The 24 Hour Board Game Marathon 2023

Greetings! My name is Dan Apsey – I am the lead organiser of one of the largest board gaming conventions for a charity called in The 24-Hour Board Game Marathon! As the name suggests we play board games for 24 hours, all in the name of charity. My wife Vicky also helps too!

The charity that we always support is Cots for Tots – this charity supports families all over the south west of England whose newly born baby has had a difficult start to life and requires assistance in Saint Michaels Hospital Bristol. They support Mum and Dad by providing them with a roof over their heads in Cots for Tots House which is right opposite the hospital. They can be a stone's throw away from their new baby, completely for free and not needing to worry about the costs as Cots for Tots charge nothing. They also fund life-saving equipment for the hospital's Neo natal intensive care department, they’re truly amazing.

The charity is close to my heart. The reason being, because our son was there 5 years ago. Let’s pop down memory lane! Archer, our baby boy was unfortunately stuck, he just loved being where he was in his Mummy’s tummy!
Archer was very poorly. He was sent to Saint Michael's Hospital where he received 24-hour care and the necessary treatment needed. Mummy and Daddy were really quite scared and didn’t know Archer's outcome. Luckily and thankfully, after 12 days Archer was released from hospital and made a full recovery! All thanks to the hospital and Cots for Tots. Archer is now a 5-year-old cheeky boy and we love him to bits.
Shortly after Archer's release from hospital both Vicky and I decided that we wanted to give back. Offer our support to the charity in the best way we know how. And so The 24-Hour Board Game Marathon was founded!

The 24-Hour Board Game Marathon is now in its 6th Year! Our event consists of open gaming and tournaments and we also live-stream the event over Twitch, Facebook and YouTube too! Since 2018 we have raised a staggering £17,119 for Cots for Tots! Just for playing board games! Last year in 2022, 200 players graced our venue in Ilminster, Somerset to play and raise money for the charity through the tickets we sell.