Winter Park family works to launch free game library

In the wake of an incident that left their neighborhood sidewalks empty and laughter-free, two Winter Park children have come up with a way to return the joy to their community.

Liam and Claire Goodowens, 10 and 8 years old, developed their project, The Game Exchange, in response to an incident in their neighborhood where a man shot his neighbor’s dog, Lilly, in the eye after he said she acted aggressively while out on a walk on Aug. 14. The shooting, they said, changed their Winter Park neighborhood from a friendly one where people are often out walking together at night to one where people stay in their homes and rarely go out.

“We’ve known Lilly for all 11 years of her life and we were very surprised and sad (after the shooting),” said their mother, Samantha Goodowens. “And Claire especially was very afraid to walk down the street because she thought, ‘What if he couldn’t see me in the dark and thought I was scary?’”

At first, the children, as part of the curriculum they are working through in their homeschooling program, The Omega School, wanted to start a Little Free Library. With the help of their mother, they got the permits from the city to build it. But after going to a game night at Cool Stuff Games in Maitland and being bit by the board game bug, they decided to pursue a game exchange instead.

“We were going to do a Little Free Library but then we realized books spread people apart and we are trying to bring the neighborhood together,” Claire said.

By the end of August, they had pitched the idea to the city and VISION Winter Park, the latter of which pledged $500 for the family to complete construction of boxes that would house the games that would be placed around the city. They also met with the sources of their board-game inspiration, the managers at Cool Stuff Games, and were given a tour of a private warehouse they say is reminiscent of a scene from “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

Cool Stuff Games donated five games after that tour and decided to sponsor the boxes, and will have donation boxes at all of their stores. Once the project launches, this month, Cool Stuff Games will advertise the project on its website and game review podcast, The Dice Tower.

The project is moving steadily, with the city and industry professionals rooting for it. All that’s left is to finish and launch.

“The physical boxes, that’s what’s taking so long,” Samantha said. “We have everyone on board and we have a ton of games, we’re ready to go.”

The next step is to make a sample box and present it to the city for approval. Once the green light is given, the first box is going to be set in a park very close to where the Lilly incident happened.

Once the first game share box is installed here, the Goodowens family has dreams of the community game exchange idea going nationwide. But for now, Liam said, “We just want everyone to have to have fun and play more games.”