Bunny Back in Birmingham [Games Expo UK '08]
Last year I attended UK Games Expo at the last minute for the Saturday only to provide some extra support to cartimandua for the Looney Labs Demoing.
Since Looney Labs announced that they were temporarily suspending the Rabbit Rewards, I've been reluctant to demo unless it gave me some form of direct recompense. It's not that I'm mercinary, I enjoy demoing and I enjoy their games. The only thing is that sometimes it starts to feel like work when demoing it preventing you from going off and doing something else you want to do. Therefore, I didn't mind doing GenConUK and Dragonmeet last year because it gave me entrance, I didn't officially demo at Conception in February because I preferred to re-focus my attention to roleplaying, running and playing games and demoing didn't really give me any real benefit. UK Games Expo is a different kettle of fish since staying with cartimandua means there's no accommodation cost for me and free entry means I really don't mind just hanging around getting some of my Looney Labs fix.
Unlike last year there was no drama in getting to Birmingham, I even had a productive train journey writing almost an entire mini-campaign for Godlike. Unfortunately, almost immediately had I arrived at my destination my back decided that it was going to give out on me. Fortunately, I'd brought some ibuprofen with me; unfortunately, it was not enough to last the entire weekend. That evening we went out for a meal and I figured moving about should actually benefit my back a little even if I was like an old man with Tourettes. However, in the restaurant my back completely snapped on projecting me into hellish agony requiring a stop at the pharmacy to get some extra strength ibuprofen.
It was a little frustrating and I felt a little useless, unable to help carry stuff and set up. Fortunately, my back was a little less fractured on the Saturday although it still hurt to walk around. I made myself useful, however, later in the day when the need for negotiating a better distribution of our demoing space with the nearby traders was required. Finally set up nicely we got cracking with demoing in earnest.
In a remarkable mirror of last year cartimandua and thoughtwolf needed to go home in the afternoon leaving me on my own. This wasn't so bad as I wasn't really going to be wanting to move around a great deal, although unlike last year I didn't have a detachment of regulars I could trust to leave the table for any reason.
The only real downside I have to say about the event is that the catering really doesn't bother paying much lip-service to vegetarians. Breakfast options were meat with meat and meat in a bap. Lunch options mostly consisted of meat or a jacket potatoes with two fillings of which only cheese was vegetarian (they didn't even have any beans!) or an egg mayo baguette. On the plus side, the coffee wasn't crappy instant coffee, so I could happily guzzle lots of coffee during the weekend as I began to flag without fear of the usual unpleasant repercussions that instant coffee does to me.
Having spent most of Saturday in a caffeine/ibuprofen/pain-induced daze, Sunday found my back in much better fare and settling into a second day of demoing.
Like last year, being left alone meant that I didn't have much opportunity to disappear and spend money. The problem is, of course, that with traders in the same room as me means I didn't have far to go to spend money and Sunday found me buying lots of games. After years of telling littlestkobold that I would buy Dead of Night I finally treated myself to a copy, but then found myself so hideously tempted by the very funny card-game Revenge of the B-Movie also at the Collective Endeavour stand. I also picked up Midgard at another nearby stall (which I have not yet played) and had to pull myself away from being tempted by his discount for also buying Beowulf (I was almost a good boy!). Finally, I also bought a new game called Symbotica which I found to be quite an interesting a simple game that went down a storm with teachers, apparently.
Having possibly spent too much money, I restrained myself from spending more which meant that I managed to walk away with money left in the bank and able to actually carry everything home.
Possibly the most notable kid from this year was a girl called Charlotte who really was devilishly good at Cosmic Coasters and, having discovered the game, kept coming back to play more games. I briefly introduced her to a game of Volcano which she seemed to like, but Cosmic Coasters clearly became her passion. She was not alone, the mother of two little girls who cartimandua had taught the game to came and asked where she could buy the game. The traders (specifically Games Lore and Leisure Games) were very well stocked with Looney Labs stuff this year, even stocking Treehouse (which is a rare treat) and was apparently selling like hotcakes. However, despite this I don't recall seeing Cosmic Coasters available for sale anywhere, which is a shame since it became one of the most requested games that I remember this year.
Uk Games Expo is a genuinely well organised and very good convention offering a fantastic weekend for gamers of all ages with something for everyone. And let's face it, it doesn't matter how old you are, seeing stormtroopers, jedi, and bounty hunters wandering around and a life-sized Tardis in the main foyer is still fun.
