We had another amazing Dorkstock experience last weekend, with games galore and a combination of new and old faces. I saw John Kovalic being shot multiple times at Cash ‘N Guns, ran Cartoon Frag Gold as a tournament, and spent time with friends. The elements of a successful Dorkstock are fun, games, and hopefully Igor bars and a John Kovalic sighting. Lest you think I’m joking, I know we had one year without Igor bars, and at least one year (Dorkstock 5.5) where we knew in advance that John wouldn’t be able to attend.
We hosted 60 games at this year’s Dorkstock, including some life-sized games in the atrium and some amazing 3D sets. We remembered to stagger our schedules so people could eat (especially before the sugar rush of the Igor bars) and sleep, and made sure that the person closing the room at night was not opening it. We restricted the number of hours our gamemasters could run, to make sure everybody had time to enjoy the convention. We not only had multiple John Kovalic sightings, he ran several scheduled games, including two full tables of Cash ‘N Guns simultaneously. And he made Igor bars!
Like last year, we walked away with notes about things we’d like to do differently and some (hopefully brilliant) ideas that we’d like to try, such as next year’s Munchkin Party, and running the costume contest on Saturday, when more people are at the convention, since it’s not scheduled to overlap with Halloween next year. Planning begins… well, a couple days ago.
It should be noted that Dorkstock is a mini-convention, run within a larger convention. We are amazingly grateful that Gamehole Con is willing to give us space, and constantly amazed at the variety of events available outside the Dorkstock room. I had the opportunity to play True Dungeon again – only my second time, and the first time was over a decade ago at GenCon. There was a huge games library and space for open gaming, as well as a lovely dealers’ hall, a paint-and-take area, and tons of other games happening. Plus the food… in addition to several stalls inside the building (not the least of which is a local pizza place), Gamehole Con attracts several food trucks that park just outside the door, so you only have to stand out in the cold for a few minutes to get great food.