I posted a Geeklist of everything I played and taught at BGG.Con 2008. Feel free to take a gander.
I played 39 times, 17 of which were new-to-me games. I taught games ten times. I bought, traded, or otherwise acquired [REDACTED] new games.
Oh, by the way, I was interviewed by the local fox affiliate while at BGG.Con. You can see the segment online. Does anyone know a good way to rip the video from the flash stream?
I only have a few lines, but they interviewed me for at least five or ten minutes. Remember, the secret to TV interviews is short sound bites and to ruin the shot if you flub a line.
Several people asked me where I went out of town this last weekend, or why I went to Dallas. When I responded, "To a board game convention," most people express surprise and disbelief. I can't imagine why, honestly.
For posterity, here's a few glimpses at the library.
Party games, not under lock and key:
Feh.
http://twitter.com/mischakrilov
On the other hand, I'll have a lower barrier to entry than the old way. I never finished expanding this from last year, so here's what I've got.
Games played at BGG.Con 2007:
I found this post in my drafts, dated 9/7/06, a year after Katrina and once again at Dragon*Con in Atlanta. I didn't publish it originally because of its brevity and incompleteness. I didn't change much.
Race and demographics. The hotel we stayed in had two large weddings and one even larger family reunion, each of different demographics. One wedding was generic middle-class white and the other was upper-class traditional Indian. The family reunion was black. The moment I walked into our hotel, I felt out of place and disconnected. I know that a person of Race X will feel out-of-place when then see only Race Y faces. Our brains work that way, and our society continues to encourage racial insularity.But a new con is just around the corner. With 500 or so folks versus 40,000 or so, there's a much more intimate vibe. I missed this year's Dragon*Con; I'm not missing this year's BGG.Con.
Going to a con really wraps the members (always "membership"; rarely "attendee") together with a sense of community that cuts across traditional boundaries. But yet, looking at a random sampling of several hundred congoers yields a demographic nonetheless. Cat and I always succumb to "That Guy Syndrome," which sometimes also happens with B-list actors, but it comes down to saying to yourself, "Oh, look, it's that guy with the long dark hair and scraggly goatee with a bit of a paunch and wearing a black T-shirt with a witty in-joke. No, wait, I just described at least two dozen people I can see right now without turning my head."
Whew! I've moderated a giant trade for BGG.Con again this year, and it has finally closed. What's a Math Trade? I'm going to steal the words of Yehuda and call it a "massively multiplayer online trading experience."
The con's in just over a week!
NaNoWriMo total: 2877
Better late than never, right?
(Direct link to video)
There's always next year.
Gen Con is next weekend, in Indianapolis. It's a twelve hour drive or a $350 plane ticket. I can probably scare up crash space from people I know who are going, so lodging isn't really a factor. Registration at the door is $80. I could spend X-hundred-dollars plus on games and food and the like.
Sadly, without a job or cash flow, I need to plan for next year. Maybe I'll buy a lottery ticket.
Dragon Con and BGG.Con are in September and November, respectively. At least I'm pre-regged for both.
Hooray! Registration for BoardGameGeek.Con 2007 is now open! Last year was a great convention for boardgaming, and definitely one worth attending in the years to come. Space is pretty limited, maxing out at 500 or so. Get in while the getting's good!
I had an awesome weekend. To balance that out, I had a bad thing happen to me. While demoing Zendo to some folks at BGGcon, I took my glasses off to clean them and the frame snapped under my hamlike fists, popping the left lens out onto the floor. Panic.
As luck would have it, the lens was undamaged by its traumatic journey and easily recovered by one of the company. Cat (via the hotel gift shop) also came to my rescue with superglue.
Now I can see again, but my prescription is so damn bad that the optometrist needs to order the lenses. I hope they come in before we go home for Turkey Day.
Back in Austin after four days of nearly twenty-four hour gaming. I got 3-4 hours sleep most every night.
Just finished unpacking the suitcases. I'm about to put food in my mouth and fall asleep, hopefully in that order. One of these days I'll learn to take an extra day off after con for recovery.
Support the Non-Waterlogged Blog. Buy stuff from Amazon.
Are you still using Microsoft's Internet Explorer? Why, for all that's good in the world, why? Get with the program and get Firefox.
DriveSavers have saved my bacon (and data) at least twice. If you need data recovery, I highly recommend them.
You can always buy me stuff from my ThinkGeek wishlist or my Funagain wishlist.
Like games? Shop at Funagain. I get a kickback in store credit, you get a deal.
