G2G 2012

Mark Your Calendars!

We have set the dates for the 2012 edition of Give to Game and this year we have decided to do it for two days. So save the dates of April 13th-14th. This year the event will benefit the Bastrop County Food Pantry. The County of Bastrop was hard hit by the fires this fall and the Food Pantry has seen an increase in request for services. Stay tuned in for more information as it becomes available. Lets make the fourth annual G2G the best yet.

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Thank You!

A big thank you to all who gave to this special edition G2G, benefiting the victims of the Bastrop County wild fires. We collected approximately 15 bags of groceries and $375! Funds and food will be taken to the Bastrop County Food Pantry to assist in helping victims of the Bastrop fires.

IMPROMPTU GIVE TO GAME

Impromptu Give to Game Benefiting the Bastrop County Food Pantry
In an effort to assist individuals and families that have been affected by the wild fires in Bastrop we will be holding a scaled down Give to Game on September 16th at 6pm. It will be an open board gaming event held at the same location (Holy Cross Lutheran Church Fellowship Hall 4622 S Lamar Blvd Austin, TX 78745).

We ask that you donate any or all of the following:
1) Non-perishable food
2) First aid items
3) Formula
4) Diapers

5) Monetary Donation

Items will be donated to the Bastrop County Food Pantry. You can also make a check out to the Bastrop County Food Pantry.

Please spread the word to the gaming community!

Third Annual Give to Game in Photos

Group Gaming

Concession Stand

Food

Door Prizes

More gaming

SUCCESS!

Give to Game was a great success! We made $2758 and collected 385 lbs of food, which will translate into 14,348 meals for individuals and families experiencing hunger in Central TX. We had a record breaking 83 participants this year! We are very thankful to our sponsors and to the board gaming community who came out to make a big difference in the lives of thousands of hungry Texans. We hope that this trend continues and that next year is another record breaker.

If you attended this years event, please let us know if there is anything you would like to stay the same or change for next year.

Thanks again!

Ps:Pictures will be posted soon.

Schedule

Here is the schedule for Give to Game:

10:00am - Doors open, silent auction starts
Around Noon - Holy Cross will be offering lunch (sandwiches, drinks). Donations accepted.
Around Dinner - Holy Cross will be offering dinner (sandwiches, drinks). Donations accepted.
7:00pm - Silent auction closes, you can pay for your won games
7:30pm - Raffle drawings
7:35pm - Live auction starts
8:00pm - Live auction wraps up
Midnight - Doors Close

See you tomorrow!

More Donations!

My friend Betty donated a whopping 50+ games for our door prize table this year. With that I can pretty much guarantee that everyone who shows up will go home with a free game! Yay!

Also, for you Heroscape fans, my friend John donated a couple large base sets and lots of expansions. These will be going into the silent auction. Remember, Heroscape is now out of print - so use this opportunity to pick the game up while you can!

See you in a couple days!

What to Bring

Give to Game is less than a week away! I thought I'd let you know what to bring along with you:

#1. Food

If you plan on bringing a grocery bag of food for admission, get your paper bag ready and start filling it up! I went through my pantry already and was able to fill a bag with no problem.

Not sure what to give? The most requested items by the food bank are:

• Canned meats like tuna, stew and chili (pop-tops preferred)
• Canned vegetables
• Pasta, pasta sauce
• Beans
• Rice
• Healthy cereals
• Peanut butter
• Baby food
• Baby formula

#2. Cash

If you plan on paying $20 at the door, then you'll need cash. You also have the silent auction, live auction, raffle, lunch, and dinner to worry about!

#3. Checkbook

Yes, I know we live in the digital age and checks are old-fashioned. However, having some checks handy will let you bid on items without worrying about how much cash you have in your pocket.

#4. Games

There will be a game library that anyone can use, as well as many other gamers bringing their own games. You can also bring your favorite games from your own collection.

