Local brothers get grounded, invent card game that will debut at weekend gaming convention

Being grounded from playing electronics after a backyard fight turned into a fun venture for two Augusta teens.

Brothers Caleb and Dusty Warren spent their “punishment” inventing a card game called At-Night Chernobyl that will make its gaming convention debut during the 10th annual TsunamiCon happening Oct. Friday through Sunday in Wichita.

“Dad calls him the evil genius behind the game and me the genius,” said 15-year-old Caleb about his and 13-year-old Dylan’s roles in inventing the game. “I’m not really the kind of person that can just create ideas, but I can absolutely build off of them.”

“I think it’s a very good combination of how they’re so different yet alike on a lot of things. And they play well off each other, too,” said their mom, Shawnacy Warren. She has become the manager of the family’s gaming enterprise, setting up the business, getting the At-Night title trademarked and handling social media and event scheduling in between working on her Bachelor of Nursing degree and handling the boys’ other extracurricular activities.

During the creative process, their dad, Jeff, who works at the Sherwin-Williams plant in Andover, often played devil’s advocate, pointing out problems or possible outcomes that they might need to fix.

Interestingly enough, it was a disagreement over rules for a game they were making up that started the brothers’ backyard fight during the 2020 pandemic shutdown. Like many families, the Warrens spent a lot of time playing board games during the lockdown. A casual comment by one of the boys on how Clue could be made more interesting if there was an option for the killer to escape prompted Jeff to suggest that maybe they could come up with their own game.

According to the game’s website, At-Night Chernobyl plays like a mix of the card games Exploding Kittens, Werewolf and Among Us. A murderous demon causes havoc to travelers who dare to enter the radioactive wasteland. Each player is assigned one of 10 characters with special powers, such as the beggar, the coward, the mechanic and the screamer, and the object is to find out who among them is the demon. The game can be played with four to 10 players and is suitable for ages 6 and up.

Along with having a vendor booth at the TsunamiCon convention, being held at the Holiday Inn hotel at Rock and Kellogg, the family is also running three gaming sessions to allow convention-goers to try out the game.

Before making the game available for purchase to the public earlier this year, the Warrens had printed up 10 prototypes that they gifted to family and friends to beta-test and get feedback. Shawnacy’s nephew, a U.S. Navy sailor, raved about how fun he and his fellow sailors found the game during a deployment.

The teen inventors are now working on expansion packs for their game and are developing at least one other game.

While other new games have made their debut at TsunamiCon, what makes At-Night Chernobyl’s debut different is that its inventors are a pair of local kids, said convention director Erik Carl.

Usually about 300 to 400 people turn up for the tabletop gaming convention, where one of the main purposes is to bring together gamers to play games. The mix of attendees tends to be split among those who prefer role-playing games and those who prefer board or card games, said Carl, who has been a longtime Dungeon & Dragons gamer.

Gamers can sign up to play in advance online or during the convention. To sign up online, go to the Events menu at tsunamicon.org. Unlike other gaming conventions, there is no additional fee to play games, Carl said.

Weekend passes, good for entry into all three days of TsunamiCon, are $45, while day passes for Friday and Sunday are $20, and Saturday day passes are $25.

This year’s convention also includes more than 25 vendors, live entertainment, a couple of gaming panel discussions and a library of more than 300 games that gamers can check out and play. Librarians will be available to help explain the games, Carl said.

Another regional game creator, the El Dorado-based Talon Games that created the Combat Assault Vehicle sci-fi tabletop game, is among the returning vendors.

TsunamiCon gaming convention

Where: Holiday Inn, 549 S. Rock Road

When: 1-11 p.m. Friday, Oct. 20; 9 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21; 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 22

Admission: $45 for a weekend pass; $20 for a day pass for either Friday or Sunday; $25 for a Saturday day pass

More info: tsunamicon.org