Brady Cheung hosts a monthly board game night that raises money for charity.
For many Dungeons & Dragons conjures up the image of a group of men situated around a table rolling dice and yelling out the names of spells. For software engineer Brady Cheung board games like Pathfinder and Dungeons & Dragons were the ideal escape from reality and the perfect medium to raise money for charity.
“D&D allowed me to create this amazing world where my friends and I could slip away from the world,” Cheung said.
Cheung would often frequent table top and board game competitions after work and soon become friends with many of his fellow players. The idea to start raising money for charity came after a fellow D&D player had taken his cat to the vet.
“This poor guy had to pay an outrageous amount of money for the vet bill, a few of the guys decided to chip in and help pay the bill,” Cheung recalled. “It was like, if we can raise money for this dude’s pet cat, than why can’t we do it for something with a little more meaning?”
Cheung now hosts a semi-regular tabletop game night to raise money for local charities. He estimates that over the past year he has raised about $5,000.
Cheung plans to move to Vancouver later this year and is keen to continue his board game night there.
“I was often embarrassed to admit I played D&D, but now Ive tried to turn that embarrassment into pride,” he said.