Pensacola Beach, Florida
February 21 – 24, 2002
To all the wonderful gamers and families,
I want to add my sentiments to the growing list. As a first time Gulf Gamer, I was a little in awe of the surroundings. I have been to Origins, the World Boardgaming Championships (formerly Avaloncon), and a few regional cons, so I have seen gamers and BIG conventions before. What I had never seen was a convention of “one big family” like I saw in Pensacola. I walked in with Ted and Craig so everyone wanted to “hug and kiss” on them but they also stopped to introduce themselves to me. (Thank God they waited until I was leaving to”hug and kiss” on me.)
Anyway, I felt welcomed from the first to the last (except as the 5th player in a 4 player game). I didn’t understand the medals for about 12 hours but that had more to do with me not paying attention to emails, Gulf Game info sheet, and probably verbal instructions than anything else. I believe it was the Cobb family that let me win a game of Crokinole (is that spelled right?) for my first medal. A special thanks to them.
Note to My Word players – Use ELAN if you want to impress people, use LANE if not. Play me and you never have to worry about coming in last.
Note to Valley of the Mammoths players – Fish,Forage, and Grow crops. That long winter card will kill you.
Note to Mexica players – Tie for first.Disclaimer – If you use this theory and lose don’t blame me, I stole the idea from Brian (I think!)
Sorry for that interruption. Back to the prose.
I enjoyed meeting everyone but special recognition goes to Ted for getting me involved with the Gulf Games (and leaving me stranded in Florida so that I could get to know).
James that gave Craig and I a ride home. At least we had met before.
Craig for those brilliant detective skills on the ride to and from Gulf Games. Yes, we played games driving to and from Gulf Games (13 hrs each way).
Mark and Dennis, my roommates that I had not met. (Great work on the call in food orders,Dennis.)
Greg and Gail for being the catalysts.
Sarah for being such a nice person (and Thor for sending her).
Vickie and Tim for the decorations and work they do.
Rob (New Mexico) for having to play with all those ornery (my word) people all these years. He had a bad player story from every game in the place.
Vonda and Jason who met me at the WBC two years ago and made the contact between Ted and I. You hold a special place in my heart.
Lenny – $250,000 for the island – ask him about it.
There are many others that I could name but I won’t because my memory is not that good. I just want everyone that helped me or played against me or with me or just said hello to know that I had a great experience.
I will not be going to Savannah but do expect to be around for all the February Gulf Games in the future. I hope to see all of you again next year.