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Valerie Putman: 2008 Itinerary
As many of you know, my favorite part of the boardgaming hobby is meeting up with friends from all over for several days of non-stop gaming and socializing. I started attending conventions in 1998 (Dragon*Con and Magnum Opus Con). I started traveling farther for conventions in 2002 when I left my Georgia game group and moved to Ohio, using game events as an opportunity to go back and visit my friends. Each year I added a few more events and added to the circle of friends that I just had to visit. In 2005 I attended my first invitational events and made my first trip to Essen. I peaked in 2006 with 17 game events (not including local one day events) totaling 70 days of gaming nirvana.
I had to scale back a bit in 2007—both to let my gaming budget recover and to gear up for the most important stepping stone in my academic career: tenure application. (I still won’t hear about the outcome of that for another couple of months.) I try to check out one new (to me) game convention a year and sadly I didn’t accomplish that in 2007. Still, I managed to squeeze in 11 events for 53 days of gaming goodness. So what does 2008 tempt me with?
Nobody But Us Chicks: After starting this all-girl gaming event in 2006 I sadly watched it carry on without me in 2007. So far, there have been no definite plans made for this in 2008.
Atlanta Game Fest: I’ll be attending Ward Batty’s open-to-the-public-but-feels-like-an-invitational gaming event in Atlanta, GA January 18th – January 20th. I’ll tack on a few days in Athens, GA before the game event to hang out with family and the Athens Game Club.
Winter Gulf Games: In a bizarre twist, hubby (who doesn’t like traveling anywhere near as much as I do) will be attending this invitational event without me. He has family in the area and will be traveling and rooming with our best friend, Dale. Please, Dale…take good care of honey bunny for me.
Spring Break at the Bed & Breakfast: For the last two years I’ve gotten together with a group of friends at a B&B for 10 days of gaming bliss. On the positive side, I don’t miss any school and it’s a really relaxing week with some of my favorite people. On the negative side, it’s the most expensive event that I’ve attended. I might try going for just a few days this year and spend part of my spring break visiting family, too.
The Gathering of Friends: Once again, I’ll be welcoming friends from around the world to my city for ten days of gaming bliss.
Late May/Early June event: In the past, I’ve rushed straight down to Georgia after May graduation for one of Ward’s Atlanta Game Fests. Sadly, he doesn’t have one scheduled for May this year. I’ll be looking for another event to kick start my summer vacation.
Oasis of Fun: This invitational event gives me another excuse to head down to GA to spend a few days gaming and a few more days visiting with family and friends.
Origins: Just days after getting back to town, I will be welcoming friends again to my neck of the woods for this large gaming convention in downtown Columbus, OH June 25th – June 29th.
Summer Gulf Games: After missing the winter event, I’ll definitely be planning a visit with my Gulf Games family at this mid-summer invitational event.
Gen Con/Gamefest South/Back to School: With an unfortunate scheduling conflict, I will likely have to miss both Gen Con and Ward Batty’s Gamefest South (held in Chattanooga for the first time) August 14th – 17th. We start back to school on August 18th and that is usually proceeded by all day meetings for several days.
Dragon*Con: Get your freak on. This is really a mix of boardgaming and amazing people watching. I’ll be in Atlanta for this one August 29th – September 1st.
That Boardgaming Thing: Depending on my fall teaching schedule, I will be hoping to make this fall invitational in North Carolina.
Buckeye Game Fest: Our local game club will be having its 9th annual game convention October 2nd – 4th.
Spiel: I really hope to make it to Essen again October 22nd – 26th. It’s a week later this year, which unfortunately doesn’t coincide with my fall break as it has in years past.
Great Lakes Games/Lobster Trap/Euroquest/BGG.con: Many groups take advantage of the opportunity to gather shortly after Spiel to try out all the new games. I will definitely be representing Rio Grande Games again at BGG.con. How many of the others I am able to attend will depend on my teaching schedule and their relative timing. I can’t be in two places at once!
Lone Star Games: After suggesting to Kevin Nunn that he host his new invitational New Year’s Eve weekend, I’ve never actually managed to make it down to Texas for the event. Hopefully 2008 will be the year.
Other possibilities: I’ve attended Ubercon in NJ and the World Boardgaming Championships in PA and I’d consider going back if the timing was right to also visit my family. I’ve also wanted to check out Kublacon in CA and a new invitational held for the first time last year in CA. I’d like to make it to Geekway to the West in St. Louis and the train games convention in Chatanooga one of these years. And as long as we’re dreaming big, I’d like to visit Australia and England and of course I’d have to time it so that I could meet some local gamers while I’m there. There are lots of other conventions out there that I haven’t mentioned, so feel free to give a shout out for your favorite event.
