And so it begins anew ... heading to the airport in a few minutes to fly to Boston for PAX East.
I'm not sure how big the booth will be or how much traffic to expect. This will be the first con I work where all three of the >G guys are there, so it will be interesting to see how they interact. I'm not sure how many other helpers there will be or who they will be, and I won't know any of them, I don't think.
One way or another, should be good times.
Unless we all die.
I mean, there's that possibility, I suppose. That would be bad.
*goes back to last minute packing, whistling merrily*
Truly, the thoughts of a man who no longer sleeps.
Have fun, you crazy kids. I wish I could drop everything and head to PAX. It's always sounded like an awesome convention.
@evandan55
It is :)
Yeah, I'm with evandan55 - wish I could join you… 
Have a great time, folks!
50% of the team has arrived!
50% of the team are stuck in Detroit for the night :(
Adam and I are living like kings here at the hostel in Boston. We've purchased food from the vending machine _AND_ dirtied at least one towel.
Wow! Everything arrives in alphabetical order.
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!
Oh man… sucks for Christopher and Paul, but that is hilarious.
It is worse for Paul. At least Christopher will make it before all the international people.
EDIT: I know there has been a lot of discussion about the shipping issues. However, I wanted to mention that I think GtG had the PERFECT solution to the problem that they had, and I am in no way making fun of them.
Apparently there was a typhoon in the way ...
... anyway ...
there were apparently further delays this morning. We _think_ they en route now. Fingers crossed.
Anyone (before “J”) get their tracking number?
Christopher and Paul made it to Boston! Despite the fact that their plane had to pause on the jetway to be rebooted (?!) before they could take off.
Next challenge? The convention had no booth for us.
That got sorted, then the issue was that the convetion had no furniture for us.
That got sorted and the furniture was arranged, then the issue was that the booth was facing away from the rest of the tabletop area.
That got sorted, lots of boxes got taken off of palets, the the issue was that the packages with the banners and other things to hang hadn't reached the booth, but it was time to leave in order to get to the free beer tasting at a "nearby" (<grump>I don't think that word means what you think it means</grump>) brew pub.
Beer! Banners can be put up tomorrow. Christopher tweeted that we were going there and a fair number of Sentinels fans showed up to meet us. We had lots of beer! We talked to lots of people! It was great.
I'm very curious to see how much traffic the booth gets at this con. GTG decided to try out actually being in the Tabletop section, rather than trying to lure in video game people in the main section. Also, one of the PAX Enforcers mentioned that he's heard a lot of buzz about Sentinels.
Highlight of the day, though? Jerry Holkins, one of the duo who ARE Penny Arcade, dropped by the booth to casually chat for 25 minutes and mention that he was looking forward to trying Galactic Strike Force. He also mentioned that he has a copy of Sentinels, but hasn't had a chance to play it yet. One mention from Jerry and the visibility of a product would likely skyrocket. Oh, and Jerry said that the GTG guys and he should get together for a beer when they are in Seattle.
Whoah. This has been a very good day.
I looked on with great skepticism as the day began. We are in the Table Top area instead of the main exhibition area and there were 20 to 50 times as many people lining up for the main area as the Table Top area.
That, however, did not stop us from being busy all day long. We had four simultaneous games almost all day and regularly had multiple groups of people waiting to play. I have no idea how much was sold -- like really NO idea. I get tunnel vision on the game when playing and had to run off to another commitment after the booth was closed up so didn't get to ask anyone about.
One of the guys from Handleabra (sp?) who made the Sentinels Sidekick gave us a spare iPad to use. It was at the other table from me, so I didn't learn to much about how people were liking it, but the one group I talked to, who had already tried the tokens, thought it was great. I did overhear from the Handleabra person that they've had something like 150 sales in recent days -- a big increase compared to the previous rate of selling the app.
I got a bit of excitement via Twitter today, though also some disappointment. One of the people who played knows Wil Weaton well enough that when she tweeted about the game, Wil replied to her and me. The good news is that he wrote that he loved Sentinels. The bad news is that he said that is just wouldn't work for Table Top. (He did not say why).
After dinner the guys all went back to the conference center to play Sentinels with people, while I am taking it easy back at the hostel after dinner out with some local friends. I spoke w/ Christopher and got the sense that while there are people playing it wasn't an overwheling crowd.
