PLAAY Dot Con 2023: Prepare to PLAAY!
PLAAY-Dot-CON 2023 is just a month away--we're excited to get to hang out with our "peeps!" We feel like this will be the best convention ever, certainly the biggest! Here's the (more-or-less) final convention schedule. There are only a couple of minor shifts from the tentative schedule we posted back in February...
Wednesday, 07.26.23
• Early-Early Bird Open House, 2-5p: Nothing fancy or elaborate here--just "hang out" time, maybe some games, and a tour of our set-up. We'll have bottled water and snacks, feel free to bring a beverage or snack of your own to share.
• Torchy's Tacos, 5-7p: This was a convention favorite last year, great food and within walking distance of the hotel. (Everyone pays for their own food/beverages.)
• Open Game Play at Hotel (atrium area), 7p-???: Plenty of table space. We'll bring some games from the PLAAY library, feel free to do the same!
Thursday, 07.27.23
• Pre-Con Picnic at Redstone Park, 5-8p: We'll provide burgers, condiments, chips and bottled water, feel free to bring something to share if you like--beverage, dessert, side-dish--or, just show up hungry, that works, too! Mingle with PLAAY gamer convention-goers, "veterans and "rookies."
• Open Game Play at Hotel (atrium area), 8p-???: Whatever you want to get on the table, solo or with friends. (Will be an even bigger crowd Thursday night!)
Friday, 07.28.23
• Registration, 9a-11a: Pick up your lanyard, program and raffle tickets and get ready to have fun!
• Flea Market, 9a-11a: If you’ve got games/cards sitting around gathering dust, consider bringing them to the con to find a new home for them here. It's a "self serve" thing, just mark your items with your name and an asking price and place them on the tables. We’ll have PLAAY “scratch and dent” specials as well.
• PLAAY Games PLAAY-around, 9a-11a: As in past years, we'll have tables set up with all of the PLAAY and PLAAY NOW games, hosted by people who own/play the game (early registration for the hosts). So if there's a game you've always wanted to check out, here's your chance to see it demonstrated by a "veteran!"
• Welcome, Info Segment, 11a-1130a: Before we head off to lunch, we’ll go over some of the upcoming activities, give you a quick overview of the DIY card-making process for the golf and tennis tournaments, explain the "find a seat" play arrangement, etc.
• Lunch, 1130a-130p: There’s plenty of great eating destinations within walking distance of the hotel (details in your program)!
• History Maker Baseball Express Time Machine Tournament, 130p-500p: A convention staple since we first started doing conventions (2018), we'll again conduct the tournament in "express mode!" It'll again be "BYOT" (bring your own team), any officially published PLAAY release is eligible, except for the following: Cooperstown Cards, All-Time-Franchise Great Teams, or (new this year) any previous Time Machine Tournament winner (see below). Yes, Baseball America teams ARE eligible! Winner and runner-up get raffle tickets.
Previous Time Machine Tournament Winners...
2014 (Kansas City), Danny McCubbin, 1985 Royals
2015 (San Francisco), Lenny LaFrance, 1946 Red Sox
2016 (Phoenix), David Neely, 1965 Dodgers
2017 (Denver), Brian Preece, 1969 Expos ("Greatest Losers" Variant)
2018 (Convention), Cooper Gilbert, 1995 Indians
2019 (Convention), Lenny LaFrance, 1919 White Sox
2020 (Online Convention), 1980 Oakland A's ("Favorite 500" Variant)
2021 (Convention), Andy McEvoy, 2016 Cubs
2022 (Convention), Pete Adams, 1949 Dodgers
• Dinner, 5p-7p
• Wives’ Night, 5-9p: If your wife is accompanying you on this trip, she can hang out with other sports game wives! An “open house” type event, with catered dinner served at 6p!
