Locations:

The Actual Brewing Company, 655 N James Rd., Columbus, OH 43219

Uprising Meadworks, 687 N James Road, Columbus, OH 43219

What is going on today?

This is our fourth annual 24-Hour Board Game Marathon for Nationwide Children’s Hospital. It is part of Extra Life which is a global game day. It is held first Saturday of every month. There are people all over the world video gaming and board gaming that raise money for local children’s hospitals. We are a board game club, so we are playing board games today.

Anything else?

We have raised over $20,000 for Children’s Hospital since we started. Our goal for this event today is to raise $10,000. We are already at $5,000 which include the door charge, silent auction, and what the Brewery and food trucks are donating, I’m feeling pretty good that we will reach our goal of $10,000 tomorrow.

Do you want to do a shout out to the food trucks that will be participating today?

Yes. Pitabilities, Ajumama, and Pingweeni’s. They are donating 10% of food sales. The Actual Brewing Company is donating $1 for every beer sold. Uprising Meadworks is donating $1 for every mead sold. We had dozens of businesses donating over $3,000 in stuff for our silent auction. A lot of people help to make this event happen.

So, people just pay the $10 cover, come in and start playing board games?

Yes. We do this event every November. We do other small fundraisers throughout the year, but this is our main fundraiser.

Is there a time when you just come and play board games without it being a fundraiser?

Yes. Every Wednesday at Smokehouse Brewery in Grandview from 5:00 pm to 10:00 pm and every second Sunday of the month. It is free to show up and is open to anyone 21 and older. They have good food and beer specials.

Anything else?

Our club has been around for 5 years. We have about 1,400 people in the group. There are anywhere from 30 people to 200 people at a large event. It is a pretty diverse group of people. We have people who are 21 and we have people who are 65. It is not all the game nerds that some people would expect. It is a fun way to socialize and it is good for creativity and intellectual development. It helps to fight off Alzheimer’s because playing games uses parts of your brain that most adults don’t use after they stop playing.

Sidebar. I thought he was the DJ

Why are you a member of this club and why do you support this event?

You are not the first person to think I am the DJ. I brought video games. One way to get more people to come out is to offer a variety of things that they can do. We have all the arcade games like pin ball, card games, and board games. One of the things missing was a video game station. Since bitzcon is going on today, I brought out the suite of blizzard titled games. Anybody can come up and play or watch. There is no donation involved in this, because if you pay the $10 up front, that gets you anything inside.

What is Blizzard?

Blizzard is a game developer. They make some of the most popular games in the world, including world of war craft. What we have here is overwatch. It is their first-person shooter. I was playing Heroes of the Storm when you walked up, which is their multi player online battle arena or amoba. All these games are available for people if they want to play. They are online games; but you can play them with one device. I have the laptop and the controller, and anybody can just throw down.

How did you become a member of the group?

Cheryl (who you interviewed earlier) is my girlfriend’s best friend. We do a weekly event. I was going to all of those for a while. Normally everyone is playing board games. I will either paint or do video games.

Anything else?

Nope, just let me know when you want to get beat in Mortal Combat.

Sidebar: The competitor in me knew not to agree to play Mortal Combat. I haven’t played in YEARS. Mr. Collins, I might have given you a run for your money back in the day…

I’m going to be honest. When I saw this event online, I thought people would be playing Monopoly, Clue, etc. I didn’t recognize any of the games people were playing.

We have a wide variety of the types of games that we like. If you think about it, what restaurant is going to be better; McDonald’s or the local restaurant that you never heard of before? The local restaurant you never heard of before. A lot of these games are made by independent developers. Some of them are popular. Sorry, Trouble, and Monopoly are like your Parker Brothers, main brand games. And they are fun games. These games are often more complex, have a higher skill level and have more going on with them. Sometimes we will support local board game makers like “The City of the Big Shoulders.” Emily and some of her friends made that game from scratch. We not only support the local charities but also each other.

Settlers of Cantan is one of the most popular board game that there is. It requires you to have some board game knowledge to be familiar with. It is one of the games that has one of the highest tournament rating. If you are only familiar with Sorry and Monopoly, that is a game that you never heard of. There are mainstream games that are deeper in the board game community; but there are plenty of games where only 100 copies exist and one of them is here.

Why do you participate?

