Alexandria-Arlington Regional Gaming Group

Does your spirit animal guide you as you play games? Does your spirit animal even know that you play games? If you’d get in touch with it once in a while, you might find that it’s proud, perplexed, or perhaps even peeved by your performance. So engage in a séance, trance, dream-quest, or whatever method you use to commune with your spirit animal, and then come to the Grand Gaming Melee to apply what you’ve learned from the experience.

As always, there’ll be board games, dice games, card games, tile games, and just about every other kind of game that can be played on a tabletop. You’re encouraged to bring some of your favorites and teach them to new players, but feel free to come without any and play the games others bring. If you see one you’d like to try, there’ll be someone eager to teach you.

While your spirit animal may be hungry, AARGGH doesn’t recommend feeding it at the table – not the gaming table, anyway. But you and your fellow human players will need some sustenance for a full day of tabletop play. Please bring something delicious to share: popular delicious items include bags of chips, pretzels, crackers, and cookies. Some people bring a package of doughnuts or 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. A refrigerator is available to store drinks and other items that should be kept chilled.

Official start time is 10:30am. You can come and go at any time, but your host appreciates anyone who arrives as early as 10:00am (the library’s opening time) to help with setup. Many hands make light work! Cleanup begins around 4:00pm (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. Please observe these rules regarding cleanup 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 and stack them under the coat rack – a few may remain where they were used – but DO NOT FOLD THE CHAIRS. Leave them out in any configuration that lets people walk around them easily. Many chairs are needed for programs the following day, so by folding them you only make more work for the organizers. On the other hand, more than a few tables left standing only impede the next day’s activities.

The Alexandria-Arlington Regional Gaming Group (AARGGH) tradition is older than you think! Ever since Gorg placed three stones against Moop’s two stones (in what may have been an early Neanderthal version of Risk), players have uttered “AARGGH” in an expression of dismay, alarm, or defiance (records are unclear on the exact meaning). Let’s continue the tradition by gathering at AARGGH’s Grand Gaming Melee and expressing our rage, surprise, or frustration (your choice of emotions is endless) when appropriate. Remember, at Arlington Central Library, the auditorium where we play is well isolated from the rest of the building, so when you win, you can be loud!

There will be board games, card games, dice games, tile games, and just about every other kind of game that can be played on a tabletop. Bring some of your favorites, or come without games and play some that others will bring; there’s always a wide variety available. If you see a new one you want to try, there will be plenty of people eager to teach you.

Although table manners have improved since the days of the Neanderthals, the need for some sustenance during a full day of gaming has not, 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. Healthy snacks of vegetables and fruit are welcomed by people who like to snack on vegetables and fruit, and the people who like them are often the same people who bring them.

AN EXTREMELY IMPORTANT NOTE: While the library offers us open arms, it does not offer us an open refrigerator. If you bring any drinks or foods that should remain chilled, you must bring a cooler for them. Your host will bring a couple of coolers filled with freshly brewed iced tea, excellent store-bought lemonade, and other fruit-based beverages. Undoubtedly there will be demand for more drinks than he can carry, 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 the 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 10:30am, but you may arrive as early as 10:00am to help with setup, which is greatly appreciated and demonstrates that you are not a Neanderthal. Cleanup begins around 4:00pm (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 4:30pm, and by “appreciate” they mean that our compliance determines whether we’ll be invited back for another Grand Gaming Melee.

Arlington Central cleanup instructions:

• 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.