• SEMINAR, Sports Board Games "How We Got Here" with Glenn Guzzo, 7p-8p: The original "Strat-O-Matic Fanatic," Glenn has been involved with the sports board game hobby since the 1960s and has met and worked with many of the icons of the hobby, including Dick Seitz, Hal Richman, Jim Mickey and more! He'll share personal reminiscences, behind-the-scenes anecdotes and lots of interesting history of the hobby, with a Q&A segment following the presentation.
• Game Designer/Guest Showcase, 8p-10p: As you may know from past conventions, the designer showcase features sports games of ALL kinds, not just PLAAY games. This year, Glenn Guzzo will host Strat-O-Matic baseball and Geoff Giordano will host APBA football. Al Wilson is working on a baseball companion to Fast Drive Football, “Instant Inning Baseball,” he'll have copies for you to try out. Grant Fines will demo his in-development hockey game, as well as a new foot race game he's working on. ST Patrick will demo his wrestling game. Mike Fitzgerald will host a segment with a new game he's working on. Last-minute additions expected as well! Browse from table to table, or hang out with your favorite guest!
Saturday, 07.29.23
• SEMINAR, Sports Board Games "Where We're Going" with Geoff Giordano, 9a-10a: Sort of a “Part Two” to Glenn Guzzo’s segment the night before, Geoff's well-known in the APBA community, and has his ear to the ground for all the current sports board game trends. Where will the hobby be in five years, ten years, beyond? This will be a 30-45 minute presentation, with a Q&A session following.
• "Celebration of Full-PLAAY Sports Games," 10a-noon: With the recent emphasis on fast-playing "express" games, we're setting aside this two-hour convention block to sit back, relax, and enjoy the hobby the way it was originally designed! We'll have dedicated tables for full-play Second Season Football, History Maker Baseball, Hockey Blast, Soccer Blast, Face to the Mat, and Red White & Blue Racin’. These will be one-off games, with follow-up action if time allows. The main idea is to have FUN. Play and old favorite head-to-head with another gamer, or try something new. Bring your own team, or play with one from our collection on-hand.
• Lunch, noon-2p
• "Brown Bag Lunch" Workshop, Fictional Team Creation, 1230-130p: Grab a take-out lunch somewhere and head back to the meeting room for this workshop on creating your own fictional players, teams and leagues. Hosted by Keith Avallone, will feature insights from The PLAAY community's Bob Hansen (Midwest Hockey, Baseball, Football Leagues, etc.) and Lenny LaFrance (North County Baseball league, Interprovincial Pro Football Conference, etc.).
• PLAAY Gamer Open Golf Tournament, History Maker Golf, 2-430p: Always a highlight of the convention! Like last year, you'll make your own card and we'll play two rounds on an all-new fictional course, designed as a supplement to Course Collection TWENTY. (We'll have copies of the course that you can take home!) First round, play with a foursome made up of whomever you want. Second round, we'll assign foursomes based on first-round scores with a staggered start, the contenders going last! The top three finishers get raffle tickets!
• Raffle Prizes, 430-5p: We’ll have a GREAT selection of raffle prizes again this year, you'll print your name on your tickets and disperse them between the bins assigned to the prizes. Put them all in one bin to maximize your chance to win, or spread them out among multiple bins. Enter to win the prizes YOU want to take home with you!
• Colorado Rockies Game, Coors Field, 6-10p: The Rockies are playing the Oakland A's, first pitch is at 610p so there's plenty of time to get to the ball park once the raffle drawings are done.
• Dinner, 5p-7p
• Let's PLAAY Tennis, doubles tournament, 7-9p: Create your own card, team up with another gamer for cardstock tennis glory and a chance to win a free copy of the new boxed version of the game!
• Highlight Maker Hoops College PLAAY Down II, 8-930p: For those who exit the tennis tourney early (or who aren't planning to PLAAY in it), here's an encore of last year's college basketball tournament with Highlight Maker Hoops. Pick your team from the field and see if you can coach them to our summertime "National Championship!"
• Convention Wrap-Up, 930-10p: (All good things must come to an end...)
Questions? Comments? Let us know, we’re happy to help!