This Week in Geek (7/15/19–7/21/19)

Welcome to This Week in Geek, your guide to events of interest to the Minnesota geek community for the week of Monday, July 15, to Sunday, July 21.

Monday Night Game Night

What: Gaming
When: Monday, July 15, at 5:00 p.m.
Where: Level Up Games (South St. Paul)

While it may be tough diving back into the workweek (at least for those of us with Monday-to-Friday jobs), this event seeks to add fun and levity to Mondays with games. This is your chance to game with your fellows in a fun environment, either bringing your own or borrowing from the store’s library. Decompress and make some new meeple-friendly pals.

Twin Cities Monday Night Backgammon

What: Gaming
When: Monday, July 15, at 6:00 p.m.
Where: Minneapolis Richfield American Legion

Enjoy a night of backgammon with two tournaments. Entry to this event is $5, and this is a great chance for both pros and newcomers to learn this classic game of strategy.

Creative Night

What: Arts, Community
When: Monday, July 15, at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Event Horizon at the Waterbury Building

Let your creativity shine with drawing, painting, crafting, or whatever your heart desires at Creative Night, a weekly event put on by Crafty Geek and the Geek Partnership Society. This is a free event, so bring some of your own stuff to work on, bring some snacks, and hang out in a collaborative space.

GPS Figure Drawing Salon

What: Arts, Educational
When: Monday, July 15, at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Event Horizon at the Waterbury Building

The Geek Partnership Society’s Arts Initiative hosts a figure-drawing salon at the Waterbury Building on the third Monday of each month. For a $5 fee, attendees can participate in a three-hour drawing session that “will include short, medium, and long poses, which allow artists to engage with the subject in varying ways” and that “will use a combination of nude and costumed models to support and foster fantasy and science-fiction art.” The goal of hosting this event is to “cultivate a community of artists to share ideas, support each other, and create.”

Surly Cinema: Top Gun

What: Movies, Food & Drink
When: Monday, July 15, at 7:30 p.m.
Where: Surly Brewing Co.

Surly Cinema will be lighting up Minneapolis nights with beer, food, and most importantly, free movies in the Beer Garden. Attendees are encouraged to bring a towel or lawn chair, and enjoy this summer’s theme of blockbusters. This week’s showing is Top Gun, a summer classic of American youth, military service, jets, and danger zones.

Terror Tuesday: The Burning

What: Movies
When: Tuesday, July 16, at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Alamo Drafthouse Twin Cities

Terror Tuesday, a horror-screening series at the Alamo Drafthouse Twin Cities, seeks to liven up school nights with blood-pumping terror. Tickets are $5, and as always, the Alamo Drafthouse has a variety of food and drink available to enjoy with the film. This week’s screening is The Burning, a classic ’80s camp-counselor slasher, complete with a legendary burned man, horny teens, and gruesome deaths. Extra points go to this film for featuring young Holly Hunter and Jason Alexander. Tickets are $5.

GothiCoffee

What: Meetup
When: Wednesday, July 17, at 6:00 p.m.
Where: Steamship Coffee and Tea

The Twin Cities Elysium Society hosts a casual meetup on the third Wednesday of each month. This group is a “community and a resource for all manner of goth, not-goth, darksider, freak, punk, metal, steam, cyber, rivet, Victorian, romantic, grufti, espeluznante, emo, otaku, morbidly inclined, dark creative, what-have-you (you know who you are).

Mystic Dawn/Amtgard: Battle Games

What: Gaming, Sports & Fitness
When: Wednesday, July 17, at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Oak Grove Park

Amtgard, a global organization focused on the sport of medieval-fantasy combat, will be hosting a gathering in Oak Grove Park. Participants can take part in glorious quests, battle, and more, all with the use of foam weapons for the sake of safety. Garb is encouraged, but not required, and loaner weapons are available. This is a free-to-play event, but long-term players are expected to support the organization with $6 or $10 dues.

Trash Film Debauchery: Kin-Dza-Dza

What: Movies
When: Wednesday, July 17, at 7:00 p.m.
Where: Trylon Cinema

Long-running local cult-cinema group Trash Film Debauchery returns to the Trylon for Kin-Dza-Dza, a Soviet space odyssey that is described as “Mad Max meets Monty Python.” This 1986 film follows two Russians taken to a dystopian world after encountering an alien device. Tickets are $5.

Trivia Against Humanity Wednesdays

What: Trivia
When: Wednesday, July 17, at 7:00 p.m.
Where: Modist Brewing Co.

This regular event at Modist, hosted by Sam Spadino and Bacon, represents the convergence of two geeky favorites: a brewery that geeks out for innovative beer, and absurd trivia. Trivia Against Humanity has other weekly events as well; see the Trivia Against Humanity Facebook page for additional events.

Crafty Geek/Make It Sew

What: Arts, Meetup
When: Thursday, July 18, at 7:00 p.m.
Where: Event Horizon at the Waterbury Building

The Geek Partnership Society’s Crafty Geek club and its sub-club Make It Sew meet Thursday evenings at the Waterbury Building and invite you to “bring your crafty stuff to do” or to “hang out and work with the crafty stuff we have here!”

Friday Night Magic

What: Gaming
When: Friday, July 19, at 6:00 p.m.
Where: Mischief Toy Store

Mischief Toy Store in St. Paul invites you to experience some magic with them this Friday night for this Magic: The Gathering draft event. Entry is $15, and all players will receive prizes, including a “fancy promo card.” This weekly event is limited to 24 players and typically lasts until about 9:00 p.m. All skill levels are welcome. Mischief Toy Store hosts other events throughout the week, which are listed on Meetup and Facebook (check out the full calendar on the event page linked above).

