International TableTop Day 2020

As with many social events around the world this year, standard International TableTop Day festivities didn’t exactly go as planned. By the time COVID-19 had struck Geek & Sundry hadn’t yet updated their official TableTop Day website from last year, as it still features assets for ITTD 2019. We don’t have official word from them, but it certainly seems like in a time of global lockdowns and social distancing, they opted to just skip the event for 2020.

Thankfully for us, our team of 5 million in New Zealand adhered to the government’s guidelines to flatten the curve of infection, and for several weeks were even able to boast zero active cases nationwide! These efforts brought the country down to Alert Level 1, allowing us at Cakes n Ladders to still be able to host our own TableTop Day.

Cakes n Ladders poster for International TableTop Day 2020 and list of events

The day was full of fun and excitement, laughter and cheers often erupting from tournament tables. As usual we held three tournaments, the winners of which received their names on our ITTD trophy plus individual prize bags, as well as other event games throughout the day.

Our tournaments for the day were Zombie Dice, Rummikub, and the Azul trilogy, with returning two-time victors Rob, Nat, and Darryn all trying to get their names on the trophy for a third time. Darryn won the Zombie Dice match and became our first three-time champion, eternally cementing Nat’s ire for him.

Winner of Zombie Dice tournament holding trophy Winner of Cthulhu Wars tournament holding trophy Winner of Rummikub tournament holding trophy Winner of Azul tournament holding trophy

The other winners, whose names went on the trophy for the first time, were Becka (Rummikub) and Tim (Azul), with Brendon emerging victorious in our special Cthulhu Wars match.

In addition to the tournaments there were two other game events happening: Friend of the shop and animator extraordinaire Mike Glasswell brought in his copy of Nemesis for the morning crowd, and in the evening we welcomed Alayn Clint back to the shop to play an updated version of his upcoming game Upkeep. We trialled Upkeep pre-lockdown, before the game’s Kickstarter was launched; said Kickstarter was more than successful, earning more than double the original goal, and it was great to have another go with Upkeep for TableTop Day!

Zombie Dice participant posing after a good turn group of players playing Cthulhu Wars group playing Rummikub Azul finalists posing before their face-off flyer for the game Upkeep

We continue to be blown away by the support we’ve received since re-opening, and cannot thank you all enough. Our games collection is still growing, giving you more and more reasons to come back. Plus Feature Fridays and TPK Tuesdays will be starting back up regularly soon, and we’re brainstorming more themes and events to celebrate in the future. Spoiler: our next event may or may not include onesies.

Thank you all for coming out to International TableTop Day 2020 at Cakes n Ladders! With or without Geek & Sundry taking charge, we’re already looking forward to ITTD 2021!