I wish I had a dungeonmaster as reliable as David Plamondon for my first Dungeons and Dragons experience: someone to keep me away from ending up rolling death saves in early rounds, and to save my cringy teenage self from overanalyzing my so-called social intelligence.
Perfectly understanding my natural awkwardness in playing tabletop RPG games, Plamondon gave it a good heartfelt laugh, making sure I understood that “all cringe is allowed at Pe Metawe.”
Translated from Cree, Pe Metawe means “come and play.” When David Plamondon and his team started the Indigenous-owned and operated Pe Metawe Consulting, they soon figured out that tabletop game playing was one of the best ways to help their clients have positive social interactions.
“It’s always better to start with one game each time,” says Plamondon. Instead of dropping the customers into the claustrophobic maze of piled game boxes, the Pe Metawe staff spreads out several popular choices on each wide wooden table for browsing and introduces featured games every week.
One of Plamondon’s favourites, also well received by the Pe Metawe staff and customers, is a dynamic terrain management game called Nunami. This tabletop game, designed by Thomassie Mangiok, promotes healthy cohabitation with natural elements. It is also one of the few Inuit designed games on the market.
“We have a very vibrant market of Indigenous-designed games, and we’re glad to see the market kept growing in the past few years,” says Plamondon. “We want Pe Metawe to be a place where people who already love tabletop games to continue discovering fascinating games from the Indigenous community, and to help those who are new to games make good memories. Even though board games have been popular for decades now, it’s still intimidating and gatekeeping for new players. We are trying to change that, bit by bit, first starting from our community.”
Pe Metawe has two private gaming rooms available for rent on an hourly basis. Each room has a custom built gaming table, mounted televisions for visual effects, and access to all games in store. The store also recently re-opened their drop-in gaming space, allowing visitors to enjoy a wide variety of demo games with the staff.
“Come and play, all welcome.” If you ever walk into the bright and warm game store on Alberta Avenue, chances are Plamondon and his friends can always find a seat for you.
Pe Metawe Games
Alberta Avenue | 11805 94 St NW, Edmonton | 780.613.1024 | pemetawe.com
