CALIFORNIA, Md. — The dice kept rolling and the donations kept climbing as Swords and Spoons celebrated its one-year anniversary this past weekend with a 32-hour live Twitch stream featuring a nonstop tabletop gaming marathon and fundraiser that collected $1,695 for Extra Life, benefiting Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.
The event brought together tabletop gamers, families and local clubs for two full days of tournaments, livestreams and community fun. From Magic: The Gathering and Warhammer to TCG (trading card game) card reveals and a painting competition, players filled the gaming tables from Saturday morning through Sunday night.
“We just want to raise money for the Children’s Hospital,” said Jenn Galloway, owner of Swords and Spoons. “We’re lucky that Extra Life falls on our one-year anniversary, so we turned it into a big celebration weekend.”
Throughout the weekend, participants donated through gaming entry fees and Extra Life donations found through the live Twitch stream. The fundraising event went live for more than 32 hours continuously, starting Saturday at 10 a.m. and finishing when Swords and Spoons closed Sunday evening at 7 p.m.
Assistant Manager Shaun Welch, who has been part of the local gaming scene for more than 15 years, said the turnout reflected how much the community has grown around the store.
Since opening in 2024, Swords and Spoons has become a central hub for gamers across Southern Maryland, hosting weekly sessions for groups like the Pax Chess and Strategy Club and the St. Mary’s Board Gamers. Its Discord server now connects more than 1,000 members who share strategies, organize meetups and coordinate tournaments.
For Antwon Boone, the Swords and Spoons anniversary and charity weekend was about more than games and prizes. It was about community, connection and his lasting friendship with Galloway.
“It’s always welcoming,” Boone said. “Everybody’s friendly, it’s always smiles, the people in here are always having a good time, especially on Friday nights when there’s Magic going on or if there’s D&D (Dungeons and Dragons). Everybody is always enjoying themselves.”
Boone said he has known store owner Galloway for about four years and has been a regular supporter since she opened Swords and Spoons. He described tabletop gaming as a refreshing alternative to digital screens.
“It brings you from the norm of sitting on a couch controlling [a video game] with your hand looking at a glowing screen,” Boone said. “Tabletop, board games, card games bring you back to before the internet because you don’t need Wi-Fi or batteries to play any of this stuff.”
Boone said his favorite experiences at the store were playing the new Gundam TCG, which he began after being introduced to Magic: The Gathering through Galloway and other players at Swords and Spoons.
Jake Eckmyre from Town Creek said Swords and Spoons restored a missing part of his gaming life after a previous game store shuttered.
“I’ve been coming here since we first opened,” Eckmyre said. “I even came before that, when it was known as High Tide Games.”
Now, Swords and Spoons has become one of Eckmyre’s regular weekly stops. He said he shows up on Thursdays and Sundays to play Yu-Gi-Oh!, Pokémon and a little bit of Magic: The Gathering, and that playing card games in person offers a different experience than online gaming.
“There’s no screen,” Eckmyre said. “It’s a lot harder, but that’s what makes it more fun.”
Mike Ogletree, one of the original associates at Swords and Spoons, said the store’s first anniversary and charity livestream represented the passion, connection and giving back that a lot of the gaming community stands for.
“Gaming for a cause is an incredible thing,” Ogletree said. “Then to have it also benefit a larger community, it’s an absolutely incredible experience.”
Ogletree said the store’s 24-hour Extra Life livestream gave players an opportunity to contribute through online donations, in-store raffles and participation fees.
“All of that is going to local children’s hospitals,” Ogletree said. “It’s just an unfathomable experience to be part of something like this and let people come in and do the things that they love doing.”
As one of the original staff members, Ogletree has seen the store grow from its opening day to a vibrant hub for tabletop and trading card players. He said that throughout the year they had a lot of community engagement and experiences.
Community Growth, Creative Cosplays and Gaming for a Cause
Ryan Webb, assistant store manager at Swords and Spoons, has been part of the Southern Maryland gaming scene for more than two decades. Known as a regional authority in Pokémon and TCGs, Webb said Swords and Spoons’ growing player base and charity efforts show how gaming continues to bring people together.
“I’ve been doing it 20 years,” Webb said. “I started with the local store, but I’ve done organizing all the way up to national championships, World Championships, I’ve been a judge and helped organize major events.”
At Swords and Spoons, Webb oversees Pokémon leagues and tournaments while helping coordinate the store’s broader gaming schedule.
“We usually have over 40 people here every week,” Webb said, talking about the Pokémon meetups. “The people that want to play competitively are still consistent as well. We usually have around 20 or so every week that play at a tournament.”
Galloway said that the store would not be what it is today without Webb. She said his community experience in Southern Maryland was a cornerstone to the continued success of Swords and Spoons and the local TCG experience.
“He is 100% why this store did so well,” Galloway said. “His experience was the reason our store was successful.”
The store runs a weekly Sunday tournament, along with official Pokémon events that count toward national rankings. There is a league challenge once a month and a higher-level tournament called a League Cup, which is quarterly, with the next one on Dec. 14.
Webb said the store’s Extra Life charity fundraiser, a 24-hour livestream to support local children’s hospitals, demonstrated the community’s generosity. He said that events like this gain a lot of attention.
When Kyle Kirkner arrived at Swords and Spoons for the store’s Extra Life charity livestream, he brought his cosplay-themed TCG game. The Southern Maryland graphic designer, TCG developer and co-founder of Creative Cosplays Magazine introduced his new tabletop game, Built for Battle Trading Card Game, to demo during the Swords and Spoons 24-hour Twitch stream in support of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.
“Built for Battle is a cosplay-focused TCG game where the creators are actual people,” Kirkner said. “They are the fighters.”
Kirkner said he also has an app to make gameplay more accessible.
“I even designed a tracker device that keeps track of the whole game and mirrors the game exactly,” Kirkner said. “You don’t have to do any of the math.”
The project launched earlier this year and was built with the help of more than 40 members of the cosplay community. Kirkner said participating in the Swords and Spoons fundraiser was an opportunity to support the community and showcase his work.
“We heard about the charity event and wanted to participate as much as we could,” Kirkner said. “Just to be here for the community and to spread some love for the cosplay community as well.”
Before coming to Swords and Spoons, Kirkner showcased the game at several major conventions, including New York Comic Con, Cosplay World in Virginia and Awesome Con in Washington, D.C.
In addition to TCG game development, Kirkner and his wife, Chantel Kirkner, run Creative Cosplays Magazine, a publication launched in 2019 that highlights cosplay photography, creators and event coverage.
“We are one of the top cosplay magazines in the world right now,” Kirkner said. “We do eight issues a year. It gives everybody a chance to be published in a magazine, and you have something physical to hold on to.”
For the Kirkners, the livestream was more than a demo. They said it was a way to unite creativity, gaming and charity in a single space.
Swords And Spoons Continues With Events Weekly
As for what’s next, the store plans to keep the momentum going with a full calendar of winter events. Upcoming highlights include the Nerdy Holiday Craft Show later this month, a Yu-Gi-Oh! Toy Drive Tournament and expanded Magic: The Gathering league nights.
“We’ve had a great first year,” Galloway said. “Now we just want to keep growing, keep connecting with people and keep giving back.”
For more information, visit Swords and Spoons on Facebook and Instagram, or join their Discord community to stay updated on tournaments and upcoming events.
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