Rebecca and I had the privilege of attending Recon 2023, a community-based board gaming convention that took place over Memorial Day Weekend in Kernersville, North Carolina. It was our first time at any kind of board gaming focused event. It was also our first time in Kernersville! We had such a good time. It was particularly special for us because there was a deeper purpose for the event than just gaming itself – Recon is an annual convention hosted into order to raise support funds for a locally based non-profit, H.O.P.E. for Belarus. It focuses solely on providing humanitarian aid to children of the nation of Belarus, affected by the 1986 Chernobyl Disaster.
The event was hosted by the extremely gracious hosts at Project:Re³ and the team behind H.O.P.E. for Belarus. I particularly wanted to shoutout:
Melissa: Her hospitality when checking us in at the door set the tone for our great experience both days. She is also a very talented artist – the pieces she was drawing on the side while serving is better than anything I could draw with an infinite amount of time, energy or resources!
Mike Gianopulos: Mike is one of the main organizers of Recon and the pastor leading Project:Re3 Community Church. He took the time to reach out and receive us as newcomers, and invited us to several different game sessions he was leading. He also stayed late talking with us well after most others has departed on our first day there. His wife Beth was also just as kind to connect with us. It is evident Mike has a heart of a teacher and a servant – these are qualities I seek to grow in myself, so it’s always a highlight when I see others stewarding it well.
Lucas: Lucas was the one of the other game teachers who brought with him and taught us the new, highly coveted and extremely hard-to-find board game, Heat: Pedal to the Metal. The hype is real with this game, and it delivered in how interestingly it is designed to evoke the thrill of actual racing (Becca won and I was in last, by the way). It was also a great coincidence to learn that he was also from the Raleigh area! We look forward to linking up with Lucas again here in town, as we don’t have too many close friends who are into the hobby locally.
Rich: Rich was a very friendly and polite fellow guest at Recon who took the courage to reach out and join us for a game of Boss Monster (the third game in the series). It was new to us, but Rich had experience with before, which was very helpful. Additionally, after Boss Monster, he shared with us his personally house-rule-based mashup of two games, which made for a really speedy and clever trick-taking game!
Below are some picture highlights from our time at Recon 2023, where we played a lot of new games, made some new friends, and discovered a humble-yet-passionate community of folks trying to help increase human flourishing in their day-to-day lives. My hope is to connect and forge these relationships deeper in the coming weeks and months to come, well before Recon 2024!
