Well, I missed Pacak (and his little dog, too!) and the usual gang of wristband checkers, several of whom I knew for years and many were in the hobby. You could sit with them at the door and talk old times in the wee hours, maybe take over checking wristbands while they went to the can. Good times. The impersonal guards used this year, well, made it a bit strange.
Butterfly Girl had to move her pins repeatedly, why did she get jerked around like that. In one instance, someone wanted Stern to have the game space she was already assigned.
The seminars were not as exciting this year. Deeproot had several people on stage but had nothing to offer except how great their first/next unnamed game will be. I remember thinking that the timing of this expo may have caught them at the wrong time in their development cycle so maybe that’s why they had nothing to say or show. The leader was close-lipped even when questioned.
I'm used to seminars starting with someone introducing themselves, saying what they do, and then getting into it. That didn't happen a few times. One fellow who would not give his correct name when asked (preferred some hip alias) and who never said what he did was clearly very intelligent but his quick mind kept making him interrupt himself to start a new sentence then would interrupt that sentence to start a new one, etc. etc. After 20 min of listening I still didn't know what the eff he did for the hobby. There was a small coterie of folks in the audience who laughed too eagerly at every other thing he half-said so you realize there is a clique or cult or insider thing going on. His brain was going everywhere like Robin Williams on stage in his early days. Finally someone took the mike and told us how much he raised for charity. I'm sure he is a swell fellow but it was very frustrating to sit through it. I've seen this before when people get too chummy they forget not everyone in the audience is an insider. We are losing our communication skills on stage.
Steve Ritchie tried to do something different by having a comedy act. That’s why he is a great designer, because he dares to step out of the expected. It appears it did nothing for the newbies, though.
Bowling machines were a first at this show. Looked like you had to buy a twenty dollar ticket to play them, in a contest to win one of those huge bowlers that won't fit in your house. No incentive for me, sorry.
Video games were new for the show and saw folks playing them. Good for them. The Northwest show has been doing both pins and vids for years. It works.
For some reason this year there were more people walking around reeking of alcohol than previous years. You can move away from them when in the game hall but when a guy reeking of wine sits down right next to me in the seminar holding a huge wide-mouth glass of wine, his stale bouquet filling the air, why should I have to go find a new seat. More stinky people this year than before.
And then, strangely, there was cigarette smoke *inside* the hotel in front of the registration desk and elsewhere. Not just one day either. Other people noticed. That stuff gets to me and went straight to my throat and by Saturday night my throat hurt so bad I was raspy. By Monday night it turned into a cough and runny/stuffy nose and I am still blowing my nose on this Thursday night. Wherever that came from, I'm not wanting go put myself through it next year. There was free beer Saturday 8pm, so maybe that created an attitude of who cares about the rules. Get 'em drunk and turn 'em loose in the hotel. Can't say.
The expo website evolved over several months and sometimes info on one page would not perfectly agree with info on another page. Ok, mistakes happen, but eventually we wondered if, without a banquet, would the game hall be open all night Saturday into Sunday morning like previous years, in spite of how the website might be worded. We don't know where the mistakes are. We asked Berk months ago about Saturday night specifically and he said yes, game room open all night, vendor room closes at midnight. Four of us come from different cities and meet to share a room. So, we made our flights accordingly and booked a room for Sunday checkout. We were very surprised and disappointed when everybody got kicked out at midnight and they closed the entire hall. Two of us had slept during the day so we could stay up all night. Next year, the four of us decided we will checkout and leave Saturday afternoon. No reason to hang around into the night when many games were disappearing by then anyway. Plus, maybe I can avoid the cigarette fog to any extent.
The snack shop ran out of grab-n-go and snacks on Saturday afternoon. Bare shelves. Never saw that happen before at this expo. People would come in, stare at what's left, walk out. The help were completely uninterested or powerless to bring in more product to make money from these customers. I know because I asked.
The hotel front desk personnel and manager were surprisingly uninformed about their own Green Option program for housekeeping services. It took us three days and talking to five different employees to teach them their own rules so they could do right by us.
