Challenges and Success Moments

The Interactive Museum of Gaming and Puzzlery features a collection of more than four thousand board games that you can indulge in, and it operates on grants and donations. So, when the grants and donations are not sufficient, the Interactive Museum of Gaming and Puzzlery has to make some hard decisions. The gaming museum often holds events to help support its operations. One of these is a weekend 24-hour raffle & game-a-thon. You can support the Interactive Museum of Gaming and Puzzlery by signing up for this event either with a team alone and get to enjoy some of the wonderful games the museum has to offer. Alternatively, you can opt to be a sponsor by sponsoring an individual or team or donating food or games. Another way you could support the Interactive Museum of Gaming and Puzzlery is by purchasing raffle tickets that enter you into a draw for a board games prize park. The more tickets purchased, the more prizes to be won.

The founders of the Interactive Museum of Gaming and Puzzlery, Mathewson and Engen faced the usual challenges of a small museum, such as inadequate funding, fading government funding, and reduced patronage. However, they were dealt a heftier blow when Carol Mathewson was diagnosed with empyema, a condition that threatened to take away his life. This was a very scary and uncertain time for the Interactive Museum of Gaming and Puzzlery. They didn’t know what was going to happen to Mathewson or the museum. Thankfully, She underwent successful surgery and got better. To celebrate Mathewson’s recovery, the Interactive Museum of Gaming and Puzzlery launched a grand re-opening party, featuring a 24-hour raffle & game-a-thon, with games such as dungeons and dragons and giant chess. Engen likened the event to a jog-a-thon since as you play, you make money for the museum. Such kinds of events are serious for them, but not for gamers, whose objective is to explore and interact with like-minded people in a relaxed environment.

After struggling to secure finances from government agencies and after one of the museum’s staff’s battle with lung cancer, the Interactive Museum of Gaming and Puzzlery successfully relocated to a larger space in King City, just half an hour southwest of Portland allowing for increased interaction, new concepts and more elaborate displays, including a collection of board game rentals. In addition to the available museum space, the Interactive Museum of Gaming and Puzzlery is also working on an archive space. There are a lot more games for people to play and the establishment hopes that people can take advantage of this.

Some of the games you can expect to find at the Interactive Museum of Gaming and Puzzlery include Junk Art, Pandemic, Werewords, Captain Sonar, Hotshots, Kill Doctor Lucky, and New York 1901. Junk Art is a really cool and modern artsy Jenga (which can also be found on Amazon). It is ideal for new gamers since it is relatively easy to play. The Pandemic is a game based on a cooperative story, where you play the role of CDC workers. The pandemic is one of the most popular board games in the U.S. to date and is perfect for tough crowds.