Playing games

Hamilton, Ohio – It might have been easy – even expedient – to set up some tables with a bunch of board-game standbys like checkers, Monopoly, Catan, Life or Candyland.

Throw out an Uno deck, drop some playing cards, pop in fresh batteries for Operation and call it a day on the games portion of Season Launch: Fun & Games from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, August 15, at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts.

Nope. Not how we roll.

Instead, Fitton Center Director of Education and Outreach Kate Rowekamp invented Animal Dash for the occasion, a brand-new, original, race-to-the-finish board game.

“I was trying to come up with something that had a customizable element that would be fun,” Rowekamp said. “I also wanted something we could make on site that used different artmaking techniques, too.”

Mission accomplished.

Animal Dash is fully customizable for each player, both in terms of designing the game pieces and dice, as well as in terms of game play. And indeed, guests will exercise several creative skills while making their own copies of the game in three steps.

Step one. The board. Visit Studio 104 and hand-print your 70-square game board, seven across by ten up and down. (Just know one of the squares won’t be part of official game play. It will be where the Fitton Center logo lives)

Step two. The game pieces. Visit Pottery 101 and mold your animals with colorful air-dry clay and add little beads for facial features like eyes.

Step three. The dice. Visit the Creation Station and fit together pre-cut foam pieces to make a cube. Select your colors and add the pips however you like.

Once your game is complete, slide the board into a plastic sleeve, grab a dry-erase marker and X out squares to make a path for your animal pals to follow from start to finish, taking spaces determined by rolling the dice. Adjust the route every time you play for virtually endless variations.

Rowekamp enjoys playing board games, but had never created one before now.

“My husband really helped me work out the bugs,” she said. “We played it a lot, did a lot of troubleshooting in game play, which was great. It’s a fun little game I hope people will enjoy making and playing.”

Come make your version of Animal Dash from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, August 15 during Season Launch: Fun & Games. The event and the game are free of charge.

The Fitton Center for Creative Arts is located at 101 S. Monument Avenue on the Riverfront in downtown Hamilton, Ohio.

Building Community Excellence through the Arts and Culture