PSYCHOCON 2005 started at 2pm on Friday 23rd October and finished at 6pm on Sunday 26th October. It was attended by forty-five people this year, many of whom had booked in advance, but with a fair number turning up at the door on the Saturday and either staying just for one day or enjoying it so much that they came back for a second day of gaming on the Sunday!

Friday afternoons are always unpredictable because it is difficult to know how many people have managed to get the day off work, or whether they will manage to get to the con with no hold-ups. It was raining cats and dogs outside and there was heavy traffic reported on the roads. But that didn’t seem to deter the punters and they trickled in slowly but surely throughout the course of the afternoon and the early evening. It didn’t take long to get some games going and the beer flowing!

Saturday saw the inaugural official PSYCHOCON Diplomacy tournament commence. This year, with only one board, but John Stratford, the organiser, has high hopes for seeing this expand in 2006. The game was fiercely fought, but in the end Brian O’Farrell topped the board with a twelve centre England at the end of 1907.

Saturday also saw the commencement of the PSYCHOCON backgammon tournaments organised by Zoe Cunningham. The tournaments were enjoyed by all who attended this year, with the reigning England champion, Kevin Stebbings, walking off with the main prize!

Business was brisk at the GAMESWEB stall again this year, with Dave Lunn and son, Sam, helping gamers part with their pennies!

Throughout the weekend, ad-hoc tournaments took place for Settlers of Catan, Puerto Rico and Acquire. Puerto Rico was just as popular as last year, with Steve and Tash Turner dominating the scoring! Both Settlers and Acquire proved to be more popular than last year with many more games being played and many more participants. In the end, it was perhaps Trevor Bavage’s banter and persuasive bargaining powers, which won him the Settlers tournament! Acquire, on the other hand, was won by John Stratford, who also won at PSYCHOCON 2004. If anybody needs watching in this tournament next year, it’s John!

The popular Saturday night Formula Dé tournament was again enjoyed by all the participants in this year’s event. A full report can be found in the results booklet on the download page, but the winner Nigel Scarfe walked away with a copy of Hidden Conflict courtesy of those nice people at Twilight Creations.