On November 18, Snakes & Lattes, a cafe that allows patrons to choose from a large selection of board games to play during their visit, hosted the fifth annual Settlers of Catan gaming marathon — the ‘Catanathon.’ The event was held in support of the Canadian Cancer Society.
Every year, participants play the popular board game of trading and settlements for as long as donations are coming in from the supporting audience. This tournament surpassed the previous year’s length of 24 hours by one hour.
The event generated a total of $5,285.57 in donations, all going towards cancer research. With the support of sponsoring partner Mill Street Brewery, Catanathon mixed gaming strategy, amusing challenges, and a no-quit attitude.
Snake & Lattes’ College Street location was filled with supporters there to witness the spectacle and try their hands at the many games lining the shelves.
Catan player Marisa Ranalli, along with ‘Game Guru’ teammates Mikhail Honoridez, Sioux Jensen-Potter, and Mandy Jelsma formed the core group of players settled in for the long haul. The game is a complicated slow-burn, often taking hours to play.
To lend the tournament some variety, the four were periodically rotated out with special guests or local celebrities, including YouTuber Andrew Huang, stand-up comedian Gavin Stephens, and Space Channel host Ajay Fry.
At the end of the 15-game Catan marathon, it was Honoridez who came out on top, winning a total of five games.
The entire 25 hours of gameplay was livestreamed on YouTube. Viewers were able donate online, witness the excitement and check in over the course of the night to see how players were holding up. All the while, host Scott Emerson Moyle kept up with the gameplay, encouraged the donations to keep coming, and facilitated additional game challenges.
It wasn’t only the rounds of gameplay and loopiness of a 6:00 am coffee buzz that kept the entertainment going: live-streaming viewers were able to donate specified amounts to trigger certain events throughout the tournament. This included a $1.00 donation for your name to appear on the screen and a $5.00 high-five dedication.
For a higher price, there were options such as the cone of shame and the $50.00 sexy dance. Another quite popular, more suspenseful donation effect was that for $20.00, you could prompt a round of Timbit roulette in which the players would have to eat one of the baked treats with the one-in-seven chance of it being a wasabi-filled one.
At the end of the day, the teams powered through fatigue, challenging strategy, and 12 wasabi Timbits to make their contribution to cancer research and patient support.
