Epic Nerd Camp

Lindsay and her husband doing combat archery

As an adult, do you wish you could go to summer camp? Now you can! There are now a variety of summer camps for adults with different themes. Epic Nerd Camp is a chance for adults to spend a long weekend doing nerdy activities at camp.

I heard about Epic Nerd Camp years ago and was intrigued. Unfortunately, for several years my schedule didn’t align, and then there was a pandemic. My husband and I finally got to go in August 2022.

Epic Nerd Camp is 5 days and 4 nights jam-packed with nerdy activities.

Activities

Before camp, you get to register for all the activities you want to try. I filled up my whole schedule with a variety of activities. My husband signed up for some of the physical activities and also left lots of open times to nap, relax, swim, and play games.

Epic Nerd Camp has a huge host of activities. 2022 Activities included:

Physical Activities: combat archery (foam tip archery tag), boffer (foam sword) games, swimming (including mermaids and water Quidditch), longswords, lightsabers, axe throwing, LARP (Live Action Role Play with costumes called Encaros). Don’t worry about your level of physical fitness. Even if you haven’t been hitting the gym, you’ll be fine.

Lindsay’s feet overlooking the pool during Cosplay Karaoke

Crafts: Fimo clay, leather, shrinky dinks, chain mail

Team Mental Activities: escape room, spaceship bridge simulator, board game room, water balloon battleship

Evening Group activities: cosplay karaoke by the pool, house cup competition, dance, and trivia.

My favorite activities were combat archery, the board game room, all the crafts (how did I not know how amazing shrinky dinks are? I have found my new hobby), and Cosplay Karaoke. My group completely failed at the spaceship bridge simulator, but that was still fun and would be more fun if I’d played a few more times.

My husband and I signed up for some of the same activities and did some on our own.

Dining and Drinking

We were impressed with the quality of the cafeteria-style food. Camp includes three meals a day. They also can accommodate a variety of dietary needs.

The self-serve fountain drinks, coffee, tea, water, and ice are all accessible throughout the day.

Epic Nerd Camp (ENC) is only for those age 21 or older, so you are welcome to bring your own alcohol to share and to drink (and the fountain drinks are convenient mixers).

Map of Epic Nerd Camp (from the Epic Nerd Camp Website)

Housing

Housing is authentic summer camp-style. You can stay in the group cabins or bring your own tent. Bathrooms and showers are indoors per cabin and there’s no a/c. Electric outlets are available in the rooms and camp-style cubbies for your stuff. Bring your own sheets and towels. It’s several steps up from camping which is another available option (bring your own tent). The community feel of camp means cabin doors don’t lock and people can leave their possessions in their cubbies. Typically you share cabins with other campers. You can request to stay together with friends/spouse.

Don’t Panic and Bring a Towel: What to Bring to Camp

Bring a reusable drink container with a lid (open containers are not allowed in the game room). I brought a water bottle and a hot tea thermos which also doubled for making mixed drinks.

Hand soap to leave in the bathroom. Sunglasses. Sunscreen, bug spray, and sanitizer.

Bring your own twin sheets, pillow, blanket, and towel (2 if you can fit them). Bring shower shoes and something to hold your shower items into the shower.

You may want to bring a wallet/small bag or another way to carry your essential items if there’s anything you don’t want to leave in your communal room.

Bring some plastic bags of various sizes (ziptop, grocery, and trash). This is especially useful for wet swimwear/towels or muddy clothes/shoes if it rains.

Crafts: make your own chainmail d20 keychain

It is always appropriate to wear nerdy t-shirts or random “garb” or costumes around camp, so pack a few flexible costume items. Check out the all-camp evening activities if you want to be able to dress to match. If you do the LARP “Encaros,” people typically dress for their characters across multiple days.

“Swaps:” if you’d like to trade some little items (typically handmade pins, keychains, etc) that represent your favorite nerdom, bring them with you to camp.

See the link at the bottom of this post for more suggestions on what to bring from ENC website.

Tips

Registration: Register as soon as you know you can attend because registration is cheaper the earlier you register with the first price increase at the end of December.

Activity Registration: Keep an eye out for the activity registration date. There are a few activities that have a max number of participants for a specific time slot.

When planning your alcohol, you want to bring a cooler (ice is available) or drinks you can drink warm, serve on ice, or mix with the fountain drinks. There isn’t refrigerator access. Glass isn’t allowed around campus, especially the pool, so something like box wine or pouring mixed drinks into other serving containers is a must.

Join the Team: If you want to get more involved or are looking for a more affordable option, you can teach an activity or help in other ways.

Internet: Mobile data coverage varies across the campus. Wifi is available, but you have to pay for it (it didn’t cover my cabin but was available in the main areas).

Location

Camp Ramblewood
2564 Silver Rd, Darlington, MD 21034
A former summer camp turned event venue.

Travel

You will need to plan the legs of your travel (unless you are close enough to drive). Epic Nerd Camp is 1 hour from Baltimore or Philadelphia. Looking at the train schedules with the BWI Airport, we decided to rent a car because the return trains didn’t match our flight schedule. It’s always a little frustrating to rent a car that just sits for several days, but it was worth it for us. If you do take the train from the airport, you still need to take an Uber or Lyft or another ride the last of the way.