The Well Played Board Game Café team pulled together to turn their unlit and waterless space into a much-needed refuge for locals recently left shaken by Hurricane Helene.
“We could at least be a space that people could come and sort of escape for a bit, you know, a much needed escape,” said Mike Belsole, general manager of Well Played Board Game Café.
Surprised by the devastation the morning after Helene hit Asheville, Belsole found himself unable to travel. While a landslide blocking I-40 kept him from assessing the damage at work, owners and other team members did their best.
“We had plans to possibly open up in the afternoon, you know. No one saw the magnitude of what was coming until it was too late. Kevin and Jason and Steve, they were all here, or they were here making sure that anything that could be done could be done,” Belsole said. “We donated all the food we had, and thankfully, we suffered no structural damage like a lot of the businesses around here.”
Once the initial shock subsided, questions about how to help the struggling community surfaced for Belsole and his team.
“We thought about how we could help the situation. We want this to be a community space during the best of times, and we thought about what we could offer during the worst of times,” Belsole said.
Neighboring businesses donated meals to those in need, using outdoor grills and impromptu kitchens.
“Burial, around the corner, pulled out gas grills and they were making community food. World Kitchen opened up right across. It was wonderful that they came by,” Belsole said. “We couldn’t serve food. We didn’t have the space or the facilities to kind of do what Burial was doing, but we had all these games to share.”
Originally constructed as a car garage, Belsole said Well Played uses an electric, ventless kitchen. Without running water or power, a hindered Belsole offered a quiet space, warm, friendly faces and their expansive game inventory, all free of charge.
“Mike had the idea,” said Jared Schulz, back-of-house manager and shift lead. “We actually just opened up the doors. We had free game passes. We just wanted people, especially during that tough time, to come in here, relax and maybe connect. Just take their minds off all the worries they brought in, at least for a little bit.”
A grateful public trickled in.
“People would come in and they’d be like, ‘Oh my gosh, thank you so much for being open,'” Schulz said.
“People were just appreciative. According to them, we didn’t have to do anything, and then we did, and that was somehow a miracle,” Belsole said.
Days later, Schulz said Belsole and his team hosted a truncated version of one of WPBGC’s most cherished weekly events, Sunday Morning Trivia Brunch, where a lot of regulars showed up with their friends.
Sunday Trivia devotee and Mars Hill resident Sarah Daniels said the event was a really good time because everyone was looking for a bit of normalcy.
According to Belsole, unease grew over the uncertain future of the café, which struggled to fully reopen without a clear timeline for the return of essential power and potable water.
“It was a huge concern, kind of in the background. We were all just figuring out what the next month or two or three or four were gonna look like,” Belsole said.
The Buncombe County Health and Human Services offered informational meetings detailing the steps required for businesses to reopen.
“They were invaluable, of course. You know, they put in a lot of emergency procedures,” Belsole said. “They called in inspectors from other parts of the state to come in because there’s a whole process to reopen if you don’t have running water. We’ve never been tested like that.”
According to Belsole, new sanitation measures and disposable cups and plates facilitated a much-anticipated partial reopening. Adhering to these new requirements, staff served individually wrapped snacks like pretzel bags and peanut butter and jelly Uncrustables.
“We just had prepackaged food for the most part, so we didn’t have to worry about cooking anything,” Schulz said.
By mid-December, municipal water returned. With running water, an empty refrigerator and eagerness to fully reopen, Belsole and his team looked toward the future.
“For us, it also was a chance to rethink things. You know, we lost all our food, so the silver lining was, well, let’s use this as an opportunity to rethink our menu. We’ve had this menu for a while and it was time to shake things up,” Belsole said.
After considering all his toothsome options, Belsole said, “We went hard into pressed sandwiches.”
