Move over, Mario Kart. Board games are back!

For many kids, digital games score big on fun. But board games are coming back as game centers pop up around the country. Board gamers play without iPads or controllers—just sit-together-at-the-table board games.

In New York City, kids flock to the Brooklyn Game Lab (BGL) for card and board games after school. BGL is part store, part workshop, and total fun. Players split into groups, and the games begin. The lab buzzes as players build, buy, and barter.

But there’s more to BGL than play. Gamers also talk strategy. They suggest rule changes. Players even design new games and test them on their friends.

Robert Hewitt founded BGL. He says the lab isn’t just fun and games. He compares what happens at BGL to an extreme sport. Kids push beyond the normal limits of gameplay. They manage risk and share resources. (“Save some choppers until the end so you can escape.”) They practice reasoning, bargaining, and diplomacy. (“I’ll give you supplies if you give me workers.”)

Kids learn more than winning strategies at BGL. They learn life skills like sportsmanship, teamwork, and fair play. And those are winning abilities.

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men. — Colossians 3:23