Pawns' Gamebag is a traveling board game library that serves conventions in a radius of about 600 miles around Columbus, Ohio. We have over 600 titles in our Lending Library (not including expansions) that attendees and staff at conventions always enjoy borrowing and playing in the open gaming rooms. Our staff are responsible for running special events and demonstrating games, and we even have copies of some of the games in the Library available for sale!
It all started with a bag...
Long ago (well, ok, only about 20 or 30 years ago) an introvert named John was the only person in his friend group who had a vehicle, and his roommates would ask him to provide transportation to a local coffee shop to meet up with other friends. One day, one of his roommates noticed he always seemed to be bored at the coffee shop, so he decided to start the evening playing Spades with John and a few random people. After a while, he left John to play with his new acquaintances, and John had so much fun he decided to learn other card games and started packing playing cards, a chess set, and other card games into an old laptop bag.
Since John kept showing up to the coffee shop with games, not only did his circle of friends and acquaintances grow over time, but so did the number of games he carried! It wasn't all that long before the laptop bag became insufficient, and the game collection move into progressively larger vessels, including a sturdy old steamer trunk. He packed in his collection of games carefully, in many cases doing away with the packaging altogether and storing only the cards, boards, and small pieces such as pawns and dice.
As this continued and he began to regularly provide gaming entertainment for his friends, he received a new nickname that stuck with him. One day when his friends were gathered, someone called out for "John", and he answered, to which his friend replied, "No, no, no, I know too many Johns, you're name is Pawns, because you always bring games."
Fast forward to today. Pawns, his crew of volunteers, and the now truly impressive collection bring fun and new experiences to attendees at conventions that invite the Gamebag to be part of things. Some people eagerly try to check out and learn as many new games as they can, others check out and play their well-known favorites with just as much enthusiasm.
Our thanks go out to HABA, Looney Labs, and Cephalofair Games for past support and to Slugfest Games for past and continuing support!
