The Gathering

I've been reviewing the games over at my blog, but since people asked....

While I was in grad school, a friend was invited to the Gathering. He then got invited to "Bill Cons", long weekends of gaming at Bill's place in Baltimore. As I had joined Alan's "1200 club" (which pre-bought all of his games) I got an invitation to Bill's (where I met Alan). After I finished grad school, Jacqui and I went to the Gathering. We've both been back every year, until this year when Jacqui couldn't go.

The Gathering is just like dozens, or even hundreds of get togethers every year, with the notable exception that the host is one of the most important designers in the world. This attracts game companies and other designers of note. Some designers bring new games or prototypes, which attracts attention. So it's the 'first look' for a lot of games, which sets trends (right or wrong). I've seen plenty of arguements that the Gathering got this or that game wrong, and many of them are true. But any group of people who get together for a week to play games can be counted to have opinions and discuss them (at length). Ten years ago there were few web and print journalists writing up the games, but now with BGG, Rick Thornquist, etc, you get coverage and instant analysis.

For me the new games are the least of the draw (although it's certainly nice). Originally it was just the chance to play a ton of games, but I've spent the last few years playing new games for a bit, then retreating to old favorites (or longer games that are tough to play in a typical game night). People routinely spend hours just chatting. Playing prototypes sounds like fun, but a few years ago I instituted a "I don't play prototypes" policy (which I waive for one designer since he knows my tastes and only offers finished games).

There's no reason we couldn't do something like that. Everyone chips in a bit for a large conference room and we're off. [Jacqui and I have been talking about doing something like that, and we've done it before]. I've been to a dozen of these smaller group things and they're quite fun. You've been doing it with the "Let's all go to DL and play all day" days. It's just a matter of scale and media attention. (If we were the first people to play a new game, we'd get lots of attention, too). The Gathering started as a weekend with 20 people. It's just had time to grow.

I won't kid anyone that the gaming isn't fun, and new games are a big draw; but a good group is its own reward. As we all know.