Hey, I'm Nick.

I've been a New Jersey guy my whole life. By day I've spent 25 years in project management and leadership roles. But if you really want to know me, I've been a gamer my entire life. From playing Atari as a kid to currently building my own gaming PCs, games have always been how I unwind, connect, and have fun.

About 15 years ago my friend Matt introduced me to something I hadn't tried yet. Board games. We weren't looking for something to watch or scroll through. We wanted to actually be present. Put the phones away. Spend time together, really together. No screens between us. Matt handed me my first game and I never looked back.

Turns out going from video games to board games wasn't much of a leap. The love of strategy, the competitive spirit, the way a good game pulls you in. It's all the same. It's just better when everyone's sitting at the same table.

Matt also introduced me to Rob, and together we started taking it further. We organized events at local breweries, got people sending in games to give away, and built something fun and growing. Then COVID hit and shut everything down.

I was living in my community at the time and found out there was a ballroom available to host events. So I went to the bar committee and asked if I could start a game night. They said yes. That was four years ago, and I've been hosting ever since alongside my friend Karen, who has been there every step of the way. What started as a small gathering has grown into a real local board game community, and it's one of the things I'm most proud of.

My favorite games right now? Betrayal at House on Haunted Hill, Battlestar Galactica, Doctor Who Time of the Daleks, and Pass the Panda. Yeah, Pass the Panda. Don't knock it until you've tried it.

I have a wonderful wife and two amazing kids who put up with a lot of game talk at the dinner table.

How Played Together started

A few years back a group of us wanted to share our love for board games in a real way. The original idea was YouTube. Teaching people to play games in a natural, unscripted way. Not a tutorial. More like you'd pull up a chair, we'd learn together, and you'd pick it up just by watching. That felt right.

We got as far as a name and an Instagram account. Then life got busy in the best way. My wife and I had two kids and my time went somewhere else entirely. The idea sat there quietly for a while.

Now I'm ready to do something with it that actually makes a difference. Played Together is a free app where board gamers can find local game nights, connect with players near them, and discover game stores in their area. Think Meetup, but made for people like us.

I'm not a developer. I built this thing by figuring it out as I went, one problem at a time. It's not perfect but it's real, and it's growing. If you've ever wanted to find your people and play some games, this is for you.

Special thanks

None of this exists without a lot of people.

Matt for handing me my first board game and changing how I spend my free time. Everything traces back to you.

Rob for helping me fall deeper into the hobby and showing me what a real gaming community could look like.

My wife for being endlessly supportive of something that started as a hobby and turned into a whole platform. You've never once told me to quit.

My kids for being amazing. Full stop.

Karen for being by my side at every game night. You make it what it is.

Our community for saying yes when we asked to host, and for showing up every time.

Every friend who ever walked in with a game I'd never heard of or taught me a mechanic I didn't know existed. You're the reason this app has the features it does.

Our testers, especially Sean, who has been in this thing every single day since the beginning, playing games, logging plays, breaking things, and making it better. That kind of support means everything early on.

And to every player who has ever signed up, RSVP'd to a game night, or sent feedback through the app, thank you. You're why this is worth building.

Friends playing games...together.