Backgammon club offers "alternative night out" for socializing

Axios

14-05-2025

Miami's newest club doesn't have ear-splitting music or all-night dancing — but you can get lucky.
Welcome to Backgammon Social, a community event series that seeks to make human connections through the old-school dice game.
Why it matters: Tabletop games are riding a post-pandemic surge in popularity for analog entertainment, as millennials and Gen Zers ditch their digital doomscrolling for classic pastimes like chess and mahjong.
Driving the news: Friends Gina Macropulos and Eugenia Camargo tell Axios they created Backgammon Social to offer an "alternative night out" for Miamians looking to meet new people outside typical social settings.
Since October, they've hosted weekly backgammon meetups at local spots like Caracas Bakery, Soho House and The Bass Museum.
Local DJs set a "lively" vibe, but you can still hear yourself speak.
Entry ranges from free to $30, depending on whether food and drink are included.
You can BYOB (bring your own board) or borrow one from the club.
How it works: The classic boardgame, which traces its roots back to ancient times, is played on a board of 24 narrow triangles.
The objective is to move your 15 checkers around the board, with the help of favorable dice rolls, until you remove them completely from the board.
"We love teaching beginners," Macropulos says.
What they're saying: Macropulos, 29, tells Axios she learned how to play backgammon in her native Greece and has fond memories of clacking dice on the beach with her father.
In Greece, it's a male-dominated game, she says. Men drink coffee and smoke cigars while playing for money. "Not glamorous," she says.
"We're taking this ancient game. We're bringing it the glamour of Miami and giving it this modern twist."
The big picture: Camargo, 30, says the growth of Backgammon Social is proof of concept for analog entertainment.
Young people today, she said, cherish "delayed satisfaction" of everything from film photography to vinyl DJ sets.
"I think there's nostalgia for the romanticism of a past generation that didn't have everything digitalized."
Folks who attend Backgammon Social events don't need to be on their phones because they're using their hands to play, Camargo says.
Macropulos adds: "They feel more comfortable talking to each other if they have a board in between themselves."
"It's so beautiful. We've created friendships. We've created romantic relationships all through backgammon, and we want to bring that to other places and other cities."
What's next: The Miami chapter will be under different leadership soon, and a friend of the founders will launch a Philadelphia chapter next month.
Macropulos is heading to Stanford in the fall to pursue a master's degree in business administration. She wants to start up a chapter there, too.
Camargo, who is from Colombia, says her H-1B visa is expiring and she's "left in limbo," so she will consider pursuing a master's degree in Europe.
"It sort of seems very dystopian that you have to jump through so many hoops and even when you're bringing value to a community ... you come to face this situation."
The bottom line: Camargo says Backgammon Social is "replicable anywhere in the world" because it's a timeless game "that's seeing a worldwide resurgence."