FallCon 20: My first FallCon Experience
I’ve been aware of FallCon for a number of years now. I’ve always wanted to go but never really made an effort before. I did stop by once to drop off flyers for Con-Version. This year I had a blast. I ran into a lot of people I know, through stores or Con-Version, or other general gaming.
Friday:
I went via transit directly after work. I got there in plenty of time. I brought a few of my own games with me, as I had open gaming Friday night.
I showed up at the door and was given a pair of d6’s (a pair of dice) with the falcon logo for the 1. Very cool! I had pre-registered over the internet and just had to pay to pick up my badge. Signing up was very easy from the website!
The badges were cool. They had your name, what year this was for you at FallCon (1st, 2nd, 3rd… etc). They also listed the events you were signed up for or just open gaming. I’m sure that was a big help for the moderators.
I played Carcassonne, which I never played before, with a nice group of people (players total). I came in middle of the road for final score (well one guy had ~150 points the rest of us were about 100 points).
Afterwards I played WizWar and Lunch Money (both games I brought with me) with Jane (a friend from Con-Version) and one of her sons Iain. Jane’s other son Erik was playing in the 12 man Titan tournament and won (yay!).
I also wandered around a bit and looked into some games. Jane was very nice and gave me a ride home.
Saturday:
I was signed up for the RoboRally tournament at 9am. Jane was nice enough to pick me up and drive me there (thank you again!). I did pretty much as I expected – middle of the road. I had only played it once before. There were 12 seats at the table and 11 people played. 12 people I think is a little too busy. I suppose it’s a good format for the tournament and it was a well designed board, the house rules for 12 players worked well. I think I may have enjoyed a smaller game better, but I still had fun. I helped out a bit with the game keeping track of time (you have 2 min to lay your cards down) and helped a little keep on track (calling out the phases). That gave the moderator (Ian) a bit of a break. He came by and thanked me for my help and gave me a FallCon leather dice cup! That was really nice and I appreciated it. I was ready to be done an hour before the game was over, and we ended up all agreeing to call the game at noon instead of 12:30. This gave us a longer lunch.
At lunch I started up a game of Merchant of Venus (my game). By the time I had worked out the rules and we had played 3-4 turns, lunch was over.
I had open gaming for the afternoon session, so I tried to start up a game of Republic of Rome (my game) but there wasn’t enough interest. I started up another game of Merchant of Venus, and we played for most of the afternoon session – I had forgotten what an interesting game it was. We wrapped up a bit early so we could get out of the way of the setup for the auction. My friend George showed up just before the auction. I convinced him to come out and play Decent: Journeys into the Dark.
Between the afternoon and evening sessions they had an auction. They auctioned off over 500 boardgames and accessories in two hours. That is a massive amount for so short a time! The auction format was very simple. They name the boardgame and the reserve bid (usually a $1), then hold it up. The bidders all raise their cards. The auctioneer starts counting up price from there until there is only one bidder left. Simple and effective.
I picked up a few boardgames.
- Master Labyrinth – the German version: I’ve wanted this game for quiet some time now I think this is one I will teach and play with my kids. I just need to find the English version of the rules – should be easy on the internet.
- Raj: a very simple game of Cards and tiles – has a poker like feel. Its very fun. I was shown this game at Con-Version by the FallCon guys. I’ve been talking about it to my friends ever sense. Brent showed it to me but when I had asked him on Friday about it, he hadn’t brought it. I was very happy to pick it up!
- Lord of the Rings: Return of the king board game. Nobody else bid on it so I got it for the reserve price. Its un-punched (all the counters still in baggies) and pretty much in mint condition.
George picked up the D&D boardgame of the Haunted Tower(?) and the second-to-last board game HeroQuest. An old classic.
The auction ran right till 8pm so the final game I had signed up for, Decent: Journeys into the Dark, didn’t start till 8pm. It was a fun game, half way between D&D and HeroQuest in complexity and difficulty. We ran till midnight when we called it game. Brent ran our table and he was great, although a bit worn out after auctioneering for two hours.
Afterwards I got a ride home from Susanne (sp?) from Lethbridge. She was in my RoboRally game in the morning and I really appreciate her giving me a ride!
Sunday there was more gaming, however I had my D&D group playing on Sunday so I did that instead.
Final Thoughts:
This was my first FallCon and my first Gaming Convention that I went to. I had a blast and plan on going again next year!
Current Mood: 
happy
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pessimistic