Tuesday, August 7, 2018

GenCon Post Mortem






Hello everyone!

GenCon was amazing! I would like to thank all those people that came out to the Tak events - we had an excellent turnout:  all slots that were signed up for were filled and we even had multiple passersby walk up and get involved.





















We put on 4 events total:  2-hour casual events were held Thursday, Friday, and Sunday with a 4 1/2 hour tournament on Saturday. It was great to see some high level games between experienced Tak players. It was also very morale-boosting to see all the new people interested in Tak. The events left me feeling charged and reaffirmed in my belief that Tak is here to stay and grow.

These events simply couldn't have happened without Ben working hard to organize them. Among other things, he secured entry badges, gathered prizes, and helped make sure no one was left out. Thanks, Ben!!

Also, I would like to thank Queso and FloatingSkull for helping set up, tear down, and talk Tak!



Congrats are in order for M_Ainsel! She walked away with a white oak Wyrmwood Tak set and a copy of my book signed by James Ernest.

Second place was Tarontos, winning an Arcanist board and my book signed by the team at Worldbuilders.

3rd-8th place all received some combination of Tak sets from Cheapass Games along with a copy of Mastering Tak.

In addition to having a great experience, all participants walked away with the new Tak coin from Cheapass Games.

So, all in all, I think we gave away over $700 in prizes! Not bad for a $20 entry fee...


A video of the final games will be posted by Ben when he gets the time to do post-production on it. After that, I plan on doing an in-depth analysis of the most interesting one.

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I wanted to share my GenCon haul with you guys, too. The first day I managed to only spend $4 in the exhibition hall, and that was on a tray of nachos :)  But, as anyone that has been around that much awesome stuff can tell you, there's always something that draws you in.

Space is at a premium in my house, so only premium things get that space. I searched through the convention center and these items fit the bill:

Tak University Edition with cloth board
A nicely embroidered bag to put it in

And a place to put my Tak coins

Also inside this Bag o' Tak, I can fit my Tak-themed Pairs deck and wooden deck box with Name of the Wind dealer coin:


If you've never played Pairs, it's a great game to rest your mind after a long day of Tak!

The fit is a little snug, as the deck box is made for 52 cards, but the craftsmanship is superb and I couldn't pass it up


If you weren't able to make it to GenCon this year, there's always next year!

Until then, let's go spread the good word of Tak :)


P.S. I will try to post a puzzle this weekend. I also have a non-puzzle blog to post, hopefully late this week or early next.


3 comments:

  1. Any possibility of a meetup at World Con in San Jose this year? I know it's not a gaming convention, but I would think there should be some interest...

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    2. Sorry, I didn't get a notification of a comment.

      No plans that I know of for San Jose. We are working to get an event calendar on the USTA website for next year's events. Hopefully one will be somewhere near you! Otherwise, we are also going to try and roll out some guidelines so that USTA members can host official events anywhere.

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