I participate because my son has been helped by Nationwide Children’s hospital. They are great for making children feel at ease. He was in there for a sensitive issue. He had to have a minor surgery and they were able to calm him down. They allowed him to have whatever flavor he wanted on the anesthetic mask. He was being strong until they started to wheel him back and he started missing mom and dad. They were able to calm him down. Ever since the surgery, he hasn’t had any complications. We didn’t have to pay anything on the bill. It was a teaching situation for the hospital. I have been attending events for Beer and Board games for about 3 years. It is a great way to mingle, get with like minded people, and learn different board games. There is always something new out there.

Why do you participate in this event?

I like kids, I like playing board games, and I like to drink. Doing all those things together to help the kids is a really good cause.

Have you been here all four years? Will you be here all 24 hours?

I have been here all four years. I was the one who brought the idea to Cheryl 4 years ago. I wanted to do the whole 24 hours the first year, but then I got pregnant and couldn’t. Since then, I have always done between 13 and 16 hours each time. I usually come back in the morning to help everybody get pumped up for the last couple of hours.

Tell me about this game. I bet you are going to tell me you are winning.

I am so not winning…. This is Twilight Imperium, the 4^th edition. This is a world domination game. Everybody is trying to have the most power in this world. They are placing their ships down and they are working with the other races to try to have the most influence in the world. Sometimes that means they are fighting other races and sometimes that means they are working with other races to get resources and build their power. At the end of the game, whoever has the most points wins. It doesn’t always mean that you were the one who beat up people the most. Sometimes it is, you have worked with everyone the best.

Somebody somewhere said it takes about 8 hours to play this game. Were they exaggerating?

No. It takes 4 to 10 hours depending on the number of players and how experienced the players are with the game.

Why do you participate in this event?

I have been modern game boarding for 8 years. We came out today to support Extra Life to give money for Children’s Hospital. We can come, play some games, drink some beer, and have some fun. It’s all for a good cause.

What game are you playing?

Rasha of the ganges is where we play princes and princesses in India, expanding our kingdoms, cutting through the jungle and creating trade routes to other princes. We are trying to build the temples in India while we increase our own wealth.  The first person to make their wealth, their richness and their fame meet on the track wins. It is sort of a race game, where we try to make temples, build them up and make more as we increase our own wealth. Whoever does that first, wins.

How long have you been associated with the group?

3.5 years.

Have you attended all 4 events?

Yes.

Do you stay all 24 hours?

I have not, and I don’t intend to.

You were telling me about some of the categories of all these new games that come out. What are they?

It would be hard to name all of them, but off the top of my head there are: social deduction games, euro games, and deck building games. Euro games are going to be about buying, trading and selling. Social deduction games are going to be about trying to figure out things with other people. Deck building games, you collect cards to build a bigger and bigger deck to win your thing.

Do you have a favorite or do you play them all?

I like Euro games the most. They tend to be longer, and usually they take an hour or two. The social deduction games usually take around 30 minutes, which on a limited time schedule, can be a little nicer.

Is it difficult to play some of these games with a little “liquid” in you?

Yes. It is also more fun and entertaining.

Anything else?

There are probably 4 different game board clubs in Columbus.

1. We are Beer and Board games. We tend to have 20 and 30 something aged social people who like to drink, hang out with friends and who tend to like board games.
2. Columbus Area Boardgaming Society (CABS). They take it a lot more seriously than we do. They do a lot more of the intense games than the social games. They are the biggest club.
3. The Gaymers which is a LGBTQ board game club
4. Ohio State has their own board game club

Which club do the older people, older than 50 go?

There are some people in our club over 50. CABS would be more for people over 50. Our average age would be in the 30’s and you do have to be over 21 for our club.

Are there places other than the club meetings where people go to play board games?

My favorite is Table Top Game Café in Clintonville. They have a minimum that they ask you go buy, then you have access to their entire game library. I believe the first one in Columbus is called Kingmakers Board Game Parlour which is in the Short North. You pay a library fee (I think it is $5) then you can play as many games as you want. There are other places like cafes and bars that will have a decent game library.

I also talked to of the Emily Dearring board game maker of the “City of the Big Shoulders” and of David Stefano of the “Blood on the Clock Tower” game.

My take on the 24 Hour Board Game Marathon for Nationwide Children’s Hospital 2018:

It is wonderful that like-minded people come together to hang out, play the games with passion, but no real arguing. This reminded me of the times we would stay up most of the night playing spades. I love the concept of playing until you are too tired to play anymore. They were playing new games when I expected to see several tables of monopoly, taboo, right, left, center, and Mexican Dominos. I did not expect to be exposed to new games where the designers were in attendance and participants were playing games not yet on the market. They have developed a great social club where people can come, hang out and have a good time. It is a bonus that they can play, have fun and donate to Nationwide Children’s hospital.