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10/25/2017 08:30 AMAs Jennifer Walker unveils the oversized, newly-minted Stony Creek game version of the classic board game Monopoly, a familiar face—let’s call him Captain Creeker—holds court on cards and spaces.
With his snappy captain’s hat, mustache, and pipe, “he’s a composite of all the boat captains,” who plied the waters of Stony Creek in the recent past as well as the present, says Jennifer.
That’s just one of many local twists built in to this delightfully designed game celebrating both historic and present-day delights of Stony Creek, a village in Branford.
On Friday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m., the big board is set to be the centerpiece of an interactive, fundraising Stony Creek Museum Game Night, held in the museum at 84 Thimble Islands Road. Designed to bring the community together, the event will also help raise funds to assist the non-profit museum in continuing its mission. Through displays, exhibits, and programs, the Stony Creek Museum celebrates the history of the shoreline village in Branford by collecting, archiving, maintaining, and exhibiting items that reflect the history, culture, and community of Stony Creek and the Thimble Islands.
Jennifer, a member of the all-volunteer Stony Creek Museum Board of Directors, helped envision the Game Night as well as the giant game board. She’s excited to bring it all to life on Nov. 3.
“This is an idea we started cooking up in my living room after dinner over a year ago,” says Jennifer, a Stony Creek resident. “A few neighbors, including Stony Creek Museum board members along with the museum’s director, Judy Robinson, conjured up the image of a giant Monopoly game using Stony Creek streets and village images.”
The project advanced to “Go” with Jennifer and Robinson working out the needed logistics, with a goal of introducing the finished project as part of a fundraising game night at the museum. With the help of Scott Doolittle, owner of The Reflected Image, and his graphic designer, Suzie Cappezone, the game board design described by Jennifer and Robinson was recently produced and printed at a size that would cover a Queen-sized mattress. It was created in vinyl, which allows it to travel, if needed, and also makes it a great display that will likely hang in the museum one day.
On game night, the board will be set up on green felt backing across a large table to make its debut, complete with oversized plastic green houses and red hotels (made using the 3D printer at Guilford Free Library). Jennifer and Robinson used online auction sites to track down all of the familiar silver tokens—upsized, of course. They took to their computers to create the designs for the gigantic Monopoly money, printed in all the right hues, as well as the Chance and Community Chest cards and deeds.
“Making the deeds and money was the easy part—computers are a miracle,” says Jennifer. “The hard part was having everyone agree on the placement of the streets!”
In the end, the best approach was to take the actual approach into Stony Creek, she says. From there, the ensuing Stony Creek streets that make up the majority of the game board all fell into place.
“You come into Stony Creek either on Leetes Island Road or Stony Creek Road, and those are the first streets you will see on the board, so it’s logical,” says Jennifer.
In addition to all of the familiar street names, the board has spots for four aptly named Stony Creek ferry boats (in place of railroads) and includes Willoughby Wallace Library and even the Stony Creek Post Office among its stops. Players may end up “Just Visiting” with Thimble Islands’ legendary Captain Kidd in Jail, or hit Free Parking—complete with a car topped by a kayak.
To make sure the Stony Creek game moves at an exciting, shortened pace on Game Night, the crew has crafted rules that will be shared and are specific to their board. For example, they’ve pumped up the play by having players start off with some deeded property already in hand. They’ve also added, “lively trading sessions and auctions to really heat up the room,” says Jennifer, as well as some fun prizes following the night’s theme.
In addition, Game Night will feature plenty of other nostalgic games to play as well as drinks and snacks, including sandwiches—with good reason. As Jennifer points out, “it’s said the sandwich, a great snack food, was invented by John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, as [it] allowed him to continue playing cards without leaving the game.”
The Nov. 3 Stony Creek Museum Game Night crowd is limited to no more than 60 lucky guests who can enjoy the event as spectators or players (players are encouraged to team up).
“So picture six people playing with their team—they can be involved in following the game, or they can wander around and play other games at other tables we’ll have set up, and they can also browse the museum exhibits, have a sandwich, a glass of wine, beer, coffee, dessert...It’s really meant to be fun and interactive,” says Jennifer.
Volunteers will be working the tables and available to answer questions about any of the exhibits on display in the museum, which opened in 2012 and is inside the former St. Therese Church.
“We’re really excited to be holding game night at the museum; especially these days, when we’re all complaining we’ve isolated ourselves on screens—this is the opposite of that,” says Jennifer. “This is communication that brings people together with community spirit; and there are no screens involved!”
Stony Creek Museum Game Night is Friday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. at the museum, 84 Thimble Islands Road, Branford. Advance ticket reservations, $25 per person, can be made by sending a check to Stony Creek Museum, P.O. Box 3047, Stony Creek, CT 06405. For more information, call 203-488- 6856 or 203-481-9369.