SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In Cinthia Spitaleri's game of life, finding good neighbors is no trivial pursuit.
Ready to let the chips fall where they may, she says she isn't going to let the pandemic monopolize her life in 2023.
Spitaleri and her partner Chris moved into Land Park two years ago when pandemic-era restrictions kept many people indoors or away from social activities.
"We know there's such a community presence here and so we're like, 'Everyone else is friends with everybody else,' but we moved here during COVID and hardly got to know anybody," she said. "So, we started doing small game nights."
The couple started their game nights with just enough people to play Connect Four, since the only other game night guests were Chris' cousin, Mustafa Abbas, and their partner.
As much Abbas loves getting competitive on game nights, they live over in El Dorado Hills.
It was after a trip to Ecuador during the summer that Spitaleri and Chris said she really saw the barrier-breaking effect games like Sequence had on the multi-cultural community.
"There's like, no language barrier. Like anyone like understands the games," said Chris. "We want to get something community-based going here."
Spitaleri posted to social media her official call out for other neighbors to get involved in helping them launch a Land Park neighborhood game night.
"I've probably gotten maybe between 12 and 20 people that reached out and want to participate. Then, additional people that want to bring their kids, so maybe we'll do some family-friendly nights and some adult nights," she said.
As Spitaleri continues coordinating game nights with neighbors who expressed interest, her and Chris still welcome other Land Park neighbors to join in on the fun.
You can reach out to Spitaleri through her Facebook post here.
