May is a busy time for us Paizonians, with convention season ramping up and PaizoCon just around the corner, there's so much to do! One thing I always look forward to at this time of year is the Mox Gauntlet, and it's coming up THIS SUNDAY!
Each year, the folks at ENGAGE bring together up to 20 teams from local gaming companies for an all-day charity boardgame tournament to raise funds for and bring awareness to a non-profit organization that directly affects our community. This year, proceeds are going to El Centro de la Raza, an organization dedicated to building unity across racial and economic sectors, as well as empowering the most vulnerable and marginalized populations. From education and youth-focused programs to community building and development, they strive to offer aid to the Seattle community and beyond. Each $100 donated to the Gauntlet provides an hour of after-school programming for low-income middle school students with comprehensive academic support and pro-social activities.
I am very proud to be captain of Team Paizo for the 2nd year in a row, and what a great team we have this year! We've got Pathfinder Developer Ron Lundeen, Starfinder Developer Joe Pasini, and System Administrator Whitney Chatterjee on board to kick butt at board games and raise money for kids. Plus, rumor has it that Whitney is working on a pretty awesome costume to fit with this year's vintage circus theme! Only two games have been announced, and we've been practicing as much as we can. There's Photosynthesis, a beautiful board game where you play as trees and try to grow yourself a mighty forest. Then there's Parade, an Alice in Wonderland themed card game where the goal is to get the least amount of points. There will be a trivia round, as well as a mystery game which we'll have to learn and play on the day of the event. In the past, these have been anything from entirely made up games, to full-on puzzle-solving, clue-finding, puzzle room. Anything goes!
If you're interested in watching the shenanigans go down, there are a couple of ways you can do that. If you're local, Mox Boardinghouse in Bellevue will have plenty of fun in-house activities going on that day for anybody who wishes to come down and join us, including games and raffles! Don't worry if you're more remote, the entire event will be live-streamed on Twitch. Donations are open through the end of the event, and not only do they help the cause, but they also give Team Paizo a shot at awesome power-ups which will help us gain an edge in the games. Please feel free to browse and share Paizo's team page.
We are incredibly grateful for everyone who makes this event possible, and for those who donate to benefit El Centro de la Raza. Thanks so much, and we'll see you this Sunday!
Katina Davis
Customer Service Representative
