Coronavirus lockdowns prompted a rediscovery of nostalgic pastimes to fight boredom and stay social, and one of the more unusual is fingerboarding — skateboarding on a table.
Board games that could be played online became popular.
"Some board gaming websites have noticed a large increase in the number of people, I know a few that I belong to say they got record numbers," Ernest Chua from the WA Boardgaming Association said.
Mr Chua’s group runs regular board face-to-face gaming events for members and anyone interested in learning, but during lockdowns it was 'game over'.
He said that led to a surge in families picking up old board games with renewed interest and others shifting to modern online gaming.
“For people who were in lockdown in a family house, they said look we still want to do things together and board games were one of the things that people decided to either get back into or discover for the first time.”
Once the board gaming events started up again, Mr Chua said they were welcoming newcomers who decided to head along after discovering the group online.
Fingerboards slide into lockdown life
Perhaps one of the most unique hobbies that made a return was fingerboarding.
Fingerboards are miniature skateboards that people navigate with their fingers and, according to the experts, anything people can do on a skateboard can be replicated on a fingerboard.
The sport of fingerboarding is not new: 1990’s kids might remember playing with them, but it was predominantly popular in America and Europe.
But it has caught on again, according to a group of friends in South West WA.
The group started what they believe was the state's first and only fingerboard business, in Margaret River.
The boards are made from locally sourced jarrah wood and have sold to people far and wide from Kalgoorlie all the way to fanatics in California.
"A few years ago we started mucking around with them just randomly and fell in love with it again," Michael Ward said.
When they began the business a couple of years ago, they joined several fingerboarding groups, which consisted of mostly overseas finger skaters.
He said for people who usually skateboard, it gave them something to do indoors during lockdowns when they could not get out for the real deal.
