Origins, part 2

Okay, first a definition: a gaming convention is a convention at which games of all types are played and sold. In this case, it's a five day event in Columbus, Ohio, sponsored by the Game Manufacturers' Association. It's been running every summer since 1975, attracting tens of thousands of people from across the country. It features everything from traditional board and card games (like the poker tournament Jason did on Thursday) to role-playing games (like the Tunnels and Trolls dungeon crawl Jason did on Sunday) to miniature strategy games (like reenactments of historical battles, complete with detailed troops and weapons and tanks and everything). It's a chance to play old favorites with new people, and a chance to try out new games relatively cheaply before buying them. AND there's a huge vendor area, where you can buy pretty much any game, accessory, snarky t-shirt, etc. that you can think of.

Like I said, Jason had a poker tournament Thursday night, and meanwhile Liza and I met Sybil and Penelope to play some Munchkin. Liza was a bit cranky from the four-hour car ride to get to the convention, but she perked right up when she saw the acres of carpeted floor and dozens of stairs she could attempt to climb. I spent half an hour playing my cards while watching her out of the corner of my eye as she took off at a fast crawl across the floor. She'd get 40 or 50 feet away before I went to get her, unless she was headed for the revolving doors or the escalators, in which case I had to intervene a little sooner. Here's a shot of her in action at the con:

We realized pretty quickly that although the convention center is vaccuumed pretty regularly, apparently they last shampooed their carpets in 1978, because Liza and Penelope were both getting grimy really fast. After only an hour or so of crawling and playing on the floor, Liza's hands, knees, and the tops of her feet were absolutely grey ... it was definitely necessary to wipe her down before she ate dinner, and every night was bath night to get that crud off of her.

Friday I had purposely left open on my schedule, since Jason had some games he wanted to play that wouldn't allow him to look after Liza at all. So Sybil and I let the girls sleep in late, then took them over to a park in downtown Columbus that features - get this - a topiary recreation of the Georges Seurat painting Sunday Afternoon on the Isle of La Grand Jatte. If you stand at a certain place in the park, all of the bushy people, boats and monkeys are in exactly the same locations as in the painting. It was every bit as thrilling as it sounds:

It was a nice park to stroll through, and you certainly couldn't beat the price. But I was a bit disappointed in the fact that the figures aren't complete - the tallest of the bunch are still topped by un-topiaried metal framework that will eventually support the yew bushes that make the figures (check out the umbrella the lady on the far right of the scene above is holding). I mean, they've been growing for almost 20 years now - you'd think it would be done already!

Later that day we participated in an Apples to Apples game that was somewhat ruined by an overly enthusiastic game master (the person running the game) who insisted on commenting on every single card that was played. Grr.

By far the best event that I played was called Clay-O-Rama where the participants make creatures out of Play-Doh and then battle them to the death. And I'm not just saying it was fun because I won (which I did), but because there are few things more fun than being able to fling blobs of clay across the table and pound the living crap out of my opponent's creature with my fist if I make the shot. Hoo-ahh!

One of the highlights of any gaming convention is the dealers' hall, where game manufacturers show off their newest products and companies of all types try to sell you stuff. Experienced convention attendees seem to have a sixth sense for which booths have the best "swag," that is, free stuff they give you for trying out their games. Matt and Sybil came home with two enormous boxes of Pokemon cards for their boys, just from sitting through the demo and playing one hand with one of the booth staff. Not a bad return on their investment of time, I'd say.

Since we still have most of the swag we picked up two years ago (unopened in a drawer somewhere, gathering dust), I avoided the free stuff and instead spent my time in the dealer room in search of several specific items: 1) a pair of fuzzy d-20 dice for Jason's rear view mirror, 2) a new game to take home that doesn't suck when played by only two players, and 3) at least one funny t-shirt.

The game I picked is called Blokus, and it's sort of like playing Tetris head-to-head with another person, only on a board instead of a computer. The best part is that it's designed for two people (at least the travel version I got is), so it doesn't suck when it's just me and Jason available to play it. Plus, I'm pretty good at it, especially when my opponent is either sleep deprived or partially inebriated :)

I ended up getting two shirts, partially because I couldn't decide between them, and partially because I felt bad for the lady who was selling them. One of them is a grey cami with this slogan:

And the other is a tan t-shirt that proclaims my new personal slogan:

I love the tagline: A kiss may be grand but it won't fix the plumbing ... It doesn't get much truer than that.

Okay, I've got more to post, but I've got some housework to do. Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday!

PS - Sorry, Michael, but K's Mom is right - I've already got the mandevilla started in a pot next to the patio railing (left side in the photo). It remains to be seen whether it will actually climb this year, as this same plant has been remarkably short in past years. If it doesn't climb this year I'll give up, throw it out, and try with a new plant next summer.