ConQuest Goes International - ConQuest BC!

Hi gang,

We are reporting to you live from Surrey, British Columbia, where ConQuest BC is well underway.

We have about 100 happy gamers playing all manner of miniature, role playing and board games! Here are some pictures of the revelry!

Just about every table was full of people playing games on Saturday morning!

It's always great to be able to host Monster Games - wargames of an expansive scale - and we had two of them hosted this weekend!

Totalar Kreig GM'd by Rick White, and Third Reich hosted by Andrew Nick.

These games generally take up multiple tables and days to play!

For more information go to http://www.conquestbc.com. We still have one day badges available for Sunday, so come on down and join us!

All This AND a TShirt!!

Hi gang,

Well, as promised, here is the snazzy design for our special Tenth Anniversary Tshirt for ConQuest SF this year! This will be on a black T-shirt, and we will have sizes from Medium to 3XL.

These can be ordered on our registration page at http://conquestsf07.eventbrite.com/. We also offer specials (Silver Badges) which gives a discount when you buy a Weekend pass along with a Tshirt.

Unlike our other shirts which we use for an entire year of shows, this shirt will ONLY be available for ConQuest SF, since its a tenth anniversary show. Once it's gone, it's gone. So, we are printing this to sell out at SF. So, to insure that you get yours, make sure you order it by the preorder deadline. All preorders are prepaid and hence, guaranteed.

Take care, and remember! Saturday, September 1, 2007 is "Wear your ConQuest Tshirt" Day!!

Mondo

...who needs no introduction...

Hi gang,

We are proud to announce for our ConQuest SF - Pacificon Game Exposition 2007, the attendance of Alan Emrich as a Special Guest.

Anyone who knows Alan knows him to have spent his life pursuing and promoting the hobby. There are few people who have done more in his life than Alan has. He co-created Strategicon (LA's gaming conventions) while still in High School. In 1977 he held the first Orccon at Cal State Fullerton. In 1981 he would attend "Pacific Origins" in the Bay Area. Later, in 1986, he would host LA Origins 86, generally regarded as one of the best Origins' ever. He has written hundreds of articles about gaming, published wargaming magazines, and for 20 years was the best and most popular auctioneer in the region.

And he's coming to town. Alan has agreed to be our Auctioneer at ConQuest this year. Now, I've sold things at his auctions before, years ago. Let me tell you, I'm bringing all the games I've been saving over the past ten years because no one will get a better price for them, than Alan will. So this is the year to bring in the goods, folks! It doesn't get better than Alan Emrich as an auctioneer!

Mr. Emrich will also be offering a couple of seminars during the weekend on game design. Full bio will be published in about a weeks time on the website.

See you at the show!
Mondo

Hi gang,
This week has been about the Flea Markets at ConQuest SF - Pacificon Game Exposition being held Labor Day weekend, Aug 31 - Sept 3, 2007 at the San Francisco Airport Marriott Hotel in Burlingame, CA. There was much discussion about the times and type of Flea Markets we were going to run, and it was clear that we needed to modify our plans to create an event that the community would enjoy!
It truly takes a community to build a game convention!
So here is what was decided:

ConQuest SF - Pacificon Game Exposition
Flea Market Schedule

TIMES:
Friday: 11pm - 1am
Saturday: 7:30 - 9:30pm
Sunday: 7:30pm - 9:30pm
Monday: 9am - 11am

COST:$17 per space until July 31, 2007
$20 per space after July 31, 2007
Limit:1 space per person, per session

FLEA MARKET POLICIES:

1. The selling of any appreciable quantity of current products (either in or out of shrink wrap, freight-damaged, etc.) will not be allowed.
2. The sale of new currently available products from manufacturers present at this show is not allowed!
3. Please exercise good taste in the items you offer.
4. The convention reserves the right not to rent a flea market table.
5. All decisions of the convention are final!
6. Individuals judged in violation of these policies may be expelled from the convention for the remainder of the event.

And....Flea Market spaces are now available for sale on our website for the show! Be sure and make sure you have already purchased a 4-Day or the appropriate 1-Day badge for the day you want to sell, and that it is in the same name as you registered for. Or just buy both at once if you haven't already.

So there you have it. We will also have a the Pacificon Live Auction on Saturday of the show, with me as the auctioneer, with guest game commentary provided by some of our special guests. Then on Sunday we will hold the ConQuest Charity Silent Auction! Details for both of these events will be posted soon, so stay tuned!
So there you have it! Two Auctions, Four Flea Markets. I know I'm going to bring a bunch of my games to sell at the auction this year! :-)
Take care,
Mondo

It's the ConQuest Cafe!

