You are invited to the largest week-long board gaming event in Europe.
The Board Games Holiday gathers over 100 UK gamers along with other guests at Le Pas Opton, our four-star holiday park in Western France. Whether you’re new to the hobby or have been enjoying board games for years, you’ll love the wide range of over 300 games available, and the opportunity to play them with lots of friendly people.
Back by popular demand, the guest speaker this week will be Chris Sinkinson, who as well as being an avid gamer, is an author, archaeologist and lecturer at Moorlands College in Dorset. He will be giving talks and leading discussions throughout the week as part of the Christian programme (all of which is optional).
Games and Tournaments
From casual to ‘serious’ gamers, anyone and everyone is welcome! Throughout the week there’ll be opportunities to learn new games and to play old favourites. Whether it’s popular games like Ticket to Ride and Wingspan, heavier games of Terraforming Mars or Great Western Trail, classic games of Risk or Cosmic Encounter, group games like Just One, or something light like Camel Up or Rhino Hero, there’s plenty of choices to suit everyone involved.
Over the course of the week you can really test your competitive edge, taking part in a number of free, friendly tournaments! You can expect:
- Three-round tournaments of Catan (including a unique team tournament), 7 Wonders and Splendor.
- Mini-tournaments of Dominion, Carcassonne and others.
- Head-to-head knock-out tournaments including Star Realms, 7 Wonders Duel, Hive and Chess.
- Team knock-out Codenames.
- The Hexathlon. For two days, all results are recorded and the player with the best six results is declared Hexathlon champion: the ultimate gaming accolade!
Prices and Booking
The holiday is self-catered, with most accommodation consisting of mobile homes. You can come on your own or with a group. Mobile homes have two or three bedrooms, with the cheapest two-bedroom unit (Firgrove) costing £320, and the simplest with three bedrooms (Ashglade 3) costing £400. Take a look at our other options here. A mobile home booking is eligible for our Early Booking discount (£100 by 30th Nov, or £50 off by Jan 28th) and the Tell a Friend discount (£50 off for new guests who’ve been recommended by someone else on another booking), so you can bring the price down even further!
Alternatively, a room to yourself in a shared mobile home is £175, with the option of an en suite upgrade for £50. Travel is not included with this option, but we can book your ferry at discounted rates, or even help you to find other people to travel with.
Getting There
A mobile home booking includes a free Dover-Calais return ferry booking. You can upgrade this to a more convenient crossing (see routes & supplements here), or if you would prefer to fly then we’ll give you £50 off (the Own Transport discount). Nantes airport is just an hour’s drive away, with a number of low-cost routes serving it (see here).
Travelling by ferry is generally the cheapest way of getting there, especially if you can travel with 3-4 in a car. To join the Facebook group and see if anyone’s travelling from near where you are, and ask any other questions you may have, see here.
FAQs
I like games, but I’m not sure about a whole week?
Not many people can play back-to-back games for seven days, so the programme and facilities also include opportunities for swimming, wine tasting, pool, trips to the beach…in fact, everything that sees guests come to the site year after year for their holidays!
What kinds of people will be coming?
This holiday sees all sorts getting involved! Different ages, backgrounds, genders, families, hardcore gamers that have played every game from the Boardgamegeek top 100 (see here) and people new to the world of modern board games who just want to have a fun time and meet new people!
What if I don’t have anyone to come with?
We have options for coming and staying by yourself, or we can connect you with a group for driving over from the UK, and/or staying with others to share cooking etc. – just get in touch and we’ll see what we can do.
So it’s a Christian site – what if I’m not interested in that?
All aspects of the programme are entirely optional, with no pressure to participate in anything you don’t want to. Some people (Christians or otherwise) prefer to just play games the whole time, and that’s fine, everyone is welcome!
