November Grand Gaming Melee

As we pick apples, find ourselves surrounded by pumpkins, or anticipate the Thanksgiving holiday, our gamer thoughts turn to the farming and harvesting that occurs on the tabletop. Your Agricola family might work their placements especially well, your meeples (lying down though they may be) could grow their Carcassonne fields to serve numerous cities, your Viticulture worker stands ready to harvest a valuable load of grapes, or the Harvest Festival and flags around your Dorfromantik fields signal new scoring heights for your village. None of that happens if we don't play the games, though, so let's gather for another Grand Gaming Melee and fill the cornucopia with a harvest of satisfying game play.

Bring some of your favorite games, farming-related or otherwise, for teaching and sharing with others, or explore what others bring. You're likely to find someone willing to teach most anything that's there.

Because farming, even for points, is hard work and requires sustenance, please bring something delicious to share with your fellow players. Anything easily and neatly consumed at the gaming tables is welcome. Popular delicious items include bags of chips, pretzels, crackers, and cookies. Some people bring doughnuts, cupcakes; these are always popular and disappear quickly. Savory snacks like olives, vegetables with dip, or cheese appeal to players who don’t want to spend the entire day snacking on sweets. A few creative types may even bring something homemade; these contributions are even more appreciated. Although a refrigerator has been available in the past to store drinks and other items that should be kept chilled, space within it was very limited at our most recent event; consider bringing a cooler if your contributions should stay chilled.

Official start time is 10:30 a.m. You can come and go at any time, but your host appreciates anyone who arrives as early as 10:00 a.m. (when the library opens) to help with set-up. Many hands make light work! Clean-up 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). Remember, whoever starts cleanup first gets the best choice of leftover snacks to take home! As always, leave the room clean and tidy.

When cleaning up at Beatley Library:

• Please ensure that food scraps, crumbs, and bits of packaging are not strewn in the kitchen or auditorium. The library closes shortly after our event ends, so anything edible left on the floor or counters will attract vermin overnight. Night vermin are the worst!
• Please fold most of the tables (leaving a few where they were used) and stack them near the coat rack or within the closet.
• Please do not fold the chairs. Leave them out in any configuration that lets people walk around them easily. Often, chairs are needed for programs the following day, so by folding them you only make more work for the organizers.