Why Game Donations Matter More Than People Think

Most homes accumulate games. Family game nights drift in and out of fashion. Kids age out of certain titles. Puzzles get assembled once and put back on the shelf. Eventually a closet or hallway cabinet fills up, and nobody opens any of it.

That stuff has a real second life. Schools use board games for classroom activities and after-school programs. Senior centers across the South Plains run regular game days. Shelters and after-school programs use puzzles as a calm, no-screen activity. Hospital pediatric wings use kids' games. Demand is steady. Supply mostly sits in closets across Maxey Park and Southwest Lubbock.

Pack the games into a box, schedule a free pickup with Give My Books Network, set the boxes outside, and your Local Pick-Up Partner collects them on a scheduled service day.

What We Pick Up in Lubbock

Board games of all kinds — family-friendly and adult. Strategy games, party games, kids' games, classics, modern designer games. Card games, including standard decks and themed sets. Puzzles, jigsaw or otherwise. Brain teasers and logic puzzles. Mostly anything that comes in a box and would be played at a table.

The big ask is that games are complete or close to it. A puzzle missing one or two pieces? Disappointing but usable. A puzzle missing fifteen pieces? Probably not. A board game missing a few minor pieces is fine if the game is still playable. A game missing the rules or all of one player's pieces is harder to place.

Pack everything in the same boxes you're using for books and media. Your Local Pick-Up Partner handles all sorting after pickup.

Where Donated Games Go After a Lubbock Pickup

Many items are redistributed through the Give ME Books program to schools, after-school tutoring programs, senior centers, shelters, hospitals, and other organizations that request them. Some may be resold by the partner to help sustain the free pickup service. Items that cannot be reused may eventually be recycled as a last resort.

The broader community context for these donations is described in part by national libraries and literacy organizations, many of which run their own family game and puzzle nights. The American Library Association's Book Donation Programs guide covers the role of community game and puzzle donations in library and after-school programming.

Where Lubbock Game Donations Tend to Come From

Empty-nester families clearing closets in Maxey Park and Southwest Lubbock. Schools clearing storage at the end of the year — Lubbock-Cooper ISD generates several of these every spring. Families downsizing from a larger home in the Heart of Lubbock. Garage cleanouts where games have been stacked under boxes for a decade. Winter is the strongest stretch for game donations — people sort through the closet around the holidays and decide which sets actually still get played.

Whatever the reason, the model is the same. Pack, schedule, set out, done.