Boone, North Carolina, United Methodist church hosts free weekly board game club

BOONE — Jacob Penick is back home in Boone after a brief stint living and running restaurants in the Charlotte area. He has started a free board game club, The Board Identity, which meets every Tuesday night at Boone United Methodist Church.

After moving back to Boone, where his parents, both from Watauga County, raised him, Penick said he did not want to re-enter the fine dining sector. Divorced with two young daughters, he needed a role that offered flexibility. He now works as the kitchen manager at Boone UMC, a position he has held for three years. A graduate of Johnson & Wales who also studied culinary arts in Switzerland, Penick said the role has been a good fit. The community can taste his cooking at Boone UMC for free.

The Rev. Dr. Ed Glaize, the church’s lead pastor, said Penick wanted to use his culinary gifts to bring people together. “He felt inspired by God to bring this unique way of bringing people to church, so that folks who may not step foot in a church could come here and feel welcome and have fun and be a part of connecting human beings together in our age of loneliness,” Glaize said. He said he is grateful the church can support Penick’s vision, and that the congregation’s mission is rooted in love. “So one way we can love our community is inviting people to this space to meet other people in very non-threatening ways,” he said. Connecting people in a shared space, Glaize’s words suggest, is a picture of unity (Psalm 133:1).

Penick launched the club to give people a place to connect over games rather than politics or other divisive topics. He said he is more focused on whether his cheese will ripen quickly enough during his favorite cheesemaking board game than on discussing politics with fellow players. When he first floated the idea, people asked whether Monopoly would be the main attraction. The night, he said, also features Ticket to Ride, Splendor and other games, some well known and some niche. Mahjong is also taught at the club, with Michaele Haas instructing the group.

Ken Connelly, a pastor and staff member at Boone UMC and the husband of Patti Connelly, has played board games all his life. He described himself as so competitive that Patti refuses to play with him, and he pointed to her at a separate table playing Mahjong. “Jacob is a great chef, great person, great sense of humor, and good at organizing this thing,” Connelly said. He said he has been surprised by the variety of games the club offers.

Penick assembled the collection with help from Kylie Primus, owner of Games Unlimited in Pittsburgh. He wanted a 30-game starting collection that featured quick-play, medium-strategy and complex games. “He worked with me and made a list that covered all the major bases like engine building games, deck building games, worker placement games,” Penick said.

All types of people have shown up or expressed interest, some surprising him. One was his pastor, Graham Svendsen of Grace Highlands Presbyterian Church. “One of the smartest theological people I have ever met, and I said something about the club, and he was like, ‘Do you have Spirit Island?'” Penick said. “He goes, ‘I love Spirit,’ and I could not imagine somebody that thinks as he does concentrating on board games.” Spirit Island, Penick noted, is one of the games, like chess, that takes time to master.

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