ConQuest Sacramento

The first Sacramento ConQuest game convention was held this weekend, April 7-9. There were quite a few things going on–CCG tournaments, miniature gaming (e.g. Warhammer), an anime film festival, miniature painting contest, costume contest, RPG’s, a bunch of science fiction movies (to go along with the convention theme, “Questing through time”), and…

Boardgaming! In spite of the fact that I only attended the con “part time”, (I was at home with my family at least a few hours every day), I managed to get in 14 games. At about two hours per game, that’s a lot of gaming! Half of the games were ones I’ve already played and/or own. Of the half that I had never played before, three stood out as likely purchases — Caylus, Reef Encounter, and Winds of Plunder. Caylus and Reef Encounter are both a bit complex and may not appeal to my family, but Winds of Plunder would probably get a lot of play at our house.

One of the best things about con’s is the people they attract. I already know quite a few local gamers through the Sacramento Boardgames Meetup, but I met dozens of interesting new gamers at the con. Many of them are locals that are involved in other game groups, and I look forward to getting together with them in the future. I also talked to some well-informed folks and got some news about a few games I’m interested in: Zendo, which is currently out of print, is supposed to be re-published in the near future; Winds of Plunder has received almost enough pre-orders to enter GMT‘s production queue; and Take Stock, a game designed by my friend Simon Hunt, probably will be published in May or June. Take Stock was already a great game when I playtested it several months ago, but Simon and the publisher have tightened it up considerably since then and bumped it up to “excellent”. I’m really looking forward to this game’s publication!

I spoke with several of the convention organizers before I left on Sunday evening, and they were very happy with the attendance numbers. They were hoping for 400 attendees, and they managed to pull in over 500, which is quite a good turnout for a first-run con. We can look forward to an annual gaming convention in Sacramento every year in early April. Easter was very late this year and caused a bit of scheduling hassle, on top of the fact that this was organized on relatively short notice. But I understand that ConQuest Sac 2007 is already being planned, so next year should be even better!