Another hotel, another town, a different county. This year, PSYCHOCON moved location again, finding an unlikely home at the Travelodge (Vicar Lane), Leeds. Travelodges simply don’t do conventions of any kind, so how did that happen? Initial arrangements were made with the hotel when it was under different ownership and when the Travelodge took over it agreed to honour the booking. We are now hoping that they will continue next year following this year’s success!
The central location of the hotel (just up from the Headrow) certainly made it the most suitable of the three venues used, and the meeting rooms made available were reasonably priced, naturally lit and spacious enough for the convention – only the draught beer unexpectedly running out on the Saturday night caused some pain to the attendees this year with profuse apologies from the hotel management.
As usual, proceedings got off to a sluggish start on the Friday, but play commenced shortly before the official kick-off time! Most arrivals, however, chose to take a short stroll and get their bearings in Leeds before settling down to any gaming. Unlike the previous years, however, more people had pre-booked and had decided to come for the whole weekend, so by late afternoon a fair number of games were in full swing.
The most hotly contended tournaments were the FLAGSHIP ACQUIRE tournament, the Puerto Rico, and the Formula De. Other events and tournaments included Diplomacy, a Silly Drive, and Streetsoccer, however this year Settlers of Catan failed to attract sufficient players to make the tournament viable - a sign of changing times perhaps?
The thing I enjoy most about PSYCHOCON, is playing many games that I haven’t played before while understanding that I have an absolute need for a Puerto Rico fix even when I don’t stand much of a chance of winning the tournament. I was therefore a little disappointed to find myself needed in order to "make up the numbers" in the Diplomacy tournament on the Saturday - a gruelling six and a half hours ahead of me (mercifully the tournament game only runs to Autumn 1907). I drew Russia and quickly entered into the spirit of things by changing my badge to read "Germany." The ploy didn’t work, however, although there was a look of confusion on Hayley Anderson’s face (England) for a short time while I quizzed her on her intentions in Scandinavia! Perhaps my mistake there was talking to her soon after she had been talking to the real Germany (Robert Dane). So it goes. Deception of the other players still ranks highly in my book as a valid tactic even if it doesn’t work so well in a face-to-face game! Needless to say, I didn’t win, although I did manage a good second position and actually found that I enjoyed the game and the time passed relatively quickly!
I somehow managed to "lose" the Silly Drive this year. For those who haven’t come across the concept, a Silly Drive consists of a series of easy-to-play, short and, of course, silly, games. The idea is that you play against (and meet) many different people during the course of the event. I think it was the double tie-breaker arm wrestle with Steve Turner that sealed my fate and earned me the dregs of a bottle of vodka ("what’s left of the spirit of the game" as Jerry explained during the awards presentations). So it goes.
I also tried my hand at the Streetsoccer tournament organised by Jon Power of Beyond Monopoly (York’s friendliest boardgames club). I got off to a good start against Tash Turner in my first ever game although it was close at 2-1. My second game saw me lose convincingly to Michael Baines. At one point, I was 5-1 down, but managed to scrape back up to 5-3 before the end of the match. If you have never come across the game before you really must check it out: quick and easy to learn and play. Great fun!
Well, another PSYCHOCON has come and gone - it was the third, seen as many as some kind of landmark. Get past the third, and you can be confident that something will continue. A thoroughly enjoyable weekend of old games and new, notably Niagra, Diamant and Streetsoccer that I hadn’t played before. And, of course, old faces and new. I think, more than anything it is the friendly crowd of people who come to PSYCHOCON that make it so enjoyable. I hope that you can make it next year!
This year’s winners were: FLAGSHIP ACQUIRE tournament, Hayley Anderson; Formula De, Mike Baines; Puerto Rico, Trevor Bavage with Tash Turner a very close second (her third consecutive second place in this tournament!); Dipolomacy, Tom Garretty; Streetsoccer, Paul Allwood; Silly Drive, Tash Turner