#5. A Friend

The more people that come to the event, the more successful it will be. So if you have a co-worker, friend, or family member who wants to help a good cause, bring them along and I can guarantee they will have a good time!

A Game to Give?

One of the cool things about Give to Game is that people are so willing to help out by donating games. All of the local game stores that we've contacted have been very generous in donating game for our auctions. We also get local gamers wanting to donate some games because they want to help out. For example, my friend Christopher just donated a new copy of Mord im Arosa for us to put in the silent auction. If you are interested in donating some boardgames, contact us at givetogame@gmail.com or just bring them to the event and let us know. We'd like to limit the auction to the number of items we currently have, but we are always looking for games for our door prize table or for the auction next year. Thanks!

Online Donation

I was checking out the online donation site for Give to Game at the Capital Area Food Bank's website. It looks like a few people have already pre-registered! You can see their names scroll by. If you'd like to pre-register, just donate $15 or more through that page and that's it - we'll know who you are at the door. Of course, you can still give $20 at the door or donate one grocery bag of food. See you there!

Library

Give to Game will have a game library that will be available for all attendees. You can feel free to take out and play any of the games. We will be on hand to explain the rules if you need help, or to scrounge up some players. A list of the games found in the library can be found here. Of course, feel free to bring your own games, or request games that you'd like to play.

This year Ian Cooper was tasked with selecting the games for the library from both of our collections. He did a good job of selecting a variety of good games from light to heavy, from short to long. I'm in the process of packing up the games I am lending and it looks like I'm going to need a few more boxes...

Silent Auction

At this year's Give to Game, we'll be having a silent auction. We have around 25 games for you to place your bids on during the downtime between playing games. The games were donated by our sponsors Tribe Comics, Great Hall Games, Dragon's Lair, Rio Grande, Thought Hammer, and Michael McCarthy.

The silent auction will start when Give to Game opens at 10:00 am. During that time you can browse through the items and place bids on their auction slips.

Bidding will close at 7:00 pm. At that point, you can come by to see if you won. We will be accepting cash and checks (made out to The Capital Area Food Bank of Texas). Make sure you are prepared! There are a lot of cool things to bid on so having a checkbook comes in really handy!

Give to Game 2011- Austin, TX No Ship Math Trade

This years Give to Game will include a Board Game Geek Math trade. Follow link for more information.

Thank you Michael!

Michael McCarthy, a local artist, has agreed to donate some of his work for Give to Game! He is going to be donating 8 etched glasses for our silent auction. Check out his work on Board Game Geek:Click Here.

Get the Word Out!

I have created a flier for anyone interested in posting about the event at their school, work, or wherever you think someone may be interested. If fliers are too low-tech, you can always like us on facebook to show your support.

Give to Game 2011 Flier

Rio Grande Games!

This year Dan and I decided to branch out and ask for sponsorship outside of our local realm. I got the official e-mail this weekend that Rio Grande Games will be donating 4 of their hottest games for the Give to Game auction! Here is the catch, the games they have donated need to have their oppening bid in the auction be at MSRP. It is important for Mr. Tummelson that the person bidding for the game be "donating" as well. Let me know what you think about this in the comments of this post.

About Rio Grande Games,
In case you are unfamiliar with Rio Grande here is their history off of wiki,

" In 1995, Jay Tummelson began working for Mayfair Games. At that time, Mayfair had begun to import German-style board games for sale, without doing any localization. Tummelson first suggested that they incorporate an English translation, and then that they completely localize the game for American audiences. Tummelson acquired the rights for Detroit/Cleveland Grand Prix, Manhattan, Modern Art, Streetcar, and The Settlers of Catan, which were published together in 1996.

