I made a surprising yet undeniable discovery about myself last month. I’m a geek. To be more specific, I’m a board game geek – the kind of board game geek that loves to go to 3-day board game conventions to learn, discover, and play games with randos (and my brother-in-law… more on him later).
The revelation occurred to me one hour after I arrived at my first-ever board game convention, TantrumCon. I didn’t know it before, but board game conventions are my Disney World (read my thoughts on actual Disney World).
I’ll share the highlights, but first, you might be asking yourself, “what the heck is a board game convention?” It’s an organized gathering of people who LOVE board games. We’re not talking about Monopoly or Trivial Pursuit – those are your grandma’s games. We’re in a new era, a golden age of board games. A board game convention is all about conquering that era before the other players can and gaining plenty of Victory Points along the way.
TantrumCon had lots to do. There was a game library, vendors, and workshops. There were tournaments, special events, demo tables, social games, a huge open gaming area, and more.
I was in heaven. I learned games from my wishlist: Wingspan and Azul. I learned games I’d never heard of before, including my new fav, Lost Ruins of Arnak. I watched a pitch session in a shark-tank-style design contest. I played prototypes. I met new folks – all super nice – though I may have frightened some with my enthusiasm.
The very best part of the weekend, though, was going with my brother-in-law. He’s witty, thoughtful, and a great sport. I don’t know if he’s a geek, but he can roll dice with the best of them. Doing something you love with someone you love is about as good as it gets on planet earth.
To wrap it up, I found my people. We’re geeks! In retrospect, I shouldn’t have been surprised – I’m usually the person dragging others to the table.
I highly recommend attending a board game convention if you suspect you might like it. Or at the very least, hit me up, and let’s play!
Have a great week,
PS – I derived the term “geek” from the internet epicenter of this subculture, boardgamegeek.com. We use the moniker with pride.