In the far back room of the officers club, six grown men huddle around a table, waiting to be dealt strange-looking cards with rocks and crows and other hieroglyphics on them.
The creator of the game, a 41-year-old resident of Ogden named Sean MacDonald, is perched over them, occasionally making a lap around the men like he is their schoolteacher.
"It's good to have a wide range of color," he tells his pupils. "Hoarding is bad for this game."
MacDonald is competing against seven other local board-game creators for first place in the Utah board-game convention, "A Gathering of Strangers."
After working out the details in his head for two months, MacDonald printed the game off his computer.
The premise is based on one of Aesop's lesser-known fables, "The Crow and the Pitcher." The goal is to add enough rocks, noted on the cards, to raise the water sitting in the bottom of an imaginary pitcher without breaking it or overbetting.
The convention, for board-game enthusiasts and creators alike, is gaming nirvana.
The judges make notes on sheets of paper. They are gurus to the underground world of board-game creators-producers from game publishers who decide the fates of the games being played.
Their nod of approval would inch MacDonald further toward his ultimate goal: getting his game published.
"If I win, it means the judges in there like my game and perhaps it will be published. But moreover, it's their feedback that really helps."
Outside the quiet judging room, hundreds of board games are stacked on a table. More than 150 people fill rows of tables with board games of every shape and color imaginable.
The convention is hosted by the Board Game Designers Guild of Utah, a group of local creators who have a passion for playing and creating strategy games.
There are no Monopoly or Scrabble boards to be seen here. The adult crowd here scorns these as old school and overly dependent on roll-of-the-dice chance.
The majority of the games being played are known to the gaming world as Eurogames for their emphasis on strategy over luck.
All day Friday and Saturday, men and women filled the room at the officers club, many toting their own favorite games from their private collections.
"Games are a social activity," says Greg Jones, founder of the Board Game Designers Guild. "They give you an opportunity to interact with people in a unique way."
After MacDonald's game is critiqued, one of the judges approaches him outside of the room. He is from Out of the Box Games, the distributor of Apples to Apples.
"I really liked your game," he tells MacDonald.
Ultimately, MacDonald places fourth in the competition. It is, for him, a nod of approval, even if it is not the paragon.
"I feel great, sure," he says afterward. "For the game that I submitted, I'm very happy with its placement."
MacDonald has no goal to strike it rich. He works as a truck driver at Albertsons and designs games purely for the joy.
"I think for me the goal is to create something that people enjoy." Then points to a pile of unopened games stacked next to him. "I mean this is the total goal," he says.
e-mail: mgonda@desnews.com