A crowd of local gamers doing what gamers do helped raise more than $1,000 for mental health resources over the weekend.
May is National Mental Health Awareness Month, and Saturday, Cardboard Castle Games of Evans did its part in raising awareness by hosting a gaming competition to help raise funds for the Augusta chapter of National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).
It’s not uncommon for patrons to stop by Cardboard Castle to shop, browse and especially play any of its more than 700 selections, from conventional boardgames to tabletop roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons to trading card games such as Magic: The Gathering. Saturday, starting at 11 a.m., dozens of players gathered to vie in a friendly tournament of Dice Throne, a tabletop adventure game that co-owner Robert Temenak describes as a “kind of ‘battle Yahtzee.’”
“You have a special character with abilities. You roll dice and you hope they come up to be able to attack your opponent, and then you play cards as well,” said Temenak. “So it’s got a little bit of the luck that Yahtzee has, but also has the skilled card gaming aspect.”
The hobby store, which first opened at its original Columbia Road location in 2014, is no stranger to charitable campaigns by way of long-running gaming fests, Temenak says, with upwards of 60 players involved in a single game (or a quest, in the case of adventure-themed roleplaying games) for four hours.
Earlier this year, the shop take part in Downtown Soul City’s Casino Night event to help support local merchants. In 2023, Cardboard Castle held a tournament event to celebrate its ninth year in business, donating a portion of proceeds to charity. Saturday, the tournament held a raffle for prizes to incentivize donations to NAMI, though participating in the games was free for visitors.
NAMI, a nonprofit based in Arlington, Va., provides support and education regarding mental health, and promotes research on mental illness. Led by a team of mental health professionals, including therapists and social workers, NAMI Augusta conducts initiatives to help locals understand mental health issues—such as depression or substance abuse recovery — and find out how to connect with resources.
“We’ve got programs for from the early childhood ages all the way up to adulthood, but also we have a very strong on campus support group for all of our college students,” said Reed McDow, an advocate with NAMI Augusta. “I feel like I would be nowhere without my own therapist and I’ve been in therapy for five years now. I just feel like everyone needs to be able to have someone to talk to.”
Overall raised, Saturday’s Dice Throne tournament and fundraising campaign raised $1,337 to donate to NAMI’s efforts. The number 1337, as it turns out, is also the name of a system of modified spellings and symbols used online, pronounced “leet,” or referred to as “leetspeak,” popular among tech enthusiasts and gamers.
Cardboard Castle Games is currently at 672 Mullins Colony Drive in Evans, but by the end of this month will be relocating to 3836 Washington Road, Ste. 9.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