Hi gang,

Boy...if anyone tries to tell you that running a gaming convention is hard work, try running four or five or them!

The past couple days have been occupied with fixing the problems we had with the Flea Market and Auctions last year, and making them better for this year at ConQuest SF - Pacificon Game Exposition.

So far, it looks like we'll have a single Flea Market everyday, and two auctions. A live one on Saturday, and a silent one for charity on Sunday. I think most folks will be happy. And that's the challenge about these things...

....almost never is everyone happy. It's like that adage 'you can't please all of the people..." but it doesn't make it any easier to deal with.

I want everyone to be happy. I want the people who lose at their game to be happy that they had a great time playing. I want the people who took part in the 'make the convention better' discussions to go away feeling happy about their participation, even if their pet project didn't make it in.

But, the honest truth is that I will not be able to make everyone happy. So, if I make that my goal, then I am MondoMan doomed to die, like one of the human ringwraiths or something. Ick.

So, what's a Mondo to do?

I think that rather than trying to make everyone happy, I will focus on creating a place where everyone has the opportunity to create their own happiness. To make it easy for them to define it themselves. Like the decision to have both a live and silent auction. People who like one or the other can attend the one they like. Those that like both will feel like they won the lottery.

Like the ConQuest Cafe above. We offered really great choices in Seattle this year, and the food sold like hotcakes. Even the hotcakes! But when we didn't offer good choices in Sacramento, the food sold like the Pandemonium RPG. (With apologies to Atlas Games who distributed it on its release at the same convention that Magic:The Gathering released.)

So, I guess my point is that I will work very hard to create fun, exciting and interesting choices for you all to make. And then the honus is on you to pick your path towards fun. And if you don't like the movies we show in our movie room this year...well...send us a note with your suggestions, and go do something you will enjoy.

But don't just grouse. Grouse at us. That way we can actually do something about it.

Take care,
Gabriel "Mondo"

New Name, New Digs, and Growing Room!

Hi gang,

The sites been surveyed. The negotiations have finished. Agreements drawn and looked over by rules lawyers. And now, we have a signed deal.

We have a new hotel for next year, and an old name comes back. Classic Coke has come home. It safe to drink soft drinks again....

Who - Why - Where - When - Why!

WHO - ConQuest SF is expanding its name to (trumpets, please)...

"ConQuest SF - Pacificon Game Exposition".

WHY - When I purchased the show, I knew that it really was the son of Pacificon, a show that I had fond memories of, and looked forward to the day when we would reclaim that part of this show's history. That day has come, as we continue to build the show into something grander and more wonderful!

WHERE & WHEN - ConQuest SF - Pacificon Game Exposition is moving in 2008 (next year) to the Santa Clara Marriott Hotel in the South Bay. (This year's show will still be in the San Francisco Airport Marriott Hotel.)

Labor Day Weekend, 2007 - San Francisco Airport Marriott Hotel

Labor Day Weekend, 2008 - Santa Clara Marriott Hotel

Labor Day Weekend, 2009 - Santa Clara Marriott Hotel

Labor Day Weekend, 2010 - Santa Clara Marriott Hotel

WHY - The Santa Clara Marriott hotel can handle the needs of our growing show for years and years to come. It gives us growing room, flexibility, and if when we outgrow the meeting space at the Marriott Hotel, it's just a couple of blocks to the Santa Clara Convention Center. 97% of the show is on the ground floor. Santa Clara is a more competitive environment for hotels, so we should be able to continue getting a good deal there for years to come. The SF Airport hotel was going to cost us as much more in room rates and parking rates in the upcoming years, and it had NO growth opportunities for us as our show grows. So, it's one more year in Burlingame, and then off to Santa Clara...

Alexis Randall, the ConQuest Special Events & RPG Manager wanted me to include the following:

Hey all,

I wanted to let everyone know my about my excitement in regards to our new home in 2008. I was able to accompany Gabriel on a site tour recently and even I, jaded by conventions and working in hotels, was impressed.

The Santa Clara Marriott gives us a tremendous amount of flexibility with space and room to grow in all areas of our programming. Of course with me being so heavily involved in RPGs, one of the opportunities I found so terrific about the Santa Clara Marriott is that we will be able to have 21 individual RPG rooms on the first floor right near the main convention area. That's right, no elevators to wait for while you're trying to get to your game! Another bonus to these rooms is that they have sliding glass doors to outside. Tired of stale hotel air, open the door!

