From: Linden Moore <blindump@IX.NETCOM.COM>
Subject:      PACIFICON

Hi guys,

The boardgamers were holding their own against all those magic players.
Minatures were going strong with a variety of games including a massive
BAttle of Borodino and Airwar miniatures.  At first, I was put off by the
card game players even more then the RPG types used to bug me, but I
realized that they were a fertile ground for future miniature and board
players.  Actually I played in a game with two ex magic players in "recovery."

Terran Games was there and I got to meet our "Good Buddy Chester".  His
Bastogne or Bust looked good and Terran was offering some nice discounts.  I
would have been nice to see Command or One Small Step consider the No. CA con.

Personally, I played Kingmaker and spent my boodle at the flea market.
Picked up  several S & T issues with GBCW games in them and Ironclads and
its sequel.

Looked like lots of gamers were able to stay for more then one day and get
in some independent gaming.  Any reports?  Also, interested in the
happenings at Gateway.

Linden
*****************************************************************************

Linden Moore
Blindump@ix.netcom.com
Illinois Sales Tax Guy
Umpire & Referee
GM of Kansas City Royals (NASBL)
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FOUR THINGS ABOVE ALL ELSE A FOLLOWER of CHRIST, A HUSBAND to His WIFE,
FATHER to HIS CHILDREN, and man who HONORS his MOTHER & FATHER

From: Mike White <mgwhite@RAHUL.NET>
Subject:      Re: PACIFICON

I arrived here for the flea market only. Last year I went to the gaming
portion of this convention and found that there was very little to do.
Maybe next year I'll try to play again.

Anyway, the flea market is a lot of fun by itself. I picked up some odd
things, like a Wargamer on the Siege of Malta (1500s) and an S&T game on
the Indian Revolt (1850s). Both for a couple dollars. They seem
interesting, but I've heard nothing about them in the past.

I also picked up a couple of boxed games -- Warlords and Pacific Fleet
(the later from Hobby Japan, with English translations and a mounted
mapboard). They went for $5 each. That could either be a good deal or a
swindle, because again I know nothing about these games.

I also picked up a 1960s game called the Wine Cellar. You travel around
a board of California, learn about the different wine regions and stock
your cellar. You even have to drink every now and then. This one I will play!

Any other reports from the convention?

Mike

From: Allan Rothberg <GenUpton@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: PACIFICON

All,
    By pure luck I happened to be vacationing in San Francisco whilst
PACIFICON was ongoing. My wife and I, while on the way to Monterey, managed
to make a quick stop at the Con. My impressions were not as favorable as
others who have posted.

The dealers room had only one publisher (Terran Games) a few (2) retailers
with boardgames, and one clearing house (C&M Games, I think). The auction,
while I was there was mostly AD&D and other RPG stuff. I saw little of real
interest (to me). Admittedly my wife dragged me out of there after a short
while, so I may have missed much. On our way back from Monterey we stopped
off at the Con again and I managed to meet up with Chester (Everybody's Buddy)
Hendrix and his son and daughter-in-law. For those of you who may have noticed,
I was wearing my Gamers (red) t-shirt. Having perused the booklet for the Con
I did notice a few boardgames, but mostly fantasy/sf miniatures and rpg. I did
get a glance at Dirtside II and may yet pick up a copy. The miniature starships
and vehicles look real neat.

                                            Allan

From: "Paul A. K. Amala" <amala@FALCHION.LLNL.GOV>
Subject:      PacifiCon Report

 Greetings one and all,

 Well, over Labor Day Weekend I went to PacifiCon in
San Mateo CA. Every year this one seems to get more
odd; this is based on having gone to this con for at
least 6+ years.

 In their favor: they solved the horrible parking problems
by arranging with the neighboring office building for use of
their {empty} lots. Yeah! (They started this last year after
many years of practically no parking after Fri. evening.)

 Against them: very poor organization, diminishing numbers
of games (except CCGs,) poor location (no good local fast
food, crowded location, not enough rest rooms, poor
ventilation & A/C, many con areas are 'dark and gloomy'
as opposed to well lit, accumulating trash, etc.) Some
of this is the fault of the Dunfey Hotel & staff, but
I really think the location needs to be moved - perhaps
to the Santa Clara Convention Center, or one of the
local colleges or universities.

 Indeterminant: when I first started going to PacifiCon,
you couldn't find ANY space for open gaming. The place
was jammed. Now, because of lower attendance, there is
plenty of space for open gaming.

 Enough for the synopsis - the rest will be personal
details about what I did (so you can drop out here if you
could really care less about what I did....)

 I arrived Sat. morning, to find registration a mess. They
kept moving the location, and even though I had pre-registered
it took about a half an hour to get my badge (and I was at the
very front of the line!) Then up to the dealers room to see
what was up. There were lots of miniatures for sale, and of
course CCGs. But Terran was the only boardgame publisher there;
although there was one or two other dealers selling board
games. I talked with Ray et al. for a while, and got to
say "Hi" to Chester too (who was in a silly mode from playing
in the jammed Magic tournament with his son, and handing out
xeroxed quotes from BoB reviews.) All in all a pleasant
morning.

 On Sat. the con was jammed with Magic players. There was some
board gaming going on, and a lot of miniature gaming. I saw
a game of A3R being set up, and lots of A&A. After lunch
I settled down with friends to play WizWar and Nuclear War.
Then it was off to the Sat. flea market. I purchased a mint
Kremlin for $5, mint Alibi for $5, and the AH expanded version
of Source of the Nile for $20. Plus I got a very nice set of
casino style poker chips for $1.50! (They are embossed with
the initials "CRA" so I'll have to name my first child
'Charles Richard Amala' or some such.)

 On Sun. the con was much less crowded. There was a Civilization
tournament going on with only 2 boards of 5 players each.
Ray of Terran said that he thought things were much slower
than previous years, and I tended to agree. I went to the
auction for a while, where I got a really nice lot for $20 -
German versions of Monopoly (shrinkwrapped) and Risk (mint.)
Between these and the embossed poker chips, my wife is really
starting to question my judgement! Afterall, I already have
a perfectly good French version of Risk; why do I need another
copy of that game?

 The afternoon was occupied by a long game of Titan, and then
the Sun. flea market. I got IDF (mint) for $10, and the AH
version of Freedom in the Galaxy (mint) for $10. In the evening
we gave Alibi a try; I even got my mystery-loving wife to
play. This was a first for all of us, and we'll have to
give Alibi a few more plays to figure out the optimal
questioning strategies.

 I didn't go Monday, but others I know went, and they said the
place was dead. They left within minutes.

 Next year I'm going to see if my wife wants to visit her
sister in Long Beach, so I can have an excuse to try out
the GateWay con in L.A.

 Paul Amala
 amala@llnl.gov