I’d rather be gaming,
Valerie Putman
Posted by Valerie Putman on Jan 6, 2008 at 01:00 AM in Columnists, Valerie Putman / 1437
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Oh Valerie, no event in late May/early June? There’s always the Australian Games Expo (this year’s is June 6-9). It’s a pretty horrid time of year to visit Australia though. Posted by Melissa Rogerson on Jan 6, 2008 at 01:23 AM | #
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Valerie, Great schedule as always. I highly recommend KublaCon. My daughter and I went a few years ago and had a great time. It’s a (not-so) mini Origins on the West Coast with its mix of boardgaming, CCG, and RPG gaming. My tentative schedule for this year:
Feb - PrezCon (Charlotesville, VA)
Posted by Tom McCorry on Jan 6, 2008 at 10:28 AM | #
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Tom,
Melissa,
Posted by Valerie Putman on Jan 6, 2008 at 12:09 PM | #
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The GCOM Games Days is pure open gaming with the large GCOM Games library available. Much more your type of event. http://gamesday.gamesclubofmd.org/GameDays.asp Tom Posted by Tom McCorry on Jan 6, 2008 at 12:54 PM | #
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I’ve just gotta ask: A. How can you all travel to so many places just for games? How does anyone even have time available with a job? B. The natural lead-in: Games, Games, Games. I love ‘em too but they take up a small percentage of my overall time. If it is always game conventions and the like year after year… then what about skiing in the Rockies? going to see the Daytona 500? a casual stroll down the Champs Elysees in Paris? taking a hiking trip to Patagonia? mountain biking in Moab,UT? Italy? the mountain chalets and fondue in Switzerland? joining a softball league at home? Don’t get me wrong. Games are great. But I just hope you all take advantage of the many other things life as to offer! Cheers… Ryan B. Posted by Ryan Bretsch on Jan 6, 2008 at 03:49 PM | #
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Ryan, A. I get the equivalent of 5 weeks of vacation per year (I’ve been with my company for 20 years). I also work a flex-schedule where I get every other Friday off by working extra hours on the other 9 working days. So the long weekend events usually don’t require vacation time. B. Besides the gaming events last year I spent a week in Hawaii and a week in Orlando with my family, a long weekend with my wife in Las Vegas, and a family wedding in Seattle. Xmas trip to parents in Boston and in-laws in Vermont. As part of work trips I also got to travel to Denmark, Germany, and South Korea last year. I went to a NE Patriots homegame, a Boston Red Sox game here in Baltimore, and played a round or two of golf. Taught my oldest daughter to drive and went to several of my youngest daughter’s hip-hop dance competitions. And we hosted an exchange student from Dortmund, Germany. All in all a pretty diverse set of activities outside of my main hobby. I will admit 2007 was a busier year then usual. Looking foward the biggest thing for me is the start of college visit season with my oldest daughter. Tom Posted by Tom McCorry on Jan 6, 2008 at 04:24 PM | #
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Wow, at most my wife will probably let me do BGG.CON, and only cause it’s in Dallas, which is right up the road from here in Austin. Other than that if it doesn’t have a sand, sun, palm trees and mai tai’s, then it isn’t going to be in my vacation schedule. Posted by Michael Chapel on Jan 6, 2008 at 07:51 PM | #
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Valerie - to visit, I’d say April/May (possibly March) or October/November have the best/most mild-and-predictable weather. The June con is the only real national con, but given enough notice something can always be arranged at other times. :) Posted by Melissa Rogerson on Jan 6, 2008 at 08:22 PM | #
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Travel is good. I can recommend the UK Games Expo in Birmingham, UK the first weekend in June. More info is posted here somewhere. I went last year and had a ball. Met Martin Wallace and the Ragnar Brothers. Several big cons in Italy - Ludicamente, Modcon and Lucca Games. Last year I went to several cons:
UK Games Expo -Birmingham, UK
Wanted to try Gencon, Origins and Essen, but illness/scheduling got in the way. This year I plan to add Mittencon (Feb in MI), Origins, Gencon and maybe Lucca Games - last year same weekend as Great Lakes Games. John Posted by John Daniels on Jan 7, 2008 at 12:08 AM | #
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I really do envy your stamina to be able to travel so much. It took me at least a week to recover after EuroQuest and BGG.con last November (thank goodness for Thanksgiving break afterwards). Personally, I’d much prefer to attend a weekend long event with just a group of friends (like your spring break B&B) over a major convention. You can set your own schedule and you don’t feel so rushed to have to play as many games as you can everyday. I just wish I have more opportunities to do that. Posted by Jason Cheng on Jan 7, 2008 at 07:01 AM | #
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Keep on the lookout for more about next years NBUC, Valerie… from what I’ve heard there are volunteers to take the reigns if necessary (and it may be so, since medical bills have eaten away my travel budget) Posted by Anye Mercy on Jan 10, 2008 at 01:28 PM | #
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Hey all you travelling Game-Con seekers, don’t forget about FallCon! I would be pleased if some of you could make the trip and if you really are interested send me a private email and I can help you with some of the arrangements. Peace Posted by Brent Lloyd on Jan 11, 2008 at 03:51 PM | #
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