One part of the localization process was to create original art and components. Tummelson thought that a better solution would be to use the same artwork and components as the originals and to share the cost of printing with the European publishers, as well. In 1998, he founded Rio Grande Games to take that approach.^[1][2]

Since then, Rio Grande Games has published over 350 games and has had a significant effect on board gaming in the United States.^[3]

The most popular of the games published by Rio Grande Games are Carcassonne, Puerto Rico, Lost Cities, Power Grid, Bohnanza, and Race for the Galaxy^[4]. More recently, Rio Grande Games has begun publishing its own games and has even begun licensing its games to partners in other countries wanting to localize the games in their local languages. Thus, Race for the Galaxy will soon be seen in Chinese, Korean, and others, as well as its original English, French, and German."[Source: Wikipedia]

Sponsors

We have secured four sponsors for this years event: Thought Hammer, Tribe Comics and Games, Great Hall and Dragon's Lair.

Thought Hammer:
Our good friends at Thought Hammer (locally based on-line game store) have stepped forward as our first sponsor of 2011. This is their third year as a sponsor, we love them! Be sure and check out the great deals they have on their website. Over 5000 titles at great prices, flat-rate domestic shipping for orders under $...100.00, and free domestic shipping for orders over $100.00

Tribe Comics and Games:
If you haven't heard, south Austin has a comic and game store! If you haven't been there yet, you should go check them out, pronto!
Location:2919 Manchaca Rd, Suite 102,Austin, TX 78704

Hours:
M-F: 11am-8pm
Saturday: 10am-8pm
Sunday: Noon-5pm

On Twitter, Facebook, and Yelp.

Dragon's Lair:
If you haven't been to Dragon's Lair in awhile (or at all), you should check them out. They're on Burnet Road just north of 2222 in Austin. They have a huge selection of board games and plenty of demo copies if you are interested in trying some out. Check out their events calendar.

Hours:
Monday 10:00 AM 12:00 AM
Tuesday 10:00 AM 12:00 AM
Wednesday 9:00 AM 12:00 AM
Thursday 10:00 AM 12:00 AM
Friday 10:00 AM 12:00 AM
Saturday 10:00 AM 12:00 AM
Sunday 12:00 PM 7:00 PM

Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare

Great Hall
Has agreed to be out sponsor for the third year in a row! Thank you Great Hall!
Location:5501 North Lamar, Suite A-135 Austin, Texas, 78751
Events: Open board gaming every Friday night until 12am.
Facebook and On-line forum
Hours:
Sunday: 12pm-6pm
Monday: 11am-6pm
Tuesday: 10am-10pm
Wednesday: 10am-10pm
Thursday: 10am-10pm
Friday: 10am-12am
Saturday: 10am-8pm

If you would like to be a sponsor, please e-mail me at givetogame@gmail.com.

Get Ready For Give To Game!

Give to Game is a board gaming event in Austin, Texas, whose goal is to collect food and raise funds for the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas. Come join us for a day of open gaming and a chance to win some great door prizes! Last year we raised over $1600 and over 300 lbs. of food, so come out and help us beat that goal!

Date & Place
The event takes place on Saturday, April 9, 2011 from 10:00 AM to Midnight at Holy Cross Lutheran Church on 4622 S Lamar Blvd Austin, Texas.

Admission
Admission to the event is either one grocery bag of non-perishable food or a donation of $20 at the door (or $15 if you register online). You can register online, on our Capital Area Food Bank virtual fund drive and make a donation of $15 or more (you'll have to enter the amount) and you'll be all set. if you have any questions, email us at givetogame@gmail.com

Games
We will be providing a library of games from our collection for anyone to play, but feel free to bring your own games! If you haven't played anything beyond Monopoly and Sorry, then you are in for a treat. There has been an explosion in the quantity and quality of board gaming world in the last 15 years. Don't worry if you don't know how to play, because there will be plenty of friendly folks on hand to help out and teach you. Come on down and have some fun!

Food & Drinks
There will be drinks and snacks available for a small donation.

Door Prizes
Last year, everyone who came was able to go home with a free game as a door prize. We're in the process of trying to do the same again this year!

Auctions and Other Events
There will be a silent auction and SHORT live auction. We will also have one raffle item.

Volunteer:
If you would like to help with the event please contact Kelly at givetogame@gmail.com