Stories

"You know it amazes me as a medical researcher how much benefit there are to playing board games. If you play a board game once a week after the age of 55 you're much less likely to get dementia and Alzheimer's disease than somebody who doesn't. More so than diet and exercise and reading. That's just one of the many reasons why we like the enjoyment and the health benefits of play," says Dr. Kaleb Michaud, Director of Spielbound.

Spielbound educates, engages, and creates community through board games. They are a thriving community center for people of all ages, featuring a library of over 3,000 donated board games. They believe games inspire, motivate, and help us grow.

In this positive space, they seek to provide all people the challenge, art, and fun unique to the world of board games.

Funds and items received support:

• Education - providing teachers games and lessons for their classrooms.
• Stay Sharp - providing games for seniors to prevent dementia and make games more accessible
• Spielmasons - game creation and play-testing group.
• Everyone plays - teaching games regularly and hosting the #SpielboundChallenge
• Library - the largest playable game library in the country - over 3000 games!

During this episode of Shop for Good below, we hear from Kaleb about the items on Spielbound's wish list. Will you help purchase the items Spielbound needs to continue to share the health benefits of play?

Shop Spielbound's wish list

Kaleb: You know it amazes me as a medical researcher at the medical center that how much benefit there are to playing board games. If you play a board game once a week after the age of 55 you're much less likely to get dementia and Alzheimer's disease than somebody who doesn't. More so than diet and exercise and reading. That's just one of the many reasons why we like the enjoyment and the health benefits of play.

Katie: Welcome to this edition of Shop for Good. Today I am with Kaleb of Spielbound. Thank you for joining me.

Kaleb: Happy to be here, Katie.

Katie: So tell me a little bit. What is Spielbound.

Kaleb: Spielbound is a non-profit that focuses on board games. As you can see here I'm here in the library. We have an actual location here at 33rd and Harney Street where we have over about 3,500 board games that people can come in and play. We've been around now for over 11 years, the non-profit, and we survived the pandemic. We are a place where people can come and learn and access all of these games to play. A lot of times you won't see these in most of your big box stores and we just find them a fantastic way to challenge yourself and to be social with people in person as opposed to virtually. 

Katie: Can you talk a little bit about these items that people can purchase for you?

Kaleb: Some of those products we actually have a few examples of. This is a very simple, you know dice rolling, it's very easy to transport and people can grab it off the shelves and play. I have another one here which is a card holder which you know you wouldn't think it was that important. Not so long ago a woman in her years was playing with her grandson and he chose the game. It was not a simple game and it had lots of cards and miniatures. She was willing to put the time into play but she had trouble with her hands and so having this playing card holder she could put the cards in it and could keep up with him. I will tell you that it was a fantastic thing to see and they had a great time and it was a way of bonding that oftentimes you find difficulty especially with the larger age gaps to bring people together. So that's exactly why we need things like this. Some people might already have them already just to sort of make games more accessible to people who might have more demands. I don't know about you but I didn't have these glasses 10 years ago and so I am always complaining about why are these cards so hard to read. Any things that can help make it so it's a more even challenge for everyone at the table as opposed to just a few.

Katie: What a perfect example. Now you mentioned people playing together. They can come see you and come play?

Kaleb: That's right.. The purpose of the nonprofit is to make these games accessible and available to everybody. We have a physical location that's supported by the Board Game Cafe where people can pay for access and to play the games but also get drinks and food to go along to make the overall enjoyable experience. The non-profit, our intention is to bring this to as many people as possible. You know it amazes me as a medical researcher at the medical center that how much benefit there are to playing board games. If you play a board game once a week after the age of 55 you're much less likely to get dementia and Alzheimer's disease than somebody who doesn't. More so than diet and exercise and reading. That's just one of the many reasons why we like the enjoyment and the health benefits of play.

Katie: Absolutely. Sneaky benefits. People can of course give you items, people can give financial gifts. What else is on high on your wish list?

Kaleb: We love our volunteers. We have people who come in every day, we used to be every day, now we're about two to three times a week, where they teach a game and it's free for anyone to come in and learn and play the game. We also have a once a month cataloging night which is good for larger groups where we just basically spending the time to make these games behind me easier to learn and play and put back for the next person to play. You know, we also have a great need when it comes to IT as well. We hope we can get folks with that experience that they can give back what is probably not that much of their time but has a huge impact on us and our ability to have all these games online for people to see.

#ShopforGood, presented by Wells Fargo