What if you could donate to a local charity by just having fun and playing games?

Residents will soon be doing that exact type of fundraising next month as we get closer to the summer GAX, a semi-annual gaming expo hosted by the Moose Jaw Gamers. 

This three-day event is the longest running and largest gaming expos in the province and it will soon take over downtown Moose Jaw as they have moved this year to the Cultural Centre. 

"It is going to be a very unique experience because the VR set up is going to be right at the front entrance when you come in you can try that all weekend," explained Organizer Kristian Sjoberg. "There's a board games section, that will be in one of the foyers upstairs. We've got individual rooms for role-playing games, console games, internet games and some of the esport contests."

Sjoberg said with the number of games they add each passing year, they had no choice but to find a bigger venue that could house the amount of fun they offer. 

"We've gotten to the point where we've got so many board games that it's taking up more space than we anticipated hence moving to the new venue. We've also got nationally ranked board game competitions, we've got Settlers of Catan, which is a board game, we are the provincial qualifier for the national competition in Ontario," Sjoberg said.

He noted that there are two things he loves most about the expos, the looks on kids faces when they light up playing their favourite style of game, and also the faces of those who receive their donation at the end of it all as all proceeds go to a local non-profit. This year the lucky recipient is the Moose Jaw and District Foodbank and a brand new program they recently launched.

"The bigger we get the more we get to donate to those charities, like this year we've got the food bank and we're working on their mighty munchies program which is snack foods for kids. In the hampers, they only normally get regular, everyday food for lunch, supper or dinner. These kids go to school and they're sitting there during lunch or recess and they don't have snacks."

Registration is now open on the Moose Jaw Gamers website and the summer gaming event takes place on July 12th to 14th.