THE PINT INVADES – CONNECTICON / CT F.I.G.
Con’s have certainly grown in the past decade. I remember a time when a “big show” was in a large hotel’s conference room (sometimes they actually rolled the room dividers back and used TWO conference rooms!!!!), and there were maybe a couple hundred sweaty nerds digging through longboxes looking for that one or two issues to complete their runs. (I know because I WAS one of those sweaty nerds). Now thanks in large part to the success of the Marvel and DC Cinematic Universes, Con’s have become HUGE. Some still maintain thier focus on Comics alone, but some like Connecticon do it all. They take over the Connecticut Convention Center or similarly sized venue and have areas set aside for video games, board games, comics, anime, cosplay, exhibitors, artists, authors. You name a subsect of geekdom, and it is represented there. Also this year as a special bonus it was also the home for the CT Festival Of Independent Games (F.I.G.) and being the purveyors of all things geek in the State of CT, The Pint was invited to attend. Here is our day in a nutshell. (Note: I really wanted to get this out a couple weeks back. But life, as it happens, got in the way. So, my apologies to the folks over at Connecticon, blame yours truly not the Jo(h)n’s)
Lets Start the day right, with Sir Jon giving yours truly the now standard salute when he sees me with a camera
We used the early morning when the floor was a bit light to get around the CT F.I.G. And check out some cool games.
We started our rounds with a game called “Brew Dice”. Coincidentally they also have an NFL Licenced version, which is actually my next review project, be sure to check out the PoC website in the near future for my thoughts.
This is “Clear The Decks” Created by Chris Pinyan of Crispy Games Co. It just wrapped up its successful Kickstarter!!! And I couldn’t be happier!! I’m a backer!!! I love this game, I can’t wait to have my own copy that I can play whenever I want!! I had a test copy for review that I sent back, and that hurt, I miss that game.
Ganache chatting with Adam The Impaler, a friend of the show. In fact, you may remember him from the Podcast at last years CT FIG, he is the creator of “Patrol” which is a coloring card game. (yes, you read that right, a coloring card game)
Ganache and I then got the chance to play an awesome game called “Shadowstrike Melee” created by Pure Fun Games. As a matter of fact I just finished up my review of the game, it’s up on https://pintocomics.com/, get over there and check it out!!! (Spoiler, I loved it)
The Jo(h)n’s then caught up with Marshall Britt of Yanaguana Games. He is the creator of Re-Chord, a favorite of The Pint. Marshall also does a Facebook Live thing once a week where he discusses all things game creation, it’s a fascinating watch. Go check it out!
Moving onto the show floor we ran into local movie restoration studio / shop Vinegar Syndrome. They are located in Bridgeport CT, and specialize in the digital restoration of long neglected films, preserving them for a new generation.
Arcades may be dead here in the U.S. but over in Asia they are still HUGE, and Connecticon had a TON of awesome cabinets to try. I wish that arcades were still a thing, I loved them, it was co op gaming before the internet, (yes younger readers, there was a time before the internet, when we actually had to go outside to play video games with other people)
This is the free play table top room!!! All the games on those racks were free to try, and as you can see there were TONS of people taking advantage. This room was full all day long and was actually in a center in a separate hotel!!! That’s how big this show was!!! (As an aside there was also a Starbucks in that hotel, which came in handy in the afternoon, cuz coffee)
Back over to the CT F.I.G., Where we tried out Robots: Battle For The Coal Heart, created by Duncan Davis. I really enjoyed the little time I had with this game. I want to pick up a copy to test, wish I could have purchased it that day, but all my camera / con gear is HEAVY and this game is HUGE. The weight would have been ridiculous.
Back over at the Yanaguana booth where the Jo(h)n’s tried out an interesting game called “Blume”. You create a garden of flowers with tiles, and place little bee markers down to score points, it’s a fun little game. Keep an eye out for this one!!!
Back out to the show floor, Sir Jon caught up with a former guest on the radio show, prolific genre author Keith R.A. Decandido. You do listen to the radio show right? Sunday nights 6:30 on 88.1 FM, or online at www.wesufm.org, and on the tunein app. They get great guests like this all the time. He’s written everything from Star Trek to Sleepy Hollow, and his Precinct series of novels are very popular.
Another shot of the vendor floor, and Bumblebee was there to!!! But he refused to turn into a robot, only wanted to be a car. This is why Optimus is better.
Then Ganache went over to visit the folks at Cheer Up Games. He proceeded to get Moist… not like that, sicko’s… the glass, the glass has Moist written on it. MOIST… I said it again
Wrapping up the day were the CT F.I.G. Awards. These folks all work super hard to bring their games to market, and events like this really do help!!! With the rise of Crowdfunding it’s hard to make your game stand out in the sea of competition on various websites, and awards like these are “feathers in the cap” when you are launching your project. Also, being able to demo your project to various players does help get the word out.
As you can see we had a FULL day with tons of stuff to do. These photos don’t even scratch the surface of everything we did. I didn’t even touch on all the Celebrities, Panels and other events going on. If you’ve never had the opportunity to get out to Connecticon, I can’t recommend checking it out enough. There was truly “something for everyone”
Until Next Time Everyone,
Be Good To Your Fellow Nerds!!
Lou
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