This Week in Geek (1/27/2020–2/2/2020)

Welcome to This Week in Geek, your guide to events of interest to the Minnesota geek community for the week of Monday, January 27, to Sunday, February 2.

Pre-K Mornings

What: Family, Educational, Science & Technology
When: Monday, January 27, at 9:00 a.m.
Where: The Works Museum

This morning full of special activities is designed to handle the rapidly expanding minds of some of 3–5 year olds. This event will feature activities specifically designed for preschool-age children in order to spark critical thinking and interest in engineering for long-term growth. Kids get in for $4.25; adults for $9.

Twin Cities Monday Night Backgammon

What: Gaming
When: Monday, January 27, 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, January 27, at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Event Horizon at the Waterbury Building

This event invites participants to let their creativity shine with drawing, painting, crafting, or whatever their hearts desire at Creative Night, a weekly event put on by Crafty Geek and the Geek Partnership Society. Meet new people, show off your creative side with them, and maybe learn a thing or two.

Monday Night Pinball League

What: Gaming, Food & Drink
When: Monday, January 27, at 7:00 p.m.
Where: Surly Pizza Upstairs

Come play some silverball with fun folks at Surly, enjoy some pizza, have a beer, and cool your heels on a Monday night. This pinball league will meet Mondays, and is open to participants regardless of their pinball skill—you don’t have to be a pinball wizard to have fun. There will be prizes for top scores, and a points-based skill level. Thanks to Surly’s collaboration with Tilt Pinball bar, they’ll have a number of pinball machines, including a Star Trek: The Next Generation machine.

Movie Trivia: ’80s Cult Classics Theme Night

What: Trivia
When: Tuesday, January 28, at 6:00 p.m.
Where: Moon Palace Books

This movie-trivia event, presented by “If I Only Had a Brain” movie trivia, continues at Moon Palace Books. Expect challenging movie trivia, great prize support, and a fun community. This month’s event will focus on cult films from the ’80s, like Less Than Zero. Admission is free, and showing up early to grab a coffee or cider at Geek Love Cafe is strongly encouraged.

Pokémon Go Trainer Tuesdays at Parkway Pizza

What: Gaming, Food & Drink
When: Tuesday, January 28, at 7:00 p.m.
Where: Parkway Pizza

A trainer strives to catch them all, and gain prowess and respect. This weekly event at Parkway Pizza is an opportunity to catch fun drink and food specials, meet other aspiring trainers, and square off against worthy opponents to win status and power. You can and will win, even if winning may just mean having a good time meeting other pocket-monster fans.

Terror Tuesday: Return of the Living Dead

What: Movies
When: Tuesday, January 28, at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Alamo Drafthouse Twin Cities

Terror Tuesday, a horror-screening series at the Alamo Drafthouse Twin Cities, seeks to liven up weeknights with blood-pumping terror. This week’s screening is Return of the Living Dead, the hilarious, nihilistic, and bizarre quasi-followup to Night of the Living Dead. This film is drenched in ’80s cheese, gore, and fun. Tickets are $5, and as always, the Alamo Drafthouse has a variety of food and drink available to enjoy with the film.

Crafty Geek/Make It Sew

What: Arts, Meetup
When: Thursday, January 30, 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!”

NBC’s The Good Place: The Series Forking Finale

What: Arts
When: Thursday, January 30, at 7:30 p.m.
Where: Alamo Drafthouse Twin Cities

Bid fond farewell to one of the geekiest and strangest sitcoms to ever gain mainstream popularity and acclaim with this special event at the Drafhouse. This is your chance to see the series finale on the big screen, and say goodbye to a world of moral philosophy, cartoonishly evil demons, and a truly optimistic view of the human capacity for positive change. Tickets are $7.

Gummo

What: Movies
When: Friday, January 31, through Sunday, February 2; various times
Where: Trylon Cinema

Gummo is a 1997 cult-cinema classic of bored youth in economically depressed, tornado-stricken, small-town Ohio. The film is shot in a variety of formats, and has a pervasive sense of strangeness and horror, including some truly awful acts committed by the bored youth of the film. Per the Trylon, it is not for the faint of heart, but is an interesting artifact of late-’90s indie cinema. Tickets are $8.

Transmission Presents: Going Underground

What: Music, Nightlife
When: Friday, January 31, at 8:00 p.m.
Where: Honey

Transmission Music (creator of the famous local dance night) presents a rare Friday night dance night featuring the same styles of music that Transmission regulars crave (new wave, shoegaze, alternative, and more) in Honey’s basement. This is an early event, only running until 11 p.m. when another DJ will take over. The cover is $8.

Space Fest

What: Educational
When: Saturday, February 1, at 10:00 a.m. through Sunday, February 2, at 5:00 p.m.
Where: Bell Museum

The Bell Museum’s second annual celebration of all things space is focusing on women in space science. The museum notes you can expect “special guest speakers, science demonstrations, and hands-on astronomy activities all weekend long.” Activities are free with museum admission.There is also a special Space Fest edition of Star Party, the Bell’s free ($5 suggested donation) telescope observation night, on Friday, January 31.

United Geeks of Gaming Open Gaming

What: Gaming, Meetup
When: Saturday, February 1, 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.

Under Pressure Brewing First Anniversary Party

What: Food & Drink
When: Saturday, February 1, from noon to 11:00 p.m.
Where: Under Pressure Brewing Company

Under Pressure, the geek-friendly Apple Valley brewery we profiled back in October, is turning one year old. Expect new beers, giveaways, cake, food from Big Daddy’s Rockin Q, and other fun.

Board Game Flea Market

What: Gaming
When: Saturday, February 1, at 1:00 p.m.
Where: 1143 South Shore Drive (Minneapolis)

Help take some lovingly used board games off the hands of other board-game geeks and find some new favorites at this flea market event. This is an opportunity to make some space on your shelf by selling off old games as well. This event is hosted by the Minnesota Board Game Exchange Facebook group.

Weekly Comics Chat

What: Comics, Meetup
When: Saturday, February 1, at 3:00 p.m.
Where: Midtown Global Market

The Girls Only Comic Club hosts a Weekly Comics Chat on Saturday afternoons where there will be shared opinions, drinks, and fries for comics fans. Additional information about this event is posted on the Girls Only Comic Club’s Facebook group. Individuals interested in attending are encouraged to join.

Shieldmaiden Sunday

What: Gaming, Meetup
When: Sunday, February 2, at 12:00 p.m.
Where: Source Comics & Games

Shieldmaiden Sundays are a dedicated space for female nerds and geeks at Source Comics and 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. See the calendar for more events!

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!