Gen Con™

So last weekend was The Best Four Days In Gaming™ at the South Bank Convention Center.

I attended of course. Didn't find out about it until the day before it started, but luckily I had Thursday off and a late shift on Friday.

So I went... wandered around the booths. They had so much cool stuff there... games, books, DVDs, toy models. They even had a six-foot model of the Battlestar Galactica. Price was AUD180 though.... so tempting... but well... I did get the SOUNDaround box thingy though. It's quite good. Amplifies the sound from DVDs etc. and simulates surround sound from just a couple of speakers. One of the stall-holders even invited me to compete in a Rummikub competition, although I couldn't seeing as I was working Saturday.

Slightly disappointing that Jamie Bamber and James Callis couldn't make it for the convention. The Stargate: Atlantis stars that they brought out to replace them just didn't make the cut. I didn't even bother going to see them as I had no idea who they were.

Wizards of The Coast had a stall there as well... giving demo sessions of games. I tried a demo of Dungeons and Dragons. Was a bit hesitant at first, it took me halfway through the game before I actually got into it and my rogue took a pounding at the hands of some giant scorpions. I'd also tried a Magic: The Gathering demo there. Seeing as I hadn't playing in 4-5 years, I would think that qualifies me to be a newbie... somewhat. Anyway... played a match with the instructor there... and surprise surprise, I won. One of the veteran players there even gave me a free theme deck (rare and foil removed of course). After the demos, WOTC gave out free showbags with stuff in it. I got a Lorowyn theme deck and several D&D miniatures... which I'm not sure what I'm going to do with.

Next day (Friday) I decided on entering one of the tournaments there... play a few rounds of Magic again. So I signed up for the Grand Prix: Auckland trial. Sealed tournament, meaning that they gave a tournament pack and a couple of boosters and you construct your deck there. I made a black/green creature deck. Bad move though. The deck was too slow. In hindsight I should've gone with a red/green deck... cos I had better red cards. Oh well. Anyway, I lost horribly (9 games out of 10). To be expected I guess... seeing as I was really really rusty. Forgot a lot of the rules and so on... so I made so many mistakes that the veteran players had to correct. Still.... all in all it was a fun experience. Nice to play again after so long.

I didn't attend on Saturday and Sunday because I had work going. Very full weekend, cos I swapped half-shifts for full shifts. Had a bit of a disgusting situation on Friday night though. A customer, ran into the shop, up to the first floor (which was where the toilets were). She then headed to the DVD section, proceeded to drop trou and peed on the floor. She was drunk of course... but well... ugghh. And then she raced out the door when one of my colleagues caught her in the act.

And that was it for my Gen Con™ experience. Maybe I'll have a better chance next year... if I keep in practice.