Since Looney Labs announced that they were temporarily suspending the Rabbit Rewards, I've been reluctant to demo unless it gave me some form of direct recompense. It's not that I'm mercinary, I enjoy demoing and I enjoy their games. The only thing is that sometimes it starts to feel like work when demoing it preventing you from going off and doing something else you want to do. Therefore, I didn't mind doing GenConUK and Dragonmeet last year because it gave me entrance, I didn't officially demo at Conception in February because I preferred to re-focus my attention to roleplaying, running and playing games and demoing didn't really give me any real benefit. UK Games Expo is a different kettle of fish since staying with cartimandua means there's no accommodation cost for me and free entry means I really don't mind just hanging around getting some of my Looney Labs fix.
Unlike last year there was no drama in getting to Birmingham, I even had a productive train journey writing almost an entire mini-campaign for Godlike. Unfortunately, almost immediately had I arrived at my destination my back decided that it was going to give out on me. Fortunately, I'd brought some ibuprofen with me; unfortunately, it was not enough to last the entire weekend. That evening we went out for a meal and I figured moving about should actually benefit my back a little even if I was like an old man with Tourettes. However, in the restaurant my back completely snapped on projecting me into hellish agony requiring a stop at the pharmacy to get some extra strength ibuprofen.
It was a little frustrating and I felt a little useless, unable to help carry stuff and set up. Fortunately, my back was a little less fractured on the Saturday although it still hurt to walk around. I made myself useful, however, later in the day when the need for negotiating a better distribution of our demoing space with the nearby traders was required. Finally set up nicely we got cracking with demoing in earnest.
In a remarkable mirror of last year cartimandua and thoughtwolf needed to go home in the afternoon leaving me on my own. This wasn't so bad as I wasn't really going to be wanting to move around a great deal, although unlike last year I didn't have a detachment of regulars I could trust to leave the table for any reason.
The only real downside I have to say about the event is that the catering really doesn't bother paying much lip-service to vegetarians. Breakfast options were meat with meat and meat in a bap. Lunch options mostly consisted of meat or a jacket potatoes with two fillings of which only cheese was vegetarian (they didn't even have any beans!) or an egg mayo baguette. On the plus side, the coffee wasn't crappy instant coffee, so I could happily guzzle lots of coffee during the weekend as I began to flag without fear of the usual unpleasant repercussions that instant coffee does to me.
Having spent most of Saturday in a caffeine/ibuprofen/pain-induced daze, Sunday found my back in much better fare and settling into a second day of demoing.
Like last year, being left alone meant that I didn't have much opportunity to disappear and spend money. The problem is, of course, that with traders in the same room as me means I didn't have far to go to spend money and Sunday found me buying lots of games. After years of telling littlestkobold that I would buy Dead of Night I finally treated myself to a copy, but then found myself so hideously tempted by the very funny card-game Revenge of the B-Movie also at the Collective Endeavour stand. I also picked up Midgard at another nearby stall (which I have not yet played) and had to pull myself away from being tempted by his discount for also buying Beowulf (I was almost a good boy!). Finally, I also bought a new game called Symbotica which I found to be quite an interesting a simple game that went down a storm with teachers, apparently.
Having possibly spent too much money, I restrained myself from spending more which meant that I managed to walk away with money left in the bank and able to actually carry everything home.
Possibly the most notable kid from this year was a girl called Charlotte who really was devilishly good at Cosmic Coasters and, having discovered the game, kept coming back to play more games. I briefly introduced her to a game of Volcano which she seemed to like, but Cosmic Coasters clearly became her passion. She was not alone, the mother of two little girls who cartimandua had taught the game to came and asked where she could buy the game. The traders (specifically Games Lore and Leisure Games) were very well stocked with Looney Labs stuff this year, even stocking Treehouse (which is a rare treat) and was apparently selling like hotcakes. However, despite this I don't recall seeing Cosmic Coasters available for sale anywhere, which is a shame since it became one of the most requested games that I remember this year.
Uk Games Expo is a genuinely well organised and very good convention offering a fantastic weekend for gamers of all ages with something for everyone. And let's face it, it doesn't matter how old you are, seeing stormtroopers, jedi, and bounty hunters wandering around and a life-sized Tardis in the main foyer is still fun.