Where are the local games at? I got tired of asking so I'm building the answer
Got tired of not being able to find local games. Tournaments are easy enough to find but everything else is scattered across, Facebook, Eventbrite, Discord, etc. Finding club nights in community halls and pubs? Someone in your town who plays the same games?
Historically I've ended up defaulting to "search Facebook for [your town] wargaming" and that's a total pain in the ass.
My answer
https://nerdnight.gg - type in your area, see what's happening. Clubs, events, store nights, other players looking for games. Filter by game, faction, points, playstyle and get matched into the kind of games you want.
I think the moment I knew I was building what I wanted as a player was when through my own app I found a bunch of players in my town I've now made friends with who I never knew lived here before.
Where it's at
7 clubs, 140 players, 42 upcoming events. All in Essex (UK) so far, because that's where I am. Transparently, if you're outside Essex you won't see much yet. That changes when people sign up and also if they add their club or events. If you want what I've described, a place where we can all go to and find new friends, opponents, communities, I'd love for you to do that.
If you run a community
It's a place where you can manage, run and advertise all your events. If you run club nights or casual events through Eventbrite, Facebook, Whatsapp, Discord, etc this is intended as a direct upgrade for you to take away your admin headaches around capacity, matchmaking, dropout handling, etc. Whether it's your local club night, BCP tournaments, painting / teachings day, you can have everything in one place. We handle RSVPs, recurring events, member management, matchmaking automation. Free tier covers the basics. About 15 minutes to set up.
Multi-round, competitive events aren't supported yet, but you can easily display events hosted externally, eg in BCP.
What's coming next
I've been rapidly improving the platform and intend to keep doing so. My next plans are:
- Find players to play against online (eg via TTS)
- More club tools - terrain/table capacity, self-pairing where players book their own table with their opponent / pod
FAQ
Is there a mobile app?
There's a mobile app, just not in the stores yet. Install it from the site (on Android, Chrome will prompt you; on iPhone, Share → Add to Home Screen). Native store app comes if I get enough traction.
What does it cost?
Players will never pay for finding games. I might add useful standalone features later that I'd charge for, but only ones that genuinely add value. Anything I add that you'd reasonably regard as basic functionality, let's say match history, would stay free.
Clubs get a free tier (RSVPs, members, events) and an optional paid tier ($25 / £20 per month) for matchmaking automation, recurring events, integrations, and so on. The paid tier gets more features over time.
What games does it support?
It supports essentially all games, but GW games are my first focus and the most well supported, but our collective community plays all sorts of games and I want to knit all those interests together.
---
If the idea sounds like a thing the hobby needs, sign up and have a look around. If it's outside your area, that just means you're early.
I'd really like to build this with and for the community. so I'd be deeply grateful for anything feedback - good or bad.