The moment is significant because board games are experiencing a genuine renaissance, and researchers are finally catching up to what players have always known. At the University of Plymouth, researchers recently confirmed that tabletop games "enhance well-being, foster inclusion, and support learning, with strong evidence that games improve engagement." The global board games and playing card market, valued at nearly US$20 billion in 2025, is projected to reach US$32 billion by 2030—growth that has continued well beyond the pandemic era that initially sparked the surge.
What's driving this isn't nostalgia or mere screen fatigue. Research from the COVID-19 era showed that board games decreased stress, isolation, and anxiety while strengthening relationships and building community bonds. At Kansas State University, the Bonding thru Board Games program uses tabletop gaming to develop crucial soft skills: self-control, positive self-concept, communication abilities, and executive function. Scientists understand now what matters intuitively to players: meaningful social connections are foundational to mental health, cognitive ability, and emotional well-being.
Andrea Robertson, co-owner of Rain City Games in British Columbia, has watched her store evolve into something her customers call a "third space"—a place outside home and work where people gather without screens. Her annual event ticket sales jumped from approximately 8,500 in 2024 to over 9,100 in 2025, reflecting a shift toward in-person connection. "We hope our events help alleviate some of the rising loneliness and isolation among young people," she said, "offering a way to interact without the mediation of screens and algorithms."
Plamondon's work extends beyond creating inclusive spaces. As a game consultant, he helps developers design games that authentically represent Indigenous histories, communities, cultures, and storytelling traditions. "Historically, the tabletop hobby has been unwelcoming, if not overtly hostile to many equity-deserving groups," he explained. By shifting how games are designed from the ground up—centering Indigenous values and voices—he's helping reshape an entire industry.
This inclusivity movement is accelerating. The Vancouver Playtest Group, established in 2018, brings board game designers together to develop prototypes in community settings. What started as a creative workshop has become a place where connection happens naturally—where people meet new friends while building games together. The tabletop world is no longer just about rolling dice or moving pieces. It's about recognizing that games, when designed and hosted with intention, can heal isolation, celebrate marginalized communities, and build the kind of meaningful human connection our world desperately needs.