The Gauntlet 2023: Fables is coming to you live from Bellevue Mox Boarding House on Sunday! This year’s competition will benefit Game to Grow, a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the use of games of all kinds for therapeutic and educational purposes, as well as community growth.
This is the ninth Gauntlet event hosted by Gamers Engaged, a national non-profit. For those new to The Gauntlet, it’s an annual charity event featuring various gaming companies/organizations competing in a series of board games and challenges. Teams are made up of four members, who each compete head-to-head with other players from other teams, answer trivia and cooperate to solve puzzles in order to win bragging rights. Oh, and also a literal, actual Gauntlet!
Starting in 2014 with a goal to raise $5,000, that first event raised more than $25,000. The Gauntlet has since gone on to raise nearly $750,000 for a variety of beneficiaries. Those beneficiaries have ranged from more local Pacific Northwest organizations like Hopelink, YouthCare and Zeno, up to larger nation-wide organizations like Child’s Play.
Money is raised through donations to teams (more on that in a moment) and also through auctions on eBay. Here’s some of what Gamers Engaged has on offer this year:
- A full foil set of Adventures in the Forgotten Realms (Magic Online Redemption set)
- A full foil set of Dominaria (Magic Online Redemption set)
- A full foil set of Strixhaven: School of Mages (Magic Online Redemption set)
- A Pathfinder Beginner Bundle
- Pathfinder Special Edition Bestiary Rule Books (1, 2, & 3)
- CGC Graded set of five cards from Throne of Eldraine (themed around the Fables theme of this year’s event)
- Two, foil uncut-sheets of Rares and Mythics from The Brothers’ War Collector Edition
- A foil, uncut-sheet of Shattered Glass (the Transformers-themed cards found in The Brothers’ War Collectors Boosters)
- A wide selection of Collector, Set and Draft Booster boxes from multiple Magic sets
This year’s beneficiary, Game to Grow, started as a local Seattle organization but has since expanded digitally to have a worldwide reach. The organization provides counseling and therapy using Tabletop Roleplaying Games, Minecraft, individual therapy and more to provide help and services to those in need.
Originally hosted at the Ballard Card Kingdom store (as it was known back then), the event has since been hosted at the Bellevue Mox Boarding House. Streamed live each time, Gamers Engaged is excited this year to partner with Gen Con and Gen Con TV to bring the charity event to an even wider audience this year.
This year’s teams include Monolith, Paizo, Wizards of the Coast, Ravensburger and more! If you want to participate, you can donate to the team of your choice.
At the beginning of the event, each team will receive power ups they can use during the games based on how much money they’ve raised. You can donate, tune into the stream, find our auctions supporting the event and learn more about Game to Grow here!
Chris is the Associate Media Producer at Card Kingdom. He would like to apologize to his son for not holding onto more cards from when he first started playing, as that likely would have paid for college. He enjoys pretty much all formats of Magic, but usually ends up playing decks that make other people dislike playing those formats with him.