It's A Holiday In Nerdtopia

...I talk a lot about board games and tabletop gaming in this space. My high interest in complex Euro-style strategy tabletop games is fairly recent, mainly due to my being fairly unaware of their existence. Oddly, it was a woman I was talking to from a dating site for a short time that initially made me aware. She was very into games like Settlers Of Catan and promised to introduce me. Unfortunately, due to my own idiocy, she got away before I got the chance to meet her. But I never did forget the seed that she had planted.

Once I got heavily interested in these sorts of games, I started seeking out advice, reviews and more on YouTube. Around this time is when I learned that internet celebrity nerd king Wil Wheaton was a massive gaming advocate. Through his popular Geek & Sundry channel, he hosts a series called Tabletop where he has his friends and celebrity guests on to play games like Ticket To Ride, Small World and The Resistance. As he says in his most recent announcement, tabletop games are powered by friendship.

Early in 2013, Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day of Geek & Sundry declared the first Saturday of April 2013 to be International Tabletop Day, a day to encourage people to get together and play board games all day. One year later, the idea caught fire and many comic shops, hobby shops and game stores were participating in the event. Some even had a live stream for others to watch. The idea was to do for board games what has raised awareness for comics and music with Record Store Day and Free Comic Book Day.

The Amazing-Fantasy Book Store in Frankfort was hosting an event for Tabletop Day and I knew I had to attend. I have been aware of gaming rooms around the area for about a year and it always seemed interesting, but I always felt awkward going in. This would be a perfect opportunity to check this event out and sample some games I had on my mental radar.

While I can't say that it has reached the levels of Free Comic Book Day just yet, the turnout for International Tabletop Day was a pleasant surprise. People were in and out of the space at random, but almost every table had a game going at all times. When I walked in, I was immediately entered in the store raffle and informed of the deals for the day as well as the rewards for sitting at a table. Almost instantly, I was able to get into a game of Small World, a beautifully rendered Risk-style fantasy game with a ton of variety. While I was in mid-game, I was invited to enter in a tournament of Smash-Up for later in the afternoon. I was on my way.

When the Small World game ended, there ended up being a break as others were wrapping up games of Quantum, Takenoko and Fluxx. Once my Smash Up table opened up, I sat down with three new people for round one. Once again, I sat with complete strangers of different by-day stripes that were friendly and there collectively for a good time. Sadly, I got smashed in the Smash-Up tournament, but I had a blast.

Due to time constraints and prior engagements, I had to bid adieu to the event. I had a chance to talk with the hosts and tell them that if they were to host more events of the like, I would be gung-ho on taking part. Time will tell if this can occur more than once a year, but this is a fun event for anyone looking to do something unusual and mingle with new, friendly human beings.

Before I left, I was able to pick up a copy of the game Keyflower, a resource management game I've had my eye on for a bit for 20% retail. My brother, who had already won the first round of the free raffle, nabbed Letters From Whitechapel for the same discount. Later in the day, it turned out that the big raffle for the limited edition $300 Takenoko ended up finding me as the winner.

In it's sophomore season, International Tabletop Day was a spectacular event on every level. It added yet another event revolved around a fun, community-building hobby. It combines the fun & intellectual tack of strategic gaming with an enjoyable social construct. In a world where MP3's are replacing albums, e-books are overtaking paperbacks and apps are overshadowing social gaming, events like this are crucial and become important holidays for collectors and purists. Support your local record/game/comic stores and support cool holidays like International Tabletop Day.

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