We now interrupt your regularly-scheduled ruminations on ghost-punching to bring this recap of 2014’s “best four days of gaming.”
Pony Palooza
The biggest event of the show for me was the continental championship for the My Little Pony CCG. This massive, two-day event brought together the biggest players in the country (and a few from Canada) to duke it out for sweet prizes, bragging rights, and the severed heads of their enemies! (One of these might not be true.) It was fun and educational to wander amongst the players, checking out their decks and watching them play the cars I helped design. (Check out the official Tumblr for more pics and details.)
How to Pony
Of course, most of my time at the Enterplay Pony Corral was spent with our crack squad of volunteers running demos and teaching people how to play. Since it was GenCon, we had quite a few gamers-who-are-defnitely-not-bronies come up and sheepishly ask for a demo, as if they were embarrassed to be seen playing with pastel ponies. I have to say, we made quite a few converts this way. Their mantra, which I heard more than once, was “This was like nothing I expected. This is fun!”
Moments in the Chaos
There was more to GenCon than ponies, of course. Like standing in the rain outside the food trucks, waiting for a dozen orders of mac & cheese with a giant bag of cupcakes in my hand. Or sitting around the hall after hours talking game design with an old colleague working on his doctoral thesis. Or reminiscing with the CEO of Fantasy Flight about the old days of GenCon, when the whole company would crash in a dorm room, rather than take up the 50 hotel rooms they need today.
Until Next Year…
Yeah, it’s their slogan, but GenCon truly is the best four days in gaming. It’s like coming home to see all my gaming friends again, and I’m already making plans for GenCon 2015.
