Fortress Party 2025 - The Vault of Midnight

The first question we often ask ourselves when brainstorming room ideas is... what resources do we already have? We also like to have a little local flavor, by having one theme a year that is for Ann Arbor townies. 

So The Vault of Midnight was a perfect choice for a Fortress Party theme. It's a comic book/board game store in downtown Ann Arbor, and the origin of most of our board game collection. 

The title of the store has always sounded like an H.P. Lovecraft cosmic horror, so we decided to fill a room with games and comics and... Cthulhu.

Over 30 of the games had little QR codes on them, and when you would scan them with your phone, Chthulu herself would appear on the screen and teach you how to play the game.

Or at least that is what was supposed to happen. In reality, Cthulhu's game instructions immediately devolved into monologues about the the insignificance of humanity and the imminent and violent despoliation of the earth. 

There are 32 of these videos, with new ones released weekly on YouTube until the whole playlist is available in the Summer of 2026.