WinterCon Game Fest 2004
A Metro-Detroit Games Convention in Warren, MI.

Action picks up at WinterCon. Thank-you Matt Kiriazis, Chm. See at www.mdgcons.com.

“Go and look toward the sea,” he told his servant. And he went up and looked. “There is nothing there,” he said. Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.” The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” I Kings, 43-44

The above Biblical passage best describes the experience I had during a Word-sport™ play test at the WinterCon Game Fest at the Italian Club on January 24th, 2004. After a long drought in the land of Israel, the prophet Elijah sought a sign from God for rain. In play testing Word-sport, I’m always looking for signs of my games validity. There was a drought in visitors and activity to my booth all day long. Any sign, even a small one, would be welcome.

Perseverance Pays Off
It was a bitterly cold Saturday for the all day game convention. Attendance was light as was the traffic to my booth. A few stopped by, but I wasn’t encouraged. I was ready to leave around five pm, but as a courtesy to the convention, I decided to stick around. Then, at the seventh hour, (7pm) a man, his wife with their sleeping infant stopped by. Then an earlier visitor (who is a word wizard) stopped by again. Then another man happened to stop by. And to my delight, all were expert with word formation and picked up immediately on the game with no instruction from me. The play got real intense, with rounds finishing in a blistering two minute range. The speed and caliber of word play was the best I witnessed to date. I wish I got the names of those players to mention them here, but at least I was able to get some pictures.

During that same intense game play, Tim Hunt and Evan Steiner from Foundation Gaming also stopped by. They were highly impressed with the tournament table set-up and the game concept. They invited me to be a part of their weekend Gaming Convention in Okemos, Michigan in March.

A Lesson Learned
Elijah was encouraged by a small cloud as a sign of coming rain for Israel. Most people don’t recognize the small signs, or if they do, tend to dismiss them altogether. By sticking it out till the seventh hour (seven being Gods’ number of fullness), I was able to leave at 9:30 pm encouraged, not discouraged. I’m looking forward to the next event, the Foundation Gaming Convention in March. www.foundation-games.com.