Mary Dimercurio Prasad: BGG.CON 2009 Highlights

This was the fifth year for BGG.CON, the BoardGameGeek convention, held once again in the Westin Dallas Fort Worth Airport hotel on November 19-22. Aldie and Derk plan to add an extra day in 2010! This year’s attendance was around 925, up quite a bit from last year’s attendance of 700. In 2010, they plan to open up registration to 950, which will probably max out the current space. BGG.CON has pretty much taken over all the hotel conference areas – there were many side rooms of open gaming and even some Rock Band in the lecture hall on a giant screen!

The swag bag had some small treasures, including a metal miniature that may be used in place of one that comes with World of Warcraft: The Board Game. There were several different models, and since one isn’t really that useful, some trading has been going on in the BGG.CON forums.

Each attendee was given a blue ticket and a yellow ticket. The blue ticket was for the BGG.CON prize giveaway drawings on Saturday night, including stacks of games from their sponsors and a Crokinole board by the Hilinski brothers. This year there was a little hitch when one (freakishly tall) geek tried to claim the Crokinole board after just having won a stack of games. The crowd started to get ugly. It turned out that he was holding tickets for friends who had left for food. The final ruling was that a person must be present to win, so another ticket was drawn. Lesson to be learned: Attend the drawing in person or you may get nada.

After badge pick-up, each attendee drew another ticket – pink, green, or yellow – from the Die O’Magic™. Pink tickets were turned in for a copy of Bezzerwizzer. Green tickets were turned in for a pick from a selection of games (alas, I did not draw a green ticket and thus was not allowed entry into the Wondrous Room of Prizes™). All yellow tickets were for Thought Hammer’s Midnight Madness giveaways. Whichever ticket was drawn, however, everyone received one of the following Queen games: Aton, Robber Knights or Roma.

Thought Hammer‘s Midnight Madness giveaway drawings returned this year on Thursday and Friday nights. Extra yellow tickets were available for purchase at Thought Hammer’s booth, with proceeds going to charity. Stacks of games were raffled off! I won nothing. But I’m not bitter.

Rick Thornquist: “Wow, I rock at explaining games!”

The current library contains almost 2,600 titles and over 300 expansions. A separate table in the center of the room usually contains the newer releases, such as those just released at Essen and Origins. Everything else is somewhat alphabetized on shelves around the room. This year, everything (including the attendees’ badges) was bar-coded for checking out games, making the process super easy.

The complete BGG.CON library collection is listed on BoardGameGeek (BGG) under the Geekdo ID. Also posted on BGG are the complete detailed game checkout stats, with a tie for first place at 23 checkouts each between Ubongo 3D and Endeavor. Note that these stats do not include games in the Hot Games Room.

Hot Games Rooms

Two Hot Games Rooms this year featured the latest game releases:

Scott Nicholson: “I wish Rick would finish already; I’m so bored.”

Proto Alley

If you have a game design and would like some feedback, or if you are a gamer who would like to try some prototypes, head to Proto Alley. Gil Hova: “The idea was to have a room set up for raw, unpolished game prototypes that aren’t really ready to be played by the regular BGG.CON crowd.” Be sure to read the rules and play-testing guidelines before participating.

Designers at Large

This year’s special guest designer was Richard Breese. Often you would find him demonstrating his new design, The BoardGameGeek Game. Be sure to catch my upcoming interview with Richard on The Dice Tower website. [Update, March 9, 2010: You can now listen to the Prasad-Breese interview directly.] Other designers lurking about included Tom Lehmann, Jason Matthews, Mark Simonitch, Steve Jackson, Ted Alspach, Kevin Nunn, Simon Hunt, Seth Jaffee, Colby Dauch, Randy Cottingham, and Sean Brown.

Vendors

This year’s vendors included:

I did a short (less than five minute) interview with jim pinto from Alderac Entertainment Group, which was recently posted on The Dice Tower website. In it we discuss Thunderstone, the new deck building game with a fantasy theme, and Infinite City. Read more about Thunderstone here on BGN in Mike Elliott’s Designer Diary.

