"3-7 Aug: A Gaming Camp for Kids, AAR!" Topic

From 3 Aug to 7 Aug I ran a gaming camp for kids at St. Stephens and St. Agnes schools in Alexandria, VA. This is my tenth year of running this camp, a yearly event that brings me much satisfaction and an outlet for my own creativity, as well as introducing a type of gaming to generations of kids that never knew it existed prior to the camp.

I ran one game I had run before (The Magi) one commercial game (Dungeons and Dragons Attack Wing) and two I designed, Ride that Fury Road and Future Tank. I had a commercial game, War Rocket, on the agenda (also X-Wing Miniatures) but the kids wanted to run the Fury Road game for another day, so those games got voted down.

Rather than recreate a thumbnail from every day, I'll refer to the original blog posts on Wordpress, and if you have an interest, you can visit.

MONDAY: THE MAGI link
TUESDAY: DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS ATTACK WING link
WEDNESDAY: RIDE THAT FURY ROAD! part one link
THURSDAY: RIDE THAT FURY ROAD! continued link
FRIDAY: FUTURE TANK! and COSMIC ENCOUNTER link

I generally let the kids express a preference if they want to change the schedule and don't mind a bit if they want to run a game for two days and take something off to make room. So X-Wing and War Rocket had to take a backseat. X-Wing was just a filler game anyway, but I wanted to test out some tournament software I was using to run a little mini X-Wing tournament, but it was not to be.. too many choices isn't such a bad thing, really, as long as you can deliver on your promises. Which I can.

So, with maybe two glaring exceptions (two kids who clearly were being dropped in to be babysat and had zero interest), the camp was a great time. The feedback I got was that they loved Attack Wing, Magi, Fury Road and Future Tank, but the veterans wanted Big Danged Boats to return. I can hardly be insulted if they express a liking for one of my designs over another, so I promised BDB would return for next year.

Overall, these were some great kids-- two of them may be counselors next year as they are getting old for this camp. They already want to go to a convention.

That's hobby outreach, one kid at a time!

Thanks for your time, and thanks for reading.

Walt

Walt – Great job and a great write up. Keep up the good work!

Good for you.

It is always a good feeling to wargame with kids who are having a great time.

What's the age limits?

Very cool Walt – wish my kid could attend. Hey Jack, want to go to gaming camp? LOL. Keep up the good work!

I think the youngest is 10ish and the oldest is 15ish. I had to get two waivers for some kids this year that are "aging out" as campers and want to come back as counselors next year.

V/R

Walt

Do you do this at a local school? Are you a teacher? I'm a teacher (30 years worth) and want to do this in my high school as an extracurricular club. Any pointers or pearls o' wisdom would be appreciated. Thanks

Steve Miller
DFW Irregulars

Steve

Yes, at a school in Alexandria. I'm actually working on A Gaming Camp manifesto at the behest of the President of HMGS. Happy to share.

Walt