April 6, 2011: BoardgamegeekCon Is [Sold] Out . . . As Usual

Do you like games? Not just quick-playing awesome party games like Zombie Dice, not just strategy-heavy awesome games like Revolution! . . . heck, not just awesome games from Steve Jackson Games?

Do you like Settlers of Catan, Pandemic, Dominion, Puerto Rico, and Twilight Imperium? Do you like games that haven't been formally translated out of German? Do you like games no one else in your gaming group has heard of?

Then you likely already know about Boardgamegeek, the ultimate repository of boardgame information. The entries are generated by fans of the game, as are the reviews, FAQs, and all the rest. It's the first page I load up when I hear about a game I don't recognize.

And if you know about BGG, then you've heard of BGGCon, the gathering of boardgame geeks up in Dallas each November. It's a fantastic place to play games with those guys from a hundred other gaming groups just like you -- you know, the ones everyone in the group goes to to ask about a rule interpertation, who gets the latest Reiner Knizia release before everyone else, and who has a game library that dwarfs most . . . well, libraries.

Space is limited, and as a result, the show sells out each year. Derk and Aldie have been working on getting a larger location, but they're being careful: growth is nice, but not at the expense of the friendly, "hey, we're all just here to play games" atmosphere. I respect the heck out of that.

But if you'd like to attend, now is the time to get your registration. Go!

-- Paul Chapman

Update: If you waited until you read this post to register, you waited too long. At some point last night, after I wrote this but before it posted, BGGCon sold out. For the record, that's over a thousand registrations in around five days.

Despite all the registrations having been taken, there remains a slim ray of hope, if you're willing to put some effort into it. Watch the BGG forums; occasionally someone who registered will have Real Life intrude, and will be forced to give up their slot -- however, don't pay more than the $75 the registration originally cost. The Big Brains at BGG don't take kindly to scalpers.