Photo Album of the 2007 GenCon Trip

GenCon 2007 was August 16th - 19th this year at the Indianapolis Convention Center in Indianapolis IN.  Zac and Amanda were not able to make it this year because they had just moved to Denver CO and Amanda was doing training for her job and Zac was looking for a job.  Andy P. and George R. went with Kathy, Andrew and Tim for the GenCon Adventure.  Lukas was going to go but somebody had already asked off at his work so he was unable to go.

Wednesday August 15th, 2007

We actually left almost on time, a rarity for Tim.  It was 10:15am when we left home and Tim had planned to leave at 10am.  We stopped by Gurnee Mills and got some shorts for Tim & Andrew then started of for Indianapolis.  The traffic in Chicago was not too bad until we got south of where the lanes go from 4 to 3 and the traffic slowed down (they are widening it to 4 lanes).  We hit another slow spot in IN where I-65 comes off of I-80 they were redoing the I-65/I-80 interchange).

We stayed at the Hilton Indianapolis and it is nicer then what where we usually stay.  Our room was on the 10th floor and it was HUGE.  There was a bedroom with 2 queen size beds separated from a sitting room with a desk and sleeper sofa by French doors.  After we checked in and got settled, we went to the ICC (Indiana Convention Center) and picked up our Swag bags which contained:

• World of Warcraft: Trading Card Game (TCG) - Dark Portal Starter set
• Star Wars Miniatures - mini of Mon Calamari Mercenary w/ card
• The Spoils (TCG) - booster pack
• Crystal Caste D6 - (get 20% off rest of Gencon 07 set)
• AH Axis & Allies Miniatures Booster Pack Set 2
• InQuest magazine # 149
• Cineplexity - free sample pack
• Mayfair games flyer
• Gary Gygax flyer
• Dwarven forge flyer
• Mag - Ultimate Guide to Collectable Games
• Gleemax / MapleStory flyer
• Jinx Clothing flyer
• Campaign Coins flyer
• Dragon Hoard bookmark
• Gencon 40th Anniversary Coupon book

Andy, George and Andrew went their way and Kathy and Tim went theirs.  Tim had a “GenCon 40th Anniversary” book to pick up at Will Call but the line was too long so we decided to wait.  On the way back to the hotel Kathy & Tim went by way of the skywalk thru the mall and we found out that they only have to go outside for about 1/2 a block to get into the hotel.  We dropped off our bags and then went back to the mall to get a smoothie and cinnamon pretzel then back to the hotel to figure out what we were signed up to do tomorrow.

Thursday August 16th, 2007 - start of convention

Thursday was a busy day for Tim, he was scheduled for 6 different games that started at 8am and ran until 1am Friday morning.  Kathy was scheduled to play in a couple of games with Tim & Andrew and had some seminars in the afternoon and evening.  Andrew had some games with Mom & Dad and had the rest of his time to check out the Exhibit Hall and try and do some video gaming. Andy and George did not have any events planned except for playing electronic games which were only in the exhibit hall.

Tim finished 1st in the “Alhambra” qualifier and was going on to the finals at 12 noon.  Two of the guys that Tim played against in the “Alhambra” qualifier looked familiar. They were Tom Cleaver and Martin Champion who he had played in some games with the last time we went to GenCon in 2004.  Our qualifier game finished about 9am and we had until 10am so Tim, Tom and Martin played another game of “Alhambra” until Tim had to go play “Candamir: The First Settlers” at 10am.

Kathy, Andrew and Tim played “Candamir: The First Settlers” with one other player and we ran out of time before somebody got to 10 victory points.  So we declared the person in the lead the winner when time ran out.  Tim was in the lead with 6, followed by Kathy and Andrew with 5 and then our other player with 4 points.  We had fun playing and Kathy really liked the way the cards determined what hazards or rewards there were when moving.  “Candamir: The First Settlers” was one of the games that we purchased this year.

At noon Kathy and Andrew played in the “Ticket to Ride: 1910” qualifier but neither one of them finished 1st so they did not advance to the next round.  Tim had a ticket to the “TtR:1910” qualifier but opted to play in the “Alhambra” final instead.  It was a close game Tom Cleaver (who played in another qualifier at 10am) won with 88 points, Jess got 2nd and Tim and Matt tied for 3rd.  To resolve the tie they drew and the high card would get 3rd.  The 1st cards each drew were “8’s”.  On the 2nd draw Matt got a “3” and Tim drew a “9” for 3rd a 3rd place finish.  What did Tim win?  A certificate and bragging rights.

The “Alhambra” final and Kathy & Andrew’s “TtR:1910” both finished a little after 1am so we headed off to the Exhibit Hall for a little while.  It was HUGE and we only got maybe 1/3 of the way into it when Tim had to head for his next event the “On the Underground”.

MORE to come ....

Inntrepid  8-27-07

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updated 8-27-07