07/23/2026
It couldnāt have gone better if I planned itā¦ Actually, I did plan it! And it did go better than I expected! š
The first Bounskee Boss Battle Community Challenge fantasy FUNdraiser was a success! Everyone who participated had a fun and meaningful experience, we raised some money for charity, and there may even have been a little bit of magic. šŖ
Not many people there knew what was coming. A high score contest with prizes for the top scores based on a story with a villain we all had to work together to defeat. A contest backed by pledge money so every ball shot by everyone who played helped raise a measurable donation to charity. Victory bonuses awarded when we collectively beat the boss - everybody who played won a prize (even I!). And all built around a simple ping pong ball toss game (with some functionally cool, custom event-themed decor). š Thank you The Hardwood Centre and Cncwoodcutters for helping with what I needed to set the scene.
When the plan finally fell into place only about 2 weeks ago, I knew it would be hard to find people to participate in a pledge-a-thon- especially for something new that has never been tested. And I knew that if everybody at the event got one free play, probably not many people would pay $5 to play again (even with cool prizes and all the money going to the event charities). So I am pretty pleased with the $430 this first fantasy FUNdraiser made out with.
There were some magical moments, for sure. I designed the challenge to be winnable (as long as people participated) based on time and average scores- 10,000 points was the number I landed on. Early on in the contest, it looked like I made it too easy. But participation wasnāt steady throughout the event and a couple hours in I started to doubt our chances. Then, the contest leader (and ultimately, the winner), Jared, whose whole family was loving the experience, rallied people to the battle. That turned the tide back in our favor and we took out the Landhog with only 15 minutes left on the clock! The rally and late victory really made things exciting toward and til the end! There was a lot to do at the larger event, but a good number of people witnessed the Landhogās defeat and cheered. Though we didnāt make the connection until after, turns out that Jared is the brother of my Space Neighbors bandmate, Nick of Time šø May not seem magical to you, but combined with other thingsā¦
The night before, I played a show with Ludicrous Speed Ska Revue in Corvallis and after the show I shared the event and challenge with a group of people outside who were at the show. They seemed stoked on the community challenge and said they would come- but not knowing them, I had no idea if they would follow through. Though they were late to the challenge, it was Coya who threw the finishing ballāŖļø
I really wanted us to win because there were victory bonuses if we did. Eola Hills W**e Cellars, Mid-Willamette Family YMCA, and DORE very generously offered (upon my request) to help incentivize participation by pledging to provide something meaningful IF the community challenge was successful. So with the defeat of the Landhog, everybody who played won a prize (Eola Hills w**e for the adults and a YMCA laser tag pass for the kids/teens) and DORE matched the $30 from pay-to-play-again. I had been telling people this would happen as much as I could all day, but itās likely I missed some players with that info in the excitement and it may not have registered with others. Regardless, there was a lot of surprise and excitement when people who figured they didnāt win the contest were awarded with their prize. It was pretty magical. āØ
I tried to rally some pledge collectors before I had to prioritize other tasks, but no one else ended up asking for donations (specifically for the challenge) except me so the trophy Bounskee I made for the top pledge collector went to my friend who pledged the largest donation, Yohan. Shout out to Drew Monaco for coming in close second- both very generous donations. In total, I managed to raise $370 while grinding on the mountain of other things that needed to be done to pull this off. Turns out that $370 was a magic number for this particular challenge š¤Æ
$370 worked out to 3.7 cents for every point out of the 10,000 in the contest. To my astonishment and delight, that .037 multiplied by any factor of 30 up to 300 is an angel number! š° I first noticed when I was talking to Michael on the phone and thought to calculate his pledge/score amount. 210 points=$7.77! (777 cents!) Then I did Angelaās. 120 points=$4.44! Also, Farrin (who helped me ALL day and I couldnāt have pulled this off nearly as well without- plus they got most of the good content seen above) scored 150=$5.55! It was not intentional that I sent them their victory certificate showing their battle stats at precisely 5:55 š®There were other players who scored multiples of 30 which noticeably sped up the contestās literal aftermath.
So I knew I created a fantasy, but even I had no idea there would be REAL magic! āØ Yesterday, I finished sending everyone their victory certificates and instructions on how to claim prizes for those I didnāt see at the end. The whole endeavor was a lot of work, a lot of fun, and brought a lot of satisfaction (to others as well as myself). But I guess my time in Bounskee Fantasyland is overā¦for nowā¦ (Mark your calendars for 9/20 at Trillium Family Services!)
Oh! And I did finish writing the story through the end of the battle and posted it along with the results (battle stats) on the website so you can see what this craziness was all about. https://bounskee.fun/pages/community-challenge (LINK IN BIO)
Reels comingā¦
