A Guelph woman is hoping to encourage more people to play board games.

Jenna Beasley has started a YouTube channel focused on showcasing different board games and how they can be for everyone.

She has been making lifestyle, home decor and day-in-the-life videos on her original YouTube channel called Jenna Rosa for the last eight years.

In 2019, she and her boyfriend Francis Cheng started playing board games. Since then, her love for the hobby has grown and she now has more than 130 games in her collection.

“Obviously because of [video blogging], I was showing my daily life and board games happened to be part of my daily life,” Beasley said. “So I started showing it.”

In November 2021, she randomly made a video about her top 10 favourite board games. That video became her most watched and most popular video to date, with over 65,000 views.

“I was like, there’s an audience out there that may wants to see board games,” she said.

As more people started taking interest in her board games videos, she decided to start a second channel called The Board Game Garden, which solely focused on her new hobby.

She posts videos giving tips and suggestions on what board games to play, what her top favourites are, and how to find a perfect game for you.

“You know, if you like gardening, here are 10 board games about gardening,” Beasley explained. “I feel like people don’t really realize that there’s more themes in board games than just your typical Monopoly.”

“I really wanted to shout it out that there are so many different types of board games. And if you have a hobby, there’s bound to be a board game on that theme that you really like.”

GROWING FOLLOWING

Beasley started The Board Game Garden last month and she already has close to 2,000 subscribers.

“I did not expect it to grow that fast,” Beasley said. “I’ve gotten a lot of other board game content creators talking with me and contacting me.”

“I’m not surprised with her success, but I’m more surprised by the speed of it,” said her boyfriend Francis Cheng. “She’s getting a lot of comments back… It shows that a lot of people are interested in the hobby as well.”

Beasley said while she profits from her original Jenna Rose channel, it’s still too early to make money of the board game page. For now, she said the goal is just to showcase how fun playing board games can be.

“It’s just a really good way to get around a table with friends and family.”

She said board games aren’t just for kids, but for everyone.