‘A generous man’: Ian Ross’ board game collection up for sale by children

Ian Ross’ board game collections are displayed at Lord Roberts Community Centre in Winnipeg on June 20, 2026. (Zachary Kitchen/CTV News Winnipeg)

A late Métis-Ojibway playwright’s board game collection was able to meet its new owners thanks to his children.

On Saturday, Julia and Chris Ross – children of Ian Ross – held the Ian Ross Boardgame Sale at Lord Roberts Community Centre in Winnipeg.

The event was held so that others can put Ian’s collection of board games to good use, according to the event poster.

Hundreds of board games, from role-playing games to tabletops, waited for their new owners.

Julia told CTV News that the inspiration for her to hold this event was her late father’s adventure of “hunting for deals.”

“I wanted to make sure that people could find something that maybe they’d never even heard of, and that all the people that really love the niche games – they would have access to that easily for a pretty good price,” she said on Saturday. “For other people who maybe aren’t into games, it could be their introduction without paying full price.”

Ian, best known as “Joe from Winnipeg” in local radio, passed away in November 2025 at the age of 57.

READ MORE: Manitoba playwright Ian Ross dies at age 57

“He was a collector for about 30 years and honestly, just over time, (he) kept bringing in more and more,” Julia said.

“He ran the Winnipeg Board Game Club, so some of them he would buy to give away to his friends; sometimes it was for the raffle, but he just really loved board games.”

Julia told CTV News that her favourite memory with her late father was on every third Saturday of the month, when Ian would have his board game club meeting.

“He would go and play games with people. Just seeing how he was able to get people who maybe had never shown up before and they didn’t know anybody, and how he was able to just get them into playing games and just made people feel welcome.

“Just seeing him spread the joy and watching it grow over time was so amazing to see.”

And on that note, Julia said Ian would be happy to see all the attendees thrilled to pick up a new game.

“He was such a generous man; he gave so much and he would have loved to see other people finding deals and their games.”

With files from CTV News’ Zachary Kitchen, Kayla Rosen and Thandi Vera