The Adventure Begins!

The popularity of the game Dungeons & Dragons® has swept the world, becoming part of the very fabric of our popular culture. Over 50 million people have played the game worldwide but the game's influence is much greater than that. Whether you play roleplaying games, board games, computer games, phone app games, or engage in social media platforms, the language of D&D® is all around us. Experience points, level or leveling-up, saving throws, character class, hit points, armor class, NPC, player-character, ability scores, to name just a few. We have no problems identifying with magic-users, fireballs, wizards, rangers, paladins, red, green, and blue dragons and the rest!

The game surged in popularity in the late 1970s and early 80s and then again starting in 2014 and nearing a crescendo in 2020 with the onset of Covid-19. Players of the game and new players discovered that playing the game remotely, using video calls and similar platforms allowed groups of people to share in the fun and imaginative game and most of all, be together despite being physically apart. For a lot of us this game got us through a really difficult time in human history.

People just don't say a game, "saved my life" or " changed my life" but player's of the Dungeons & Dragons® game do. Whether isolated in small towns across the world, socially isolated in grade school or high school, or physically isolated from peer groups, the game allowed us to go beyond our world and to share in the imaginative worlds created while playing the game. They also formed deep friendships that would last a lifetime and gathered their children and families to share in the joy of the game. Generations of players have been created and those players have in turn become the creative fabric of our society today. Writers, film makers, artists, and game designers that were born from the creativity and imagination of the game are now sharing that spark with novels, cartoons, comics, film, television, board games, computer games, role-playing games, and entrepreneurial enterprises.

Indeed the skills of leadership, tactics, problem solving, planning, resource management, and team dynamics learned through Dungeons & Dragons® have created a new generation of leaders. The benefits of the game go even beyond that, encouraging excellence in math, reading, and writing; and being used by talented and gifted programs around the world. The game has positive developmental and health benefits as well, being used for occupational therapy, positive reinforcement in at-risk-youth programs, rehabilitation in detention facilities and prisons, and even leading to mental well being, having shown reduced suicide rates among players as compared to the general population.

But did you know this game didn't exist for the world to enjoy until 1974? Think of it, the 50 million players, all the fun and friendships they formed, all the creative works and games they created, and the industries and livelihoods that resulted, none of it would exist. And the co-designers of this game did it right here in the United States of America, one of them, Gary Gygax, writing and publishing D&D® in the little town of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. He was an out-of-work insurance underwriter, cobbling shoes and getting by on food stamps and risking it all to publish a game that no other publisher believed in.

Gary himself believed in the power of games to bring people together. Even as a child, that power drew him to games like chess, cribbage, mahjong, and others. But all those games were based on competition. In a millennia of game design, a thousand years of human history, few had broken this paradigm of us vs. them, victory or defeat. The purpose of games were to win, and losing meant failure.

But for the first time in thousands of years, D&D® gives us something different. It’s a game whose only boundary is the imagination of everyone sitting around the table playing it. Where shared imagination is the reward.

So if you have ever faced a red dragon, made a death save, been cornered by a gelatinous cube, thrown a fireball, leveled-up, or rolled a natural 20 to save the day. If the game Dungeons & Dragons® helped you and your friends stay together and laugh and create unforgettable stories you will retell for years. If the game helped you through a difficult time, gave you a sense of belonging, forged lifelong friendships, or helped build a career that has made your life complete. If you want to say thank you for all the joy the game has given you. Here is your chance.

Help us to build the ultimate monument to Dungeons & Dragons® in the place where the game was written and published, the home town of Gary Gygax, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

Join Our Quest!

There are several ways you can join our quest!

Buy Merchandise:

The Gygax Memorial fund has a number of great items you can purchase to show your support!

To purchase Gygax Memorial Merchandise follow this link here!

Donate Here:

The maximum Kickstarter support level is capped at $10,000.

The Gygax Memorial has higher rewarded donation levels available.

If you wish to go directly to these higher reward levels, please click here.

Donate Through Kickstarter:

The Gygax Memorial will launch a Kickstarter mid-July running through mid-August.

See a preview of the Kickstarter, Coming Soon!

D&D® and Dungeons & Dragons® are registered trademarks of Hasbro subsidiary, Wizards of the Coast, and are used here with permission. (...without permission but used only in the context of the historical events and culturally significant accomplishments of Gary Gygax. In the interests of disclosure, Wizards of the Coast is one of the Gygax Memorial Fund's corporate donors.)