Meet Abdulrahman Al-Homaid - board game creator behind Court of Cards Cafe & Majlis Shabab

ILoveQatar.net

4 days ago

Tabletop games are the cornerstone of gaming and are very much alive and thriving in the gaming community in Qatar. Board and card games have been an excellent way for communities to come together physically to play, engage, and connect, offering something that digital video games can sometimes fall short of. There is something special about a group of friends and family coming together to sit down and play.
On this edition of ILQ Level Up, we reached out to Abdulrahman Al-Homaid, Founder & CEO of board game company Majlis Shabab and the owner of Court of Cards board game cafe, to talk about the art of tabletop games and the tabletop gaming community in Qatar.
ILQ: Please tell us about yourself and what you do.
Abdulrahman Al-Homaid: My name is Abdulrahman Al-Homaid, and I am the Founder and CEO of Majlis Shabab. Majlis Shabab is a board game company that develops, publishes, and distributes board games and card games.
ILQ: Can you tell us how your love for board and card games started?
Abdulrahman Al-Homaid: I've been playing board games since I was a child, starting with games like Monopoly and Risk. I'm also a chess player. Even into adulthood, I still love and play board games.
ILQ: What are your personal top 5 board/card games and why?
Abdulrahman Al-Homaid: At the moment, my top games are Lost Ruins of Arnak, Dune, and the Everdell series.
The preference changes from time to time, depending on the year. But most of the games that I like have a competitive nature to them. The games I listed have such a nature, in addition to some of my favourite game mechanics like work placement and deck building.
ILQ: What is the most interesting or unique board/card game you own?
Abdulrahman Al-Homaid: One of my favourite games is Everdell. Therefore, I bought the complete edition of the game, and it is really huge. I don't think a standard-sized board game table would be enough to fit the entire game. Sometimes, I hesitate to carry it from place to place due to its size.
ILQ: How did Majlis Shabab start?
Abdulrahman Al-Homaid: Majlis Shabab started with the idea of bringing an Arabic game to the public. We wanted to pursue the board game industry since we saw it growing around us, thus we created Majlis Shabab to produce our own board games.
Abdulrahman Al-Homaid: Moder Kaber is the first game we made back in 2019 at Majlis Shabab. It's a card game that encourages players to use their persuasion and convincing skills. The discussion element is a big part of the game.
ILQ: Which of the games you've created has been your personal favourite and why
Abdulrahman Al-Homaid: I can't pick a favourite, as I consider them to be like my children. But with each game we created, we learn so much from it, and we intend to improve it in the next product.
We also aim to include a wide range of genres in our product portfolio. The last two games we launched were Recruit Madness and DAMA. Recruit Madness is a social deduction party game, and DAMA is an abstract game.
ILQ: Are you working on a new game or project that you can share some details about with us?
Abdulrahman Al-Homaid: Currently, I have a few ideas that I've been testing with a play test group.
As a board game designer, you can have many ideas at a time and test them, but you can only proceed and go forward with one. This process always takes time. You can expect a new game sometime next year.
Abdulrahman Al-Homaid: When we looked at the board game scene in Qatar, we understood that it is a niche compared to other hobbies. So, we decided to start such a project and grow the board game community in Qatar by having a place and a platform where people can come, gather, play, enjoy their time, and create memories in the Court of Cards Café. We have created a welcoming place with specially designed board game tables and gaming chairs where you can sit comfortably for a long time.
ILQ: Can you tell us about the Court of Cards community?
Abdulrahman Al-Homaid: We have many communities within the Court of Cards. We started small and continued to grow from there. Right now, we have board game teaching sessions, ladies board game nights, Dungeons and Dragons groups, Blood of the Clocktower nights, trivia nights, LEGO gathering, and more.
Abdulrahman Al-Homaid: I always encourage people around me to sit, relax, and play board games. This hobby brings happiness, bonds friends and family together, relieves stress, and reduces your daily pressure.
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