Wave your geek flag and raise funds for ARCH

For a full 24-hour period, the Games Nook in the Wellington Square Mall will be abuzz with activity as the Sault’s first 24-Hour Game-A-Thon raises funds for ARCH Hospice.

Event coordinator, Andrew Eakett told SooToday that the idea came to him as he was clearing old board games out of his home office.

He first considered gathering a group of friends and their old games to host a charity auction for ARCH, but “things just snowballed from here.”

Interested participants are invited to visit the Games nook to grab a pledge form, collect at least $20 in pledges, and return your form and funds to the store by March 12.

Bring your favourite game - be it board, card, or roleplaying - to the shop at 1 p.m. on March 19, and play until your heart’s content.

Or until you fall asleep, whichever comes first.

Fortunately for participants, coffee during the event will be supplied by the kind folks at Shabby Motley.

All funds raised from the 24-Hour Game-A-Thon will go to support ARCH Hospice, and Eakett tells us approximately 12 participants have already registered.

“Members of my extended family have been consumers of their services [at ARCH] unfortunately, and it doesn’t seem unreasonable that they will continue to,” he explained. “It’s a really great service they offer. They’re helping people through the hardest transition you have to make in life.”

“There’s a really nice little community that’s sort of developed around the Games Nook,” he said. “It really is a community or like a family. This is our chance to give back to the community at large.”

Thanks to a recent surge in geek culture due in part to the popularity of The Big Bang Theory and everything Chris Hardwick, Eakett feels the local opinion of gaming culture has shifted.

“There’s been a real change, I think. When we were kids, being into this sort of thing wasn’t cool,” he said. “But there’s been a real renaissance in geek and nerd culture. I think it’s great to be able to normalize these things that are fun.”

“I think it might be an age thing, too, where we want to hang out with our friends, but we’re all pushing 40 and we can’t be going out to the bar every weekend,” Eakett explained. “It’s a fun, social activity. I'm just glad it’s coming around.”

The event takes place from 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 19 to 1 p.m. on Sunday, March 20.

Anyone with questions about the 24-Hour Game-A-Thon can email [email protected] or visit the official Facebook page.