Gaming Hoopla benefits a cancer-related charity
Those who love to test their skill and ingenuity while competing (or cooperating) with friends will have an opportunity to indulge their hobby for a good cause at Gaming Hoopla, an annual gaming convention that serves as a fundraiser for a cancer-related charity.
The event features tabletop board games, role-playing games, tournaments, contests, forums and seminars. Games are planned for all age and skill levels in a wide range of genres and play types.
Proceeds from the event go to the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation.
The event will take place Friday through Sunday, April 7-9, at the Holiday Inn Gurnee Convention Center, 6161 W. Grand Ave., Gurnee. Hours are 10 a.m. to 3 a.m. Friday, 8 a.m. to 3 a.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Doors open one hour before the event starts.
Admission badges, good for the entire weekend, are $40 for adults or $25 for children 12 and younger with advance registration. Single-day badges are $15 for Friday or Sunday only, or $20 for Saturday only in advance. Walk-in admission is $5 more per badge.
A Family Day special is available on Sunday, with admission for up to two adults and two children for $25, and $5 for each additional child (no additional charge for walk-in Family Day badges). A Very Important Gamer badge is available for $79 in advance only.
For information or registration, visit www.gaminghoopla.com.
We spoke to Andrea Pawlik, marketing coordinator for the Hoopla Foundation, who provided more information:
Q: Can you give us a general overview of what your charity does?
A: The Gaming Hoopla is the main fundraising event for the Hoopla Foundation, which is an organization that raises funds through a variety of events for donation to other, larger, cancer-related charities. The Gaming Hoopla is completely volunteer based and donates 100 percent of its proceeds to the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation.
Q: How long has your charity been active? How was the organization founded?
A: The organization was initially started by a small group of friends who all participated in the American Cancer Society Relay For Life. They wanted to come up with a fundraiser, and knew their common love of board games was the way to go.
They'd all attended several board game conventions, but never before planned one, and, thus, the Gaming Hoopla was started in 2005 with the Hoopla That We Shall Not Speak Of, attended by only about 20 gamers.
Despite that inauspicious start, the Hoopla has grown exponentially through the years to the event it is today. We quickly outgrew our first venue, Como Clubhouse in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. After several years at the Johnstown Community Center outside Janesville, Wisconsin, we moved to the Tommy G. Thompson Youth Center in Milwaukee, then finally settled at the Holiday Inn Gurnee in Illinois. During that growth, our staff has also changed and grown.
In 2014 we created Hoopla Foundation as an NPO so that we could offer tax discounts to people who donate to the Hoopla. We currently have eight staff members that plan the convention, with a handful of volunteers that help at the convention to keep things running smoothly.
Q: How does your charity help people?
A: Gaming Hoopla donates all of its proceeds to the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation. VLCF, in turn, is a supporter of the Aurora Cancer Care program's innovation and research area.
While preventing cancer is always an important research area, VLCF donations are also focusing on two areas to help diminish the effects of radiation and chemotherapy by focusing on treatment and identifying high risk Cardio-Oncology patients before there's a major complication.
VLCF's donation is also helping to fund Spanish Speaking Nurse Navigators. This first-of-its-kind program is helping to bring great cancer care to patients that otherwise may not have been fully able to understand their diagnosis and treatment.
Q: What is Gaming Hoopla usually like? What activities and other features are offered?
A: For people who have never been to a board game convention, Gaming Hoopla can seem overwhelming, but we're actually very beginner friendly!
The main focus of the convention is our schedule of events. We currently have 250-plus scheduled games, and more are being added daily. The majority of the scheduled events are Learn-To-Play events, meaning that the game is taught at the table before everyone plays, so anyone can get into these events without needing any knowledge of the game.
In addition to those Learn-To-Play events, we also have scheduled advanced game play that requires players to be familiar with the game before coming to the table, as well as tournaments, role-playing games, “Life-Size” game adventures, dexterity games, and party games.
We also host the MilCOG Games Library, who generously donate their time and resources for the weekend. They bring thousands of unique game titles and experts to help recommend games and even teach games if they have time. Attendees are given free access to these games for open gaming.
As well as playing games, attendees have lots of chances to take games home thanks to our amazing sponsors. Game designers, publishers, and players worldwide generously donate games and swag to the Hoopla in support of our fight against cancer.
Attendees can win games by purchasing tickets for our Best Raffle Ever! or Surprise Raffles. They can also participate in our Play And Win area, which is more robust this year than ever before with more than 70 games ranging from beginner to advanced. All they have to do is pick a game on the Play And Win table, play it, write their name down, and they have a chance to win that game.
All they need is their badge to get free access to the Play And Win area, and they can play as many games as they'd like.
Attendees can also buy and sell games by participating in our No-Ship Math Trade or our silent auction.
This year we will have Family Day Sunday. FDS offers discounted tickets to families and children for Sunday. With games designed and scheduled specifically for children, you can play a variety of age-appropriate games, with volunteer game masters there to lead the way through the rules and a little strategy.
The focus is on fun, not competition. Each child receives a souvenir Family Day Passport with admission to keep track of games they are playing, as well as entry into several FDS kids' drawings and chances for prizes.
Q: How many people attended last year and how much did you raise?
A: Around 375 unique attendees, about 75 percent of which were full weekend badges. We raised $10,150 for VLCF.
Q: How many people do you expect this year, and how much are you expecting to raise?
A: We are expecting around 500 attendees, and our goal is to raise $15,000.
Q: How can people who are unable to attend the event help out?
A: One of the biggest ways that people can help, even if they are unable to attend, is to spread the word about Hoopla. Connect to us via Facebook or Twitter and help promote our posts. Tell your friends and family. If you're part of the board gaming community you can join our Street Team to get the word out.
If people feel so inclined, they can donate money, games, or game-related loot to Gaming Hoopla via our website (gaminghoopla.com), or even donate directly to the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation.
Q: How much of your charity's fundraising comes from this event? What are your other major events?
A: About 60 percent of the Hoopla Foundation's proceeds come from this event. The other 40 percent comes from the bowl-a-thon held in the Elkhorn area also in March.
Q: How did you choose the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation as the beneficiary of the event?
A: We'd started out as a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society via Relay For Life. While many of us personally still do things to support ACS, in 2016 we made the decision to change the group's fundraiser to the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation.
The biggest reason we decided to change was because we wanted a smaller, more local charity that could work as a partner rather than a one-sided relationship, and we found that with VLCF. We also love that they are volunteer run just like us (their board of directors is not compensated) and they donate 85.2 percent of donations directly into the programs they support.