Boardwalk Board Game Lounge Hosting "Summer Game Swap" to Support Game Nights For Local Schools

Peterborough students are going to be familiar with titles such as ‘Settlers of Catan,’ ‘Ticket to Ride,’ ‘What Do You Meme?’ and more as Boardwalk Board Game Lounge is hosting a Summer Game Swap to support its first-ever school game night program.

Boardwalk Board Game Lounge co-owners Dylan Reinhart (left) and Connor Reinhart (right) are brothers. The Lounge is fully-equipped with a kitchen and bar and host tournaments/gamign events on a regular basis. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Gamers are encouraged sell their used board games and/or game bundles in a swap meet-style format for the Lounge’s first-ever school game night program focused for students at the elementary and intermediate levels.

Registration ends on Tuesday and board games marked for sale can be dropped off at the Lounge starting Wednesday until July 10.

“We see it as a good opportunity to raise some money for a new school program we're going to be rolling out to run free game nights in schools starting this fall,” said Dylan Reinhart, Boardwalk co-owner.

Potential sellers must sign up online in order to register their board games for sale. They can be sold for 80 per cent in store credit or 40 per cent in cash value. Twenty per cent of all game sales go towards the game night program so schools can operate it at no cost.

“We know that kids are looking for new opportunities to try games and trying new games can be an intimidating thing,” said Reinhart. “We see this as an extension of our mission to bring games to people and connect people with their next favourite game. It's just an opportunity for us to do that outside of our store in a way that is a little bit more accessible, friendly and doing something for our school communities.”

A used games sale of all registered items is being held at the Lounge on July 13-14. Sellers are being contacted on the 17th with their results, the 20th is when payments are being issued and the 28th is when any unsold games can be picked up. Any unclaimed items are considered a donation to Boardwalk.

Reinhart says that board games are a great hobby to help kids occupy their time in a fun environment and help apply daily skills in an enjoyable way.

“Whether you're doing semi-practical applications for math, when you're counting your scores or working on fine motor skills in drawing or sculpting games —or even just going more basic to play together and work together and be a humble winner and not a sore winner—, it teaches a lot of social skills and be a person to interact in a lot of ways that you can't get to the same degree when most of your gaming is happening in a digital, not in-person, tactical sort of way,” he explained.

Reinhart also encourages all students to participate as his business tries to be as welcoming and inclusive as possible.

“We have a sign that says 'board games are for everyone' and that is truly what we believe in,” he explained. “We look at everything through that lens. We've always wanted to provide a place where people can come together and feel like they were coming to game night at our house and have an experience of playing and being together.”

Accessbility for board games has continued to grow throughout the years and there is always something for all walks of life according to Reinhart.

“With thousands of games coming out every year, you just have to find the right game for you,” he said. “When you're looking for something different to do or some other experience to have this is a great way to have that experience, do something different and to come together and be social.

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