Con Report Time!
So I guess I should talk about Origins.
The night before we left for Origins, we (lynxreign and me) drove out to The Keep on the Borderlands with all of our stuff, and spent the night with head58 and aliwings. I say night, but I really mean a few hours. We had to leave their house by 3:30 Wednesday morning, drive to Providence, and get on a plane at 6:30. Oof. I very much disliked this, but hey, it got us to Columbus nice and early. We all got checked into the hotel, and then hit the con to get our badges and goody bags and whatnot.
The very best thing we did at the con was buy ribbons for the Boardroom. The Columbus Area Boardgame Society (CABS) runs this room, and basically, you spend 14 or 16 dollars (I can't remember exactly, but it wasn't bad), get the ribbon, and you have access to their giant, overly-air conditioned room, and their library of over 200 games. There was a free game library downstairs, that everyone had access to, but they just didn't have as much stuff down there. They also did not have the perks. The first time we went in, to check out the selection and get familiar with the set up, they plunked three games on the table and said, "Choose two." "What?" we said. It turns out that we all got two free games, just for getting the ribbon. I got Masons and something else (for a full list of games we acquired at the con, see lynxreign's journal. Well, eventually, he hasn't put that list up yet). So that was interesting. Later that night, the people running the room were going around checking ribbons, and handing out raffle tickets for being there after a certain point or whatever. On the last day, they did a raffle, and I ended up winning another free game, Rat Hot. We haven't played it yet because it's a two player game and we don't have much call for them.
I really can't do a day-by-day rundown here, because I did not keep good enough notes, so I'll just try to hit the highlights from here on out.
-Meeting John and monjundi, good, old friends of the people I was there with, and two excellent fellows.
-Meeting animated_max, who lived up to his name. And is also excellent, of course.
-Meeting kittylair, before she moved out of Columbus. Even if it was just for two minutes, it was still a fun chat.
-Seeing wizardru, komochiko, and family. I especially enjoyed watching their daughter basically join a girl gang for the entirety of the con. I mean, they were all geek girls, so it wasn't like they were getting into trouble or anything, just running around being pre-teen girls. It was very cute.
-I got to go to a yarn shop! Origins apparently has a tradition of a "Spouse Track," which, ok, at least they don't flat out call it the Wives' Track, but it's all craft related things. But whatever, most of the women there were gamers taking a break from the con to go shopping. I got very pretty hand-dyed sock yarns, and was very pleased.
- I won my event! On a whim, I entered a Munchkin Chtulhu game, and was playing with a judge, two people who knew each other, and an uncomfortable college girl, who was such a bratty player that everyone immediately ganged up on her, letting me quietly take the win. So I got a ribbon, a copy of the game, and a warm glow.
There's more, but man, we had so much fun. We met the creator of Lynx's favorite game, Titan, and that was fun, and we had a nice dinner out with everyone where we got all dressed up and went to a fancy French restaurant, and it was overall just a really good time. We played a ton of games, and I learned that I'm much better off with new games if I read the rules and lay everything out, rather than listening to someone explain them to me. Visual/kinetic learner, ho! Also, using this method, we learned that apparently a_akimbo had made up an entirely different game, or at least a variation, using the card game Toppo. I was teaching myself and he and head58 kept looking over and going "You can't do that! Or that!" And I would show them where in the rules it said I totally could.
Don't know if we'll be back next year, but it was a good time. :)
And I had to finish this finally, because Tuesday we leave for Denver and WorldCon! And we went to ConnectiCon yesterday, on a whim, to see aidosaur and ananthymous, which was also awesome, and might get a post tomorrow if I get my packing done and still have energy.
The night before we left for Origins, we (lynxreign and me) drove out to The Keep on the Borderlands with all of our stuff, and spent the night with head58 and aliwings. I say night, but I really mean a few hours. We had to leave their house by 3:30 Wednesday morning, drive to Providence, and get on a plane at 6:30. Oof. I very much disliked this, but hey, it got us to Columbus nice and early. We all got checked into the hotel, and then hit the con to get our badges and goody bags and whatnot.
The very best thing we did at the con was buy ribbons for the Boardroom. The Columbus Area Boardgame Society (CABS) runs this room, and basically, you spend 14 or 16 dollars (I can't remember exactly, but it wasn't bad), get the ribbon, and you have access to their giant, overly-air conditioned room, and their library of over 200 games. There was a free game library downstairs, that everyone had access to, but they just didn't have as much stuff down there. They also did not have the perks. The first time we went in, to check out the selection and get familiar with the set up, they plunked three games on the table and said, "Choose two." "What?" we said. It turns out that we all got two free games, just for getting the ribbon. I got Masons and something else (for a full list of games we acquired at the con, see lynxreign's journal. Well, eventually, he hasn't put that list up yet). So that was interesting. Later that night, the people running the room were going around checking ribbons, and handing out raffle tickets for being there after a certain point or whatever. On the last day, they did a raffle, and I ended up winning another free game, Rat Hot. We haven't played it yet because it's a two player game and we don't have much call for them.
I really can't do a day-by-day rundown here, because I did not keep good enough notes, so I'll just try to hit the highlights from here on out.
-Meeting John and monjundi, good, old friends of the people I was there with, and two excellent fellows.
-Meeting animated_max, who lived up to his name. And is also excellent, of course.
-Meeting kittylair, before she moved out of Columbus. Even if it was just for two minutes, it was still a fun chat.
-Seeing wizardru, komochiko, and family. I especially enjoyed watching their daughter basically join a girl gang for the entirety of the con. I mean, they were all geek girls, so it wasn't like they were getting into trouble or anything, just running around being pre-teen girls. It was very cute.
-I got to go to a yarn shop! Origins apparently has a tradition of a "Spouse Track," which, ok, at least they don't flat out call it the Wives' Track, but it's all craft related things. But whatever, most of the women there were gamers taking a break from the con to go shopping. I got very pretty hand-dyed sock yarns, and was very pleased.
- I won my event! On a whim, I entered a Munchkin Chtulhu game, and was playing with a judge, two people who knew each other, and an uncomfortable college girl, who was such a bratty player that everyone immediately ganged up on her, letting me quietly take the win. So I got a ribbon, a copy of the game, and a warm glow.
There's more, but man, we had so much fun. We met the creator of Lynx's favorite game, Titan, and that was fun, and we had a nice dinner out with everyone where we got all dressed up and went to a fancy French restaurant, and it was overall just a really good time. We played a ton of games, and I learned that I'm much better off with new games if I read the rules and lay everything out, rather than listening to someone explain them to me. Visual/kinetic learner, ho! Also, using this method, we learned that apparently a_akimbo had made up an entirely different game, or at least a variation, using the card game Toppo. I was teaching myself and he and head58 kept looking over and going "You can't do that! Or that!" And I would show them where in the rules it said I totally could.
Don't know if we'll be back next year, but it was a good time. :)
And I had to finish this finally, because Tuesday we leave for Denver and WorldCon! And we went to ConnectiCon yesterday, on a whim, to see aidosaur and ananthymous, which was also awesome, and might get a post tomorrow if I get my packing done and still have energy.