UGG FSA BattleTech Tabletop

What: Gaming, Meetup
When: Friday, July 19, at 7:00 p.m.
Where: Fallout Shelter Arcade

Come on down for an evening of tactical-mech combat! The United Geeks of Gaming meet Friday nights for a beginner-friendly session of the tabletop-mech game BattleTech at Fallout Shelter Arcade in Northeast. FSA’s Virtual World gaming pods also run the immersive video-game version of BattleTech.

GPS UGG Open Gaming

What: Gaming, Meetup
When: Saturday, July 20, at 10:00 a.m.
Where: Event Horizon at the Waterbury Building

The Geek Partnership Society’s United Geeks of Gaming group offers its open-gaming session, to which gamers of all ages and abilities are invited to “spend the day hanging out with fellow geeks playing, learning, and teaching games.” Attendees are encouraged to bring their favorite board games, card games, and role-playing games, but the group has amassed an impressive library of its own games as well.

Gamers Doing Good SUMMER EDITION!

What: Gaming, Community
When: Saturday, July 20, at 12:00 p.m.
Where: Level Up Games (Eagan)

Play, donate, and win at this event that benefits the Children’s Miracle Network. This event will be focused on PlayStation gaming, with game demos, a raffle, and a silent auction to fulfill geeky desires while putting money into the pockets of a good organization. Attendees will receive a lanyard and pen, while supplies last.

Stranger Games

What: Gaming
When: Saturday, July 20, at 1:30 p.m.
Where: Highland Park Library

Libraries have always been gateways to strange new worlds and knowledge through books. Stranger Games seeks to expand on that power with an afternoon of games, snacks, and adventure. This will be a tabletop role-playing event with tables running Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition, as well as Kids on Bikes, a role-playing game about small towns and big adventure. All levels of experience are invited to give it a try.

Weekly Comics Chat

What: Meetup, Comics
When: Saturday, July 20, at 3:00 p.m.
Where: Minneapolis Central Library

New or neck deep into comics? It doesn’t matter! Share what comics you’ve read this week, get plenty of recommendations, have a drink, share fries, sit back, and have a great time. Additional information about this event is posted on the Girls Only Comic Club’s Facebook group. Individuals interested in attending are encouraged to join.

E-cology: The Evolution of Technology

What: Gaming, Science & Technology, Music
When: Saturday, July 20, at 6:00 p.m.
Where: Three Rivers Park District—Silverwood Park

Watch the virtual and real worlds collide at this outdoor event full of augmented-reality gaming, RPGs, demos, music, trivia, and more. A surprising number of geeky hobbies will be represented at this event, and attendees are eligible to win great prizes, including gift cards to Level Up Games, and branded dice.. This event is free, but limited to attendees who are 21 and up.

Reverend Matt’s Monster Science: Raining Cats and Manticores

What: Comedy & Theater, Educational, Family
When: Saturday, July 20, at 7:00 p.m.
Where: Phoenix Theater

Reverend Matt’s Monster Science, a recurring comedic lecture series with a focus on monsters, will be looking at monstrous cats and manticores this month. Come down to the Phoenix Theater for an informative talk about the history and cultural context of prehistoric death-cats, manticores, and more. This is a great way to see the common threads in human-mythological narratives, and the way that those common threads are interpreted through varying cultural contexts. Tickets are $12.

Mondo Queer Beach Party: Dos!

What: Community, Food & Drink, Family
When: Sunday, July 21 at 12:00 p.m.
Where: Lake Nokomis 50th Street Beach (Minneapolis)

Come back to grill, play some volleyball, get some sun, and raise funds for the Minnesota Transgender Health Coalition at this multi-generational queer beach party on Lake Nokomis. There will be two grills in use—one for meat, one for veg—as well as volleyball, a sandy beach, and swag for sale, with all proceeds donated to support the FREE services of Tigerrs: Trans Intersex Gender-Expansive Revolutionary Resources & Services! This free event should be a blast, and bring something to grill and share! Look for Gender Fabulous Flags to find the event.

Shieldmaiden Sunday

What: Gaming, Meetup
When: Sunday, July 21, at 12:00 p.m.
Where: Source Comics & Games

Shieldmaiden Sundays are a dedicated space for female nerds and geeks at Source Comics & Games. This is a recurring weekly event providing a space for women to play games, chat about comics, cosplay, or just enjoy the company of other geeks.

Star Wars: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back

What: Movies
When: Sunday, July 21, at 12:00, 3:00, 6:00, and 9:00 p.m.
Where: The Parkway

Come and see the aftermath of A New Hope’s triumph, and the horror of asymmetrical space war against vicious tyrants. This darker middle chapter of the original Star Wars trilogy introduces beloved characters like Lando Calrissian, Yoda, and Boba Fett, and a great variety of fantastical lived-in places like Hoth, Dagobah, and Cloud City. This film deserves to be seen on the big screen, if only to show how well it has held up, and just how powerful it still is decades after its release. Tickets are $9 in advance or $11 at the door. Check the Parkway for other events this week, including a screening of Transformers.

So, which of these events will you be attending? What events would you like to see featured in the future? Let us know in the comments section below or contact us via email. And don’t forget to add your events to the Twin Cities Geek Community Calendar!