With the amount of space inside, a large parking lot, Great America within walking distance among other popular attractions nearby (providing entertainment for your non-gaming spouses,) I am excited to the point of giddiness about our new home at the Santa Clara Marriott in 2008 and years to come!

Alexis Randall

So there you have it. Our new name, and our new home. Pacificon. ConQuest. Santa Clara. If you have any questions...just post 'em and we'll answer 'em as best we can.

Take care,

Mondo

Not just a game...but a way of life!

Hi gang,

I miss Star Fleet Battles. Oh sure, you can play the new Star Fleet game Federation Commander, which is really well done....but I still miss the amazing tournaments I'd play in with dozens and dozens of other Star Fleet captains and admirals, all vying for that perfect photon torpedo launch, or for the plasma's to outrun your enemies.

Before I played my first SFB game, I wore out my knees, pants, living room carpet, and my parents patience (but mom, it's a fleet engagement....it takes the WHOLE living room...), I learned about miniature space combat playing Lou Zocchi's Alien Space. Little four inch square pieces of cardboard with an exotic ship silhouette printed on them, with a six foot string coming from the middle of the ship. A compass with degree markings bordered each ship piece, and you had to give your shots with targeting done in degrees using a Mark I Eyeball. Ships like the Dort with it's gapper-zapper which could annihilate your ship if both beams cross your ship silhouette. The Kuzi with double the normal ships compliment of blazers (think phasers here.) Or, my favorite, the Zark with it's nigh-unstoppable Nytron energy cube and powerful yet short-ranged Nytron energy lance. In fact I still use the term "Zarked up" to mean when something is well defended in other games.

So why the nostalgia? Well, I have been going to game conventions all my life, my first being Pacificon at the old Dunfey Hotel in the late 70's, and then shows in LA, with the occasional trip out to GenCon, or a local Origins when it came to town (back when it used to travel across the country.) Sometimes when I walk though the gaming halls, well, I just miss Titan games with a dozen boards going, the aforementioned Star Fleet room - (yes a whole room), AD&D Tournament Dungeons, Rick Loomis from Flying Buffalo selling games, and cute gaming gals that were always too old.

Now we have the bunches of Settlers of Catan games, Warhammer 40K Tournaments that fill a whole room, RPGA (Organized Play D&D), Rick Loomis (still) from Flying Buffalo selling games, and cute gaming gals that are always too young.

The one thing that stays constant are the people. The friends made along the way. My best friend who I grew up with in Westwood, CA, now lives in Colorado. He taught me to play Diplomacy at the age of 14. Then 1776, Midway, Third Reich, Stalingrad, and so many more back in the early 70s. He was with me on that first trip to our first gaming convention at Pacificon waaay back when, and now he comes out to ConQuest SF. He runs a play by mail game company and I run a game store and conventions.

Did we stay close to our roots? I think so. I am so grateful for all the friends I've made in the gaming world, and look forward to the new ones I'm making along the way. My only regret is that I have less time to play than in year's past. Shoot, I know my friend's got less time with the two kids he's raising. But maybe he'll win the Diplomacy tournament again this year.

The friends made along the way. Conventions are all about community. They are about the people we come to play with, and the ones we have yet to meet. And sometimes those people take a larger role in our lives. (Heck, my sister met her future husband in my D&D game almost 20 years ago.)

So I guess what I'm saying is that the really important things about gaming conventions haven't really changed over the past 30 years. So I look forward to what the next 30 years holds in store. There seems to be a lot of game left to play out in gaming conventions.

See you at the tables,

Mondo

La Vida Mondo 2.0

Hi gang,

Welcome to The Adventures of Mondo. Pretty much this'll be where I will write things to share with the community about the ConQuest Conventions and other game related experiences. I will write about my thoughts on the shows, directions to go, cool ideas being percolated, and why I did or didn't like the current blockbuster flick. I'd also like to hear from you, especially if you have ideas about what we could do better. Comments are 'on', but I've got it set to moderate, so be nice.

I'll also try to include a photo with each post, well, just because. This picture is from October 2004 at the re-opening of the gamestore I own called The Name of the Game. Here I am with a couple Giants of the industry...Peter Adkison (founder of Wizards of the Coast - Owner of Gencon) and Anthony Gallela (Executive Director of GAMA the industry trade organization.) What I want to know is if they are giants, how come I'm so much bigger?