Disclaimer: I was provided a free pass to Saturday’s Skycon in exchange for an honest review of Skycon event. All thoughts and opinions expressed herein are my own and not influenced by Skycon, and/or its affiliates, in any way
When I first spoke with Robert Morris about Skycon 2018, I was amazed at the level of enthusiasm he had for the whole convention. Arranging an event like this is no small feat, and yet he still had plenty of energy to discuss in detail with me how he saw the event now and how it will grow.
At 5:30 am on Saturday, Oct 13, 2018, I began the short drive to the Holiday Inn Hotel & Conference Centre in Kitchener, Ontario from our office in Hamilton. It was a short drive with a short rest at the OnRoute rest stop for a caffeine fill-up before the last leg of the journey.
I arrived at 8 AM. There was only one game scheduled to be run first thing on the Saturday. The attendance was sparse, but I can imagine it’s hard to garner interest at the end of a shortened week which often means longer work weeks for the Monday to Friday crowd. Vendors were still setting up and the badge table was not set up, so I sat in the lobby of the Holiday Inn charging my phone in their luxurious lounge with complementary WiFi and people watched as the odd person checking in and out came in.
At about 8:40 AM, I made my way through the conference centre rooms taking in the sights. It often helps me to know the layout beforehand, and I didn’t see any maps available. With that said, the space was small enough that I could quickly do a circuit identifying the bathrooms, table spaces, and games that were to be run shortly. At this time, badges were starting to become available, so I queued for mine, found it quickly, and hurried over to the vendor’s lane to find how I could spend some hard earned coin.
The select few vendors were a fantastic assortment of role-playing game (RPG) vendors, hobby shops, artisans, and Funk-pop retailers. If you were looking for something special or generic, you could find it here. Dice, crocheted figures, and an RPG known as Fate of the Norns was present and ready to lighten my purse. Before committing, I delved into the main ballroom to discover what lay in wait for Skycon attendees.
The ballroom contained everything needed for the 10 AM and later games and by 9 AM people were setting up for their war games, board games, and tournaments. Table placards on the tables denoted the location of games making your table easy to find.
As I was there as a casual observer instead of a game reviewer, I didn’t get a chance to play the games I was drooling over. There were hundreds of games to choose from, but my need to walk around kept me away. Everyone looked like they came ready for fun.
While I don’t want to give too much content away, the panels had a star studded amount of power behind them and are a must attend. With panels, board games, RPGs, and more here, I will be attending Skycon 2019 to continue to grow along with them!
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