No Shipping Math Trade

Once again, Mischa Krilov organized a no shipping math trade. Be sure to submit your game lists early; this year’s deadline was October 31st. Results are posted in plenty of time for games to be packed up for the trip. If you plan to trust baggage handlers with the games, make sure you pad them well (although nothing short of steel reinforced bags will guarantee no damage by baggage handlers). For first-timers, Mischa posted a Newbie Guide to Math Trades as well.

Flea Market

One hour was allotted for the flea market. Bring a batch of games and sell, sell, sell! Feel free to negotiate with the sellers – it’s all part of the fun! You should sign up beforehand and check out the rules. This year’s rules and information were posted in the BGG.CON forum. You may also want to participate in the virtual flea market to help in planning your luggage needs.

Crazy Booth Photos

Jon Harrison and Nataline Viray-Fung ran a Crazy Booth during the Con. It was free and a lot of fun! Jon did most of the work editing the photos while Nataline worked the camera. You can see a photo of Nataline in action in the third post on the BGG.CON forum. A little further down (Ender Wiggins post) is a couple links to many of the photos that were taken. They are worth a look!

Tournaments and Other Events

If you’re interested in tournaments, there were several to choose from, as well as other events. This year there was a Chicago Express tournament sponsored by Queen Games, “Winner Cleans Up” event by Tasty Minstrel Games, “GMT-a-Thon” by GMT, Alhambra tournament by Queen Games, Ticket to Ride tournament by Days of Wonder, Texas Hold’em Poker tournament, “Spiel-a-Thon” charity event, and a puzzle/treasure hunt.

Winners of the Golden Geek™ Awards were presented with their giant medallions on Saturday night (just before the BGG.CON prize giveaways). By the way, Valerie Putman’s birthday was also Saturday. When she and Dale went up to accept the Golden Geek™ for Dominion, Dale kindly announced this to the entire room, which of course lead to a chorus of Happy Birthday being sung (somewhat off-key) to the mortification of Val. Well, at least her face matched her hair.

Most people gathered in the main gaming room (Trinity Ballroom) for the Golden Geek Awards/BGG.CON prize giveaways. Below are a couple of photos of the crowd. See whether you can find these prominent (or co-prominent) gamers. Hint: Click on the image to load the larger version.

Without a car, the food issue is probably my least favorite thing about this Con. The hotel restaurant food is decent, but after five meals in the same place, I kind of want a change of scenery. By the way, attendees receive a 10% discount in the hotel restaurant. I wish I would have known this BEFORE the convention started! Sadly I just found out while writing this article (as usual, my timing is impeccable). Other options for those without-car: delivery and Denny’s (across the street). I don’t recommend the Denny’s; I tried it once and will never go back. I heard that there is a restaurant in the gas station across the street but I have not been there.

If you do have a car, or friends with a car (see? incentive for making friends, well… with cars), there are LOTS of places to eat. I can recommend Ali Baba (fantastic Mediterranean buffet), Genghis Grill (thanks Stephanie!), and Taco Diner (thanks Scott and Derk!). Scott also recommends Razoo’s. There is a discussion of food in the area on the BGG.CON forums: BGG Con food - suggested restaurants and Food at/Near Westin DFW.

Where? Westin Dallas Fort Worth Airport, 4545 W. John Carpenter Freeway, Irving, TX 75063. Phone 972-929-4500.

How? If you fly into the Dallas Fort Worth airport, the hotel has a free shuttle. Call the hotel on the courtesy phone after you get your bags and meet them outside where indicated. Don’t forget to tip the driver! Be sure to reserve a spot on the shuttle for the return trip – it can get quite full on the last day.

When? Future Dates: November 17-21, 2010 and November 16-20, 2011.

Cost? This year early bird registration (before May 31) was $60, regular registration $80. Rooms ran $115 plus tax per night.

Advice: Sign up early - they usually sell out.

Many thanks to you, Aldie and Derk, and all your BGG.Con staff!!

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