FallCon 19- Pity the Fool Who Didn't Go!

This was one of the best weekends I have had in my life. It was so much fun. For all of you who don't know, FallCon is a big Boardgame and Miniature Convention happening in Calgary every year in September for the last 19 years. It lasts 3 days, during which gamers float in a blissful cloud of fast food, gaming, competing, and networking.

From left to right: me(Catrin), Andrew from the Calgary Gamers'

Guild, Game Designer Wilf Backhaus, and Steve playtesting In Fair Verona

As for POGOB, this was the best thing we could have done for the club. It was an extremely productive weekend. Here are the highlights:

1. We were able to talk to the numerous gamers who had driven down from Edmonton to go to Fallcon(in my first game, 3/5 of the table were from Edmonton, and Steve wasn't one of them), and let them know about the upcoming Settlers tournament.
2. Steve won a copy of Nexus Ops in the raffle.
3. We came home with about 15 games we bought in the humongous game auction they have every year. Over 500 games are auctioned off in 2 hours. None of the games we bought cost us more than $15, and some were only $3. One of it was even still shrinkwrapped. So, POGOBs, prepare to play hard next Sunday!
   
4. We connected with John Engel, the owner of the St. Albert boardgame store Mission Fun & Games and operater of the site www.boardgames.ca. For all of you who have never been to his store: go. It is a place of both utter bliss and sheer agony (of choice, of course) for anyone who likes games. Mr. Engel has agreed to sponsor the Settlers tournament in numerous ways by providing us with gift certificates, coupons, and other perks, along with his expertise and connections. In addition to that, he agreed to help out with registration and moderating the day of the tournament, so you will all get to meet him- "the man who lives the dream", as Steve likes to call him.
5. Every gamer at FallCon received a free copy of a new game valued at US$39.95. We were able to acquire two extra copies which will become prizes.
6. We met game designer Wilf Backhaus. For all of you who have experience with RPGs, you might know him as the co-author of the D&D competitor Chivalry and Sorcery. We got to playtest a game he's working on called In Fair Verona, and were happy to give him a thumbs up along with some gameplay feedback. Mr.Backhaus has also agreed to lend us his expertise later on this year when we plan to have our boardgame design competition- he agreed to judge the entries for us!

And, of course, here are the lowlights:

1. Steve and I both failed to make it into the semifinals in the Settlers tournament there with a measly 4.5 points each.
2. We slept in Sunday morning and missed the Cities and Knights tournament. I'm sure I would have won that one!
3. Steve won the Caylus tournament by someone else's roll of a die after tying for first in what he calls "the worst game of Caylus of his life" against three teenage girls who had never played before. I'll be sure to frame that certificate for him!