One day down, two to go. We had help from other volunteers today -- Sam and Matt. I didn't get to meet them, but they seemed pretty cool and people seemed to enjoy playing with them. If, as I expect, more people know on Saturday where they want to spend their time, so there are MORE people who want to play, we may need to do some line management.
Handelabra =) I will try to find you and say hi tonight or tomorrow!
As of right now I don't even think they are having a second season. I know they filmed everything really quick over a yar ago, and they were just dealying the release. Hopefully it will come back.
Also, Felicia Day will be at C2E2 this year and Wil Wheaton will be at Wizard World Chicago. Good time to ask both what's up and to try SotM.
Saturday!
Wow, what a fun day!
If anyone who's been playing at PAX is reading this, please give a shout.
In the past, including yesterday, demoing in the booth has been playing non-stop all day long and being in a loopy daze with no voice at the end of it. Today was ... surreal.
Sure, I still played a bunch, but there were so many experienced players willing to play and teach newcomers that I often just sat back and facilitated getting people into games. It was fun _and_ relaxing! How weird.
Yes, people were often motivated to include newcommers and to play more in order to get more Sentinels points in order to get promos, but I got a palpable sense that everyone was having a really great time. We also got some booth help from people like Matt, Sam, and Alex who have all been great at pitching in and running games.
The >G guys didn't keep the booth open into the evening like yesterday, but I dropped by and found four separate tables playing in the free play area and another couple groups playing on the tables at the (closed) >G booth. The highlight of play today was definitely getting to play against Kizmet with her inventor, Alex.
Completely unrelated to Sentinels, I went into the classic arcade game museum and saw a few dozen classic games like Pole Position and Defender. I COULD ... NOT .. STOP ... GRINNING!
Other things ... ALL of the playmats sold out on Friday. I'm not sure exactly how much of the rest of the stock is left for tomorrow, but it looks like less than a third to me. The tables were packed again today and we had occassions where there was a line a half dozen deep to purchase things. The number of people buying is apparently about the same as previous PAXs, but people have more things to buy now, so the average sale has gone up. I hear that the GenCon booth is going to be another big jump -- twice as big as last year and in a great location. Christopher participated in a panel this morning. I wasn't there, but I'm told people lauged at his jokes.
Any pics?
G tweeted a few pictures of Ambuscade and Argent Adept cosplayers the other day.
Me and some friends ended up at a spare table at the GTG booth last night (tabletop was pretty packed!). We didn't have a copy of Sentinels but we played Pandemic and Spaceteam. Hilarity ensued!
I did go to Christopher's panel, it was interesting as he touched on how designing games is often like programming. The villain/environment in Sentinels in particular - they kind of work like a little computer program, running along. He said once he made that connection it gave him a good process & direction for designing the game.
How many people were there?
At the panel? There were 4 panelists and a moderator. The room wasn't packed - but probably around 75% full.
That sounds awesome. Any chance it was being recorded?
That was you?! I was at the next table over, playing Sentinels.
Third and final day.
Nine simultaneous games of Sentinels. Completely sold out of EE, all three expansions, and all of the playmats.
I didn't actually play that many games -- mosly just facilitated experienced players finding new players so they could earn more Sentinels Points.
The >G folks got interviewed on camera for some sort of a show that apparently focus on computer games, not board games, but the host is a big fan of Sentinels. Wish I could remember the name of the show.
We were wandering in the evening looking for a hotel lobby where we could hang out and it was cool to regularly see a group playing Sentinels. One of them was a group that had apparently checked Sentinels out of the games library and taught themselves. They loved it so much that multiple people in the group went on to buy copies for themselves at the booth.
I got a pic of the trio. Will figure out how to get that to whomever needs to see it after I get home.
I was at PAX and head a great time meeting the >G team and playing with other fans. I also saw the game being played all over the Tabletop room!
Aha - I figured you had probably gone with the GTG crew. And all I have to go on is your tiny icon, so recognizing is hard =). I think I may have seen you during the day but didn't want to interrupt your demos!
Pictures from PAX East
Silliness:
http://www.spatzel.net/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=36343
Fighting Kizmet with Alex:
http://www.spatzel.net/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=36412
The guys (NOTE: There are about 15 similar shots, trying to get one they can use on the site)
http://www.spatzel.net/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=36430
(part of) The TableTop area
http://www.spatzel.net/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=36409
Heroes Assemble!
http://www.spatzel.net/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=36415
Adam drawing Young Legacy
http://www.spatzel.net/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=36484
It was awesome hanging out! We had a blast.