Spiel-a-thon 2019 - BGG
SPECIAL NOTE: All the wonderful pictures included here are courtesy of Debbie Ohi, The Spiel Foundation’s official photographer and champion on social media.
The 11th Spiel-a-thon at BGG Con was held on Nov. 23 in Dallas, Texas at the downtown Hyatt Regency.
Our mission at The Spiel Foundation is to make the world a more playful place. Each Spiel-a-thon is a perfect expression of this goal.
We raise money by playing so other people can play, too. It’s a virtuous circle of fun.
Over 200 people participated in this year’s event.
We raised $4,750. A record amount!
The format included a Carnival of Games and a Gauntlet of Games.
Players in the Carnival of Games enjoyed 11 tables filled with fast, fun games – each taught by an intrepid Spieler. Each game played generated money for the Foundation AND a chance to win fabulous prizes!
The Gauntlet of Games offered players a time trial. The goal was to complete 8 mini-game challenges with the fastest time to win prizes.
Top players from the Carnival and Gauntlet competed in a final round against a group of gaming celebrities to win amazing prize bundles.
Finalists this year: Noel Strickling, Stephanie Patrick, Ramon Vergel de Dios, Sarah Vergel de Dios, Jake S., Ryan S. and Henry Yang (the winner of the Gauntlet with a time of 1 minute 30 seconds!)
Our team of celebrity players included:
Smoox Chen – Taiwan Board Game Design
Kathleen Mercury – Game Designer, middle school teacher
Dan Yarrington – Tabletop Tycoon
Stephen Buonocore – Stronghold Games
The winner of this year’s BGG Con Spielathon FOR THE THIRD YEAR IN A ROW is…. Noel Strickling! He survived a five way tie in the finals and won a tie-breaking game of Strike to emerge the victor. He now has a back-up crown of meeples. Next year, we may have to add a meeple sceptre to complete the ensemble. Congratulations, Noel!
The celebrity Champion FOR THE SECOND SPIELATHON IN A ROW is… Kathleen Mercury! Kathleen won the Spielathon at Geekway to the West in St. Louis this May. She won 6 of seven games against our contestants and earned her second meeple crown. Long live the Spielathon Queen! Long may she reign!
We had a truly amazing team of 21 volunteer Spielers this year. We had half the normal time to setup and get the room ready for the event. No problem! Everyone pitched in and we were ready to go on time. Massive thanks to:
Francie Broadie, Patty Richardson, Allen Dove, Rebecca Strickling, Debbie Ohi, Jeff Ridpath, Bruce Gibson, Cindy Gibson, Matt Roberston, Kathy Lewis, Erin Green, Erin Davis, Roni Worley, Jay Bartelt, Nathan Baumer, John Knoerzer, Beth Heile, Katie Aidley, Keiren Theys, Brian Lenz, and Sharon Rozines
Last, but certainly not least, we gathered an enormous pool of prizes from generous vendors/publishers at the convention. We had over 200 games to give away during the event. The total retail value of the prize pool was over $3,500!
We are constantly humbled by the enthusiastic support we receive whenever we ask for help with prize support at Spielathons far and wide.
We hope you’ll look through this list of generous sponsors and check out what they have to offer!
Bezier Games
Bin’Fa
Blue Cherry Faerie
Breaking Games
Broken Token
Czech Games Edition
Delicious Doom Chocolate
Floodgate Games
Fog of Love
Formal Ferret
Gamelyn Games
Genius Games
Indie Boards & Cards
Indie Game Alliance
Master of Wills
Mercury Games
Parallel Board Games
Portal Games
Queen Games
R&R Games
Ravensburger USA
Red Raven Games
Renegade Game Studios
Starling Games
Stronghold Games
Tabletop Tycoon
Tasty Minstrel Games
Toresh Games
Wattsalpoag
WizKids
Wyrmwood
Last but certainly not least, we need to thank the BGG Con crew for giving us the time and space to host the event. As we begin our second decade of Spielathons in Dallas, we couldn’t do it without the assistance of Jeff and Kristine Anderson and Jon and Lainie Theys in particular. We are grateful to have them in our corner and look forward to many more Spielathons in years to come!
