August Grand Gaming Melee

Are your game components sweltering in the summer heat and humidity? Guide them to our next AARGGH Grand Gaming Melee, an oasis in the desert. Although our usual library locations had no available dates for July, we'll hold our next Melee as soon as possible after July—on the first day of August. We’ll have board games, card games, dice games, tile games, and just about every other kind of game that can be played on a tabletop. Bring games you want to play, or come without games and play what others bring. If you see a new one you want to try, there will be plenty of people eager to teach you.

Don’t forget snacks! You’ll need to replenish your energy during the day, so please bring something delicious to share. Cookies, crackers, and pretzels are popular options, as are sodas and juices. Some people bring doughnuts, cupcakes, or other substantial sweets; these are always appreciated and disappear quickly. Others may provide healthy treats of fruit and vegetables—we appreciate everything you bring to share!

AN EXTREMELY IMPORTANT NOTE: While the library welcomes us with open arms, it does not offer us an open refrigerator. Due to remodeling in the building, we no longer have access to a kitchen. If you bring any drinks or foods that should remain chilled, you must bring a cooler for them. Your host will bring coolers with iced tea and lemonade. Undoubtedly there will be demand for more drinks, so a few attendees should heed the call of the thirsty. You may want to coordinate such an effort with your fellow players to supply maximum variety of beverages with a minimum of containers; feel free to post comments on this page for this purpose. Food and drink will be deployed on the stage at the front of the auditorium to separate it from the playing area.

Official start time is 10:30 a.m., but you may arrive as early as 10:00 a.m. to help with setup. Cleanup begins around 4:00 p.m. (or whenever you decide that you can’t squeeze in one more game before the end of the event). The librarians appreciate our vacating the auditorium by 4:30 p.m., and by “appreciate” they mean that our compliance determines whether we’ll be invited back for another Grand Gaming Melee.

When cleaning up at Arlington Central:

• Place all trash in the bins provided. Make sure that no scraps of paper, cardboard, or food remain on the floor.
• Leave the tables and chairs where you used them. The next group can deal with setup the same way we did.