What to Do With Your Powerball Winnings – for Gamers

 

What to do with your Powerball jackpot

Bodega sign maxed out at 999 million Powerball jackpotPowerball Fever is gripping the United States right now. As I write this, the Powerball jackpot for tonight is around $1.5 billion. The local bodega signs cannot handle a jackpot of this magnitude (photo from my local bodega as proof). Heck, it’s hard for the average person to really conceive of it! It’s just “a lot of money.” Just in case you do win tonight, and have no idea what to do with the hundreds of millions of dollars you’ll suddenly have in your pocket, here are the top ways gamers can spend their fortune.

1. Become a full-time gamer

While taxes are going to make a dent in your Powerball winnings, you’ll still likely have enough cash that, if you’re smart, you’ll never have to work again. So why not ditch your day job and follow your true passion? Whether that looks like designing Forgotten Realms materials for the Dungeon Master’s Guild, joining an e-sports league, or focusing full-time on your actual play podcast, you now have the sort of money necessary to be a Professional Geek and not worry about pesky things like “paying rent.”

2. Buy a real gaming table

The first time I saw furniture dedicated to tabletop gaming, I was in awe. I wanted to spend the rest of the con in that booth, trying out the different styles and designing my dream table. All that stopped me? 1) These tables generally aren’t sized for New York apartment living 2) They’re definitely not sized for my New York publishing-career budget. With a $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot though, you could overcome both of those obstacles, moving into roomier digs with plenty of space for your new showcase piece of furniture. Check out the options at Geek Chic and start making your shopping list now.

3. Complete your physical book collection

Many of us have moved our game book collections into the digital realm, due to a combination of factors including ease of portability and reduced space needs. But when you literally have money to burn, why not go the opposite way and start buying physical books again just to display? Set up your game room, which now houses your fancy new gaming table, with walls of bookshelves dedicated to first edition rule books that are for looking, not touching.

4. Open a Friendly Local Game Store

The ultimate gamer’s dream! Maybe you have fond memories of wasting hours after school in your FLGS, or you’ve always wished there was one in your neighborhood, now you have the power to make dreams come true. Whether you set it up with a bar or coffee shop, sell comics and other hobby materials in addition to game books, host tournaments for Magic or weekly board game nights, the options are endless. And with $1.5 billion, you could even hire someone with actual business sense to manage the place, leaving you free to camp out at a table in the back, ready and waiting for your new customers/best friends to show up.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, of course. If you win the Powerball lottery tonight, what will you do with the money?


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About the Author
A city girl with midwestern roots, Angela has been on the internet for far too long. A geek of many stripes, when Angela isn't pretending to be a different person every weekend she can be found reading, writing (that novel will come out some day!), or preparing for her eventual life as a crazy cat woman. Angela also blogs about gaming at the blog Gaming as Women http:///www.gamingaswomen.com

8 comments on “What to Do With Your Powerball Winnings – for Gamers

  1. Fallenseraph75 says:

    Oh my god, my bookcases would be destroyed.

  2. Mawdrigen says:

    Build a custom Larp site here in the south of England definitely

  3. Barsha Da Barsha says:

    Hire Warren full time to serve as my foot stool… so whenever I need it, I can crush him down. Mahahaahahaha

  4. Katsushiro says:

    I’d buy us an artist to make us all the art we’ve always wanted for our games and characters.

    Note the use of the word ‘buy’, not ‘hire’. >.>

  5. Green says:

    But Billy, you haven’t managed to crush Warren yet. In fact, he’s more or less thrived. 😛

    I agree with 3. The art for Anima is beautiful, but I don’t think my group is ever interested in playing it.

  6. Lucek says:

    I like to point out something. The Nobel prize was started for like 3 million in today’s money.

  7. MDMann says:

    Buy a big boat. With a a gaming room, then live life on the ocean main. Whilst gaming. Whilst moving from cricket test nation to destination.

  8. FandibleDave says:

    Everyone, everyone… Lucek’s right: One of humanity’s greatest awards was founded on a fraction of the amount of money we’re discussing, and so therefor I offer this:

    Let’s buy Sweden and Norway (who are the Nobel committees) and install ourselves as the new judges, plus one guest judge. All prospective winners must submit to playing a table-top game of our choice and will be evaluated on use of character class (if applicable) contribution to the story and general podcast banter. In the event of a tie the recipient will be decided with either Dread, Final Girl or Fiasco.

    Finally, the entire ordeal will be commentated by Felicia Day, Chris Hardwick and an extremely drunk Patrick Stewart.

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