The Aftermath

Folks, I'm not gonna lie to you...this was probably the most fun I've had at a convention since GenCon Indy 2004. It's not that I haven't had fun at all the cons in between - to the contrary, there have been some great times. They didn't have the same feel, though. Not even close. Now that I've been back for a while and had the long-ish weekend to recover I've had plenty of time to think about why it was so enjoyable, and here's what I've come up with.

1) There was sufficient late-night drinking and laughs.

2) I got there early enough to enjoy the night before.

3) I wasn't in demo hell. It's not that I don't think I should have to demo. It's part of the gig and I accept it. Given the opportunity, though, I much prefer to be in the tournament hall than at the booth and I very much look forward to producing a second game so more time can be spent in the t-hall.

4) Hangin' with Ohio State girls after an Ohio State win (Go Bucks!)

5) Disney at the holidays. Or even just Disney period.

6) Product moving off our shelves and, more importantly, off other merchants shelves as well. Even singles were selling steadily and eBay prices moved up nearly $50 over the weekend - very nice!

7) Buca and Beer!

8) Watching a golden schlong get stolen by a teenage dork chickenshit doped up on E to change the life of a fabulously hot hollywood chick

And while all of the aforementioned qualities certainly helped make the con as enjoyable as it was, they pale in comparison to the next two...

8) I got to play some. And not just in tournaments, but in the exhibit hall, too. Greg took me over to the UDE booth to take a demo of some element air masters game or somethin-or-other in order to get a playmat. It didn't matter what the game was or the license behind it. I just enjoyed kicking his ass and celebrating (seriously, one of the steps in the game is celebrating...WTF?) aka doing stupid white boy chair dance after I slapped him around. Truth be told, I was so lucky that game that I probably could have gone to Vegas and paid for Joyride's complete convention expenses with my winnings. The Nightmare Before Christmas game was okay - nothing I'd play but the license alone will push some sales to fandom. What was more fun was watching the makers of it work so hard to push it. That booth was busy all con long. Congrats gentlemen, I wish you well. Watching people beat the crap out of each other (by accident - they're terrible fighters) with foam swords was hilarious! But some of the most fun in the exhibit hall (outside of gawking at the corsett both) was had at the AEG booth where one of their employees told me while demoing City of Heros that the company was in poor financial straights and if the owner didn't pony up personal funds then the game might not get printed. GOOD JOB, DUDE! Way to instill confidence in a potential player! That was almost as fun as the demo itself - neat game, much fun! I love playing and being around games, and that's why I go to these gigs. Good times.

9) The people. T-Mac and J-Dub. Colson. Vinson and Greg. New Guy Ophir. Vinson's SoCal gaming crew. Joey and Stephen. Silent Beal. Andy Lupp, Bojo, and Kyle. Dawn. Many of the people that helped make it fun when I started combined with some new faces that were great to meet and talk with. I really wish they all could have been there...Sonny, Girard, Mark, Chuck, Hayden, Latneau, Kim, Evans, Kirk, Marcus, and all the other fun gamerfolk I've met along the way. Maybe that'll happen again sometime. But yes, the people helped to make it fun.

Thanks for for the great time, and I'll see you all at the next con!