This past weekend, over 40 gamers descended on Ravenwood Castle for the second annual Hoop & Stick Convention. We enjoyed four days and three nights of food, games and companionship, all while raising money for children’s hospitals around the country.

Between the ticket sales, room rentals and silent auction, we raised $5,820 for the benefit of Child’s Play! A good portion of this came from the silent auction, which was made possible by our wonderful donors, supporters and sponsors, who are listed below. We really appreciate their continued support of Hoop & Stick’s mission!

In particular I want to thank Plaid Hat Games for joining us as our Guests of Honor for the second year in a row. Colby and Isaac spent the entire weekend with us, sharing both their Fiasco prowess and several of their upcoming games. Their coming release Dead of Winter especially was a huge hit (more on that in an upcoming blog post!)

We were also treated to the prototype of North Star Games’ upcoming release, Evolution. Watch for this one to appear on Kickstarter in the near future.

In addition to the variety of board game prototypes, Hoop & Stick featured a half a dozen role playing game sessions, utilizing systems from Pathfinder to Star Wars Edge of Empire to Fate and Fiasco. And of course every nook and cranny of Ravenwood Castle was filled throughout the weekend with guests playing titles from the Ravenwood Castle game library, as well as games they brought themselves.

The staff and I are quickly recovering from the weekend, and will soon begin planning next year’s Hoop & Stick. We will announce the dates for that as soon as we have them. If you’d like to join us for a one of a kind gaming convention experience before then, be sure to check out our summer convention, Con in the Castle, featuring Richard Launius of Arkham Horror fame.

Thanks again to our 2014 Hoop & Stick Supporters, Donors and Sponsors!
Plaid Hat Games
Days of Wonder
Wizards of the Coast
Paizo
Fantasy Flight Games
Arcane Wonders
Glazer’s
ACD Distribution
4imprint
GrandCon
Chile Verde
TicketMaster

Jim Reed

Jim Reed is a lifelong gamer who started with the original red box Dungeons & Dragons. After spending 20 years in the corporate world, he decided it was high time that work be fun and struck out on his own. Jim now owns and operates Ravenwood Castle, and spends his days ensuring his guests have as much fun as he does.