East Portland Tabletop Arcade

Our Next Event:

The next East Portland Tabletop Arcade will meet on Sunday, September 6th, 2026, from 1:00 to 5:00 PM in Community Room 1F of the Midland branch of the Multnomah County Library. I've been choosing a broad theme each month and bringing a few selections in that vein to have available. Playing these is hardly mandatory, of course - I'll have a number of other games with me, and I hope that anyone who attends will feel free to bring stuff that they're interested in getting to the table. For September, the theme is IN THE GARDEN, and I'll be bringing several gardening- and agriculture-themed games:

AGRICOLA (Rosenberg, 2007, 2-5 players, high complexity): In Agricola, you're a farmer in a wooden shack with your spouse and little else. At first, on a turn, your family gets to take only two actions, one for you and one for your spouse, as might be found among all the possibilities on a farm: plowing fields; collecting materials; building fences, and so on. There are numerous choices available, and while the game progresses you'll have more and more, as each round a new action card is flipped over, offering one more possible action. Agricola is a turn-based game, and the problem to be overcome is that each available action can be taken by only one player each round so it's important to be careful about your choices. 

FLOURISH (Wilson & Wilson, 2021, 2-7 players, low complexity): Flourish is a beautiful, card-drafting, garden-building game in which players plan and build the garden of their dreams over the course of the growing season. With delightful imagery, players plan their gardens throughout the game to collect the most points. This easy-to-learn game offers both competitive strategy and co-operative game modes, and a 1-7 player count provides a high level of accessibility and replayability.

THREE SISTERS (Pinchback & Riddle, 2022, 2-4 players, medium complexity): Three Sisters is a strategic roll-and-write game about backyard farming. Three Sisters is named after an indigenous agricultural technique still widely used today in which three different crops — pumpkins, corn, and beans — are planted close together. Corn provides a lattice for beans to climb, the beans bring nitrogen from the air into the soil, and the squash provides a natural mulch ground cover to reduce weeds and keep pests away. In the game, you have your own player sheet with multiple areas: the garden, which is divided into six numbered zones, each containing the three crop types; the apiary; compost; perennials; goods; fruit; and the shed, which is filled with tools that have special abilities. All the crops, fruits, flowers, and hives are represented by tracks that you will mark off as you acquire these items. Many of the tracks are interconnected with other elements in the game, giving you bonuses along the way. After eight rounds, you score points for harvested crops, perennials, the apiary, fruit, and some shed items. Whoever has the most points wins. 

Past Events:

East Portland Tabletop Arcade, June 2025: Two attendees. Games played: Love Letter.

East Portland Tabletop Arcade, July 2025: Ten attendees. Games played: Scout, Harmonies, Flip 7, Captain Flip, Innovation, YINSH, Survive: Escape From Atlantis, Great Western Trail.

East Portland Tabletop Arcade, August 2025: Sixteen attendees. Games played: No Thanks!, Azul: Summer Pavilion, Scout, The Crew: Mission Deep Sea, Bus, Mushroom Cats, Trekking the World, Splendor, Project L.

East Portland Tabletop Arcade, September 2025: Fourteen attendees. Games played: Cities, Moon, 1st & Goal, Project L, The Crew: Mission Deep Sea, Trekking Through History, The Grizzled, Fliptoons, Illusion.

East Portland Tabletop Arcade, October 2025: Nine attendees. Games played: Tobago, Expressions, No Thanks!, Nature, Pax Pamir.

East Portland Tabletop Arcade, November 2025: Six attendees. Games played: Courtisans, Alien: Fate of the Nostromo, Earth, Hot Streak, Skull, Let's Summon Demons, Bus & Stop.

East Portland Tabletop Arcade, December 2025: Twelve attendees. Games played: Pandemic, Elder Sign, TRND, Here to Slay, Flock Together, Epic Galaxy, Fluxx, Procession, Lost in R'lyeh.

East Portland Tabletop Arcade, January 2026: Eight attendees. Games played: Jalape-No!, Things in Rings, Molly House

East Portland Tabletop Arcade, February 2026: Ten attendees. Games played: Cross Clues, Gravwell, Take Time, Harmonies, Trekking the World, Ride the Rails, Scout.

East Portland Tabletop Arcade, March 2026: Six attendees. Games played: Santiago, High Society, Rebirth, The Gang, Vegas Dice Game, Let's Go! to Japan.

East Portland Tabletop Arcade, April 2026: Three attendees. Games played: Win, Daybreak.

East Portland Tabletop Arcade, May 2026: Substitute host (no games recorded).

East Portland Tabletop Arcade, June 2026: Nine attendees. Games played: We're Doomed!, Flip 7, Racko, Finspan, Cascadia, Fromage, Win, King of Tokyo, Flamecraft Duals. 

East Portland Tabletop Arcade, July 2026: Seven attendees. Games played: Magical Athlete, Life, Pioneers, Container, Splendor, Toil & Troublez.

East Portland Tabletop Arcade, August 2026: Twenty attendees. Games played: For All Mankind, Iberian Gauge, For Sale: Automania, Flip 7, Northern Pacific, Arcana Rising, Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries, Magical Athlete.