The Davedi Club was buzzing with activity this weekend, but not the average kind of fun one might see. North Bay Games & Hobbies took over the venue all day Saturday to host their Day of Play fundraiser for the Nipissing Serenity Hospice.
From miniatures battles across vast battlefields to sushi card games, to board games set in a world of horrors where the players cooperate to save the world, the Davedi Club was immersed in fantasy.
However, what seemed truly fantastical to some, was the amount of support and funds it raised for the Hospice, a surprise to Tammy Walters, a volunteer fundraiser who couldn’t believe her eyes as she counted the dollars donated by the gaming community—with many even visiting from several hours out of town.
“At first I wondered how it would work as a fundraiser,” she said. “I wasn’t too sure how it would go, but I’m very surprised that this group of people has raised over $1,000 for the Hospice. I don’t think we realize how giving of a community that gaming world is.”
Anthony Campigotto, partner in North Bay Games & Hobbies with Terry Peacock, said it was an event a couple months in the making, inspired by the fundraising his father, Mike Campigotto, had been doing for the Hospice with Play4Prosperity.
“Today, half our participants are players from North Bay, to Sudbury, to Ottawa, and more have come to participate in a Warhammer 40,000 tournament put on by one of our local players,” he said. “The other half of our space is being utilized by players trying out all kinds of board games brought in by our game masters today, here to help and teach people all these different games. North Bay has a pretty great community of gamers and it continues to grow year after year and we try and foster that at North Bay Games & Hobbies. You try and bring out as many people as you can, our gaming community has never shied away from helping out the community when it can.”
For Warhammer 40,000, a miniature strategy game set in a gothic science fiction world where humanity is besieged on all fronts, players play factions of humans and aliens alike. Some, like the Tyranids, is a species of bug-like creates who devour worlds—but they all share something in common. They take hours to paint and the hobby in very artistically intensive.
Meanwhile, one of the board games played, Eldritch Horror, is a globe-trotting horror mystery game set in the world of H.P. Lovecraft where players work together to stop the coming apocalypse. But not all games are so dark, with some like Sushi Go, which has players compete for the sushi plate worth the most points.
“Today a lot of people think either things like Monopoly or Snakes and Ladders, which is for a younger audience or much like our experience in planning this project, is people will assume gambling,” Campigotto said. “In reality, these games are everything, strategy games, ages 8 to 80, it all depends. Video games have really been what people are into, but I think people are starting to gravitate towards board games because of the social element, the ability to meet new people, make friends, jokes and tell stories. It’s just another opportunity to gather around a table together.”
After the event, Walters felt reinvigorated with the younger generation and their support for the Hospice, seeing the dedication brought.
“To see somebody in the age group of maybe 25 years old, stand in front of us and say ‘here’s my $20 to play, but here is $100 donation as well,’ I was speechless, and there has been more than one who’s done that today,” she said. “As a community, we need to take note this is a young group taking on something that isn’t always the easiest to talk about or promote. It’s heartwarming and has renewed my energy.”
