New Orleans, Louisiana
February 25 – 28, 1999
Gulf Games 3 is now history, but it will live forever in my memory. Words cannot adequately describe the pure joy and and exhilaration I experienced by being in the presence of so many loving, caring and friendly people. Surely, this is how the Creator intends for people to treat each other. I cannot thank each of you enough for opening your hearts to me and my family, as well as everyone in attendance at Gulf Games. I cherish each and every one of you.
I must echo the sentiments of my great friend Lenny Leo who said that he immediately left Gulf Games 3 anxiously looking forward to Gulf Games 4 in October. It seems like an eternity away. Sure, I love games and gaming, but Gulf Games has become so much more than that now. What I am really looking forward to is getting to spend more time with each of you. YOU are what makes Gulf Games so special.
After months and months of planning, the Gulf Games experience arrived early for me as my good friend Ty Douds and his wonderful family arrived in New Orleans the Saturday before the official opening of the convention. This enabled our two families to see the sights of New Orleans and enjoy some quality time together.
After meeting the Douds at the airport, we made a quick a stop at my house and then headed to the Jean Lafitte National Park for a hike through the swamps. Much to my delight, we spotted a couple of nutrias, so Ty became a believer that these strange (yet somehow cute) creatures really do exist. Following the hike, the Douds then experienced how real New Orleanians eat crawfish … off of a table covered with newspaper! Of course, we then got in a few games of Cafe International and Mamma Mia (which was to begin the week-long trend of us using horrible Italian accents).
Sunday was spent sight-seeing in the French Quarter. Unfortunately, the weather turned unexpectedly cold, but we still managed to briskly walk through the Quarter and see the highlights. A streetcar ride and a walk through the RiverWalk was followed by dinner at Copeland’s.
I was able to get together with the Douds again Tuesday night for dinner and a few games of En Garde and GUILLOTINE.
On Wednesday, Jonathan Degann flew into town from Los Angeles. We spent most of the afternoon walking through the French Quarter and ate lunch at Chef Paul Prudhomme’s K-Paul’s restaurant, which Jonathan was dying to try. We then rushed off to the airport to pick up Jay Tummelson, but discovered that his flight had been delayed about 1 1/2 hours. This gave us time to play a game of Hornoschen, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
With the arrival of Jay, we whisked back to my house for the Westbank Gamers session. Lenny and Ty had arrived early and got things in order and my incredible wife Gail had prepared a meal of jambalaya for us. Of course, we immediately jumped into Jay’s batch of new 1999 RioGrande Games, including games of Ra, Evergreen, Big City, Cape Horn, Ta Yu, Klunker, Money, Richochet Robot and Lost Cities. I will report separately on these games and their outcomes. I will say, though, that Jay spent not only this night, but the entire Gulf Games, teaching and running the games, only playing once or twice when needed to fill the numbers to the proper level. A big guy with a big heart.
At about 3AM, we decided it was time to halt the proceedings due to sheer exhaustion. I brought them all back to their hotel and returned to finish my packing in preparation for the official beginning of Gulf Games in just a few hours. I did manage to get about 2 1/2 hours sleep!
I arrived at the hotel around 9:30 Thursday morning and with the help of Ty and his family we arranged the rooms in preparation of the arrival of the rest of the Gulf Games family. While waiting, I introduced the Douds to a nice game of Igel Argern, their first playing of this Doris & Frank title.
Then, the gamers began to arrive. It was like meeting great family and friends you haven’t seen in years. My heart soared with each familiar … and a few new … face that walked in the doors. The caravan of Mark Jackson, Jimmie Williamson, Chip Triplett, Eric Wood and Ted Cheatham arrived together after their late night gaming session at Ted’s home in Mississippi. They were to be followed by Lenny Leo and Tim and Vickie Watson. Later that evening Michael and Shanna Labranche arrived. We were beginning to have a full house and the gaming, laughter and friendship was beginning to explode. Gaming went on till the wee hours of the morning, with my head not hitting my pillow until nearly 4 AM. I went to bed exhausted, but incredibly satisfied.
On Friday we were joined by Vonda Matthews, who flew in late, late Thursday night. Unfortunately, Jason was not to shake free of his political responsibilities until late Friday evening, but it was a joy to have Vonda ... who never, ever stops smiling … with us. She is an excellent gamer, and can ‘hose’ with the best of ’em, but does it with such good nature that one can ever take offense.
I rushed to the airport to pick up Jon Pessano and returned for even more games. Later that day, we were also joined by Jay Ouzts and the remainder of the Labranche family, with Jason finally arriving later that evening. The picture was now complete.
Ted ‘Party Monster’ Cheatham kicked off the Welcome Party with a bingo style contest designed to get everyone to mingle and meet each other (which, we had pretty much already accomplished … but the contest was great nonetheless!). There was a series of questions that we had to find the right ‘match’ with amongst the group. Try as we might, I don’t think any of us were able to find any in the group who had gamed on more than two continents. Jay Tummelson and I were constantly besieged with this one as the most likely possibilities.
Following the attendee bingo was the rules expert contest. We were split into three tables and were given sheets containing snippets from rulebooks of various games. We were charged with the task of discerning the correct game for each snippet. Loads of fun and very challenging.
Finally, the Welcome Party ended with a group ‘ Take it Easy‘ contest, which was won by Chip Triplett (his first time playing …ever) with an impressive score of 196. Equally impressive was the score chalked up by 8 year old EmmaLabranche … an incredible 181!! She was to prove that this was not a fluke by later beating Mike, Shanna and I in another game of this addicting game.
In addition to the contests, the ‘locals’ (Jay Ouzts, Lenny Leo, the Labranche family and Schloesser family) brought in a nice selection of local delicacies, including jambalaya, red beans & rice, stuffed merlitons and king cake. Ty & Shay also contributed 30 lbs. of boiled crawfish. Plus, Vickie kept us well stocked with cheese trays, vegetable trays, chips, sodas and more. Outstanding!
The gaming continued throughout the night. Again, I didn’t say ‘hello’ to my pillow until nearly 4 AM. So what? I was having the time of my life.
The gaming, fellowship and joy continued throughout Saturday. The Liar’s Dice tournament was a BIG hit again, with massive amounts of hootin’ and hollerin’ occurring. Gulf Games 2 champion Ted Cheatham was ousted early, as was poor Jonathan Degann, who actually ousted from our table on after two rolls of the dice! They adjourned for a game of Caesar & Cleopatra while the rest of us continued to shake the cups. The top two finishers from each table reached the finals: Jon Pessano, Ty Douds, Frans Labranche, Mark Jackson, Shay Douds and I. It came down to Ty and I, but I had the upper hand with 3 dice to Ty’s 2. I gambled on a critical re-roll, needing a ‘5’ or a ‘*’. I didn’t even look at the result until Ty called the bluff. I slowly lifted my cup to reveal a ‘5’! A roar went up from the 10+ observers. One more roll and Ty was ousted and I was crowned the ‘Liar King!’ This was a real hoot!
Tons more gaming ensued until we broke for a group dinner at Semolina’s that evening. It was great to break bread with such wonderful people and continue to foster the growing friendships. Following dinner, we again returned for more gaming. I managed to get to bed a bit earlier this night …. 3:00 AM.
Sunday was depressing … Gulf Games 3 was coming to an end. Nevertheless, more gaming was held and we then awarded some contest winners and prizes.
Throughout the convention, players earned beads and doubloons for various reasons … playing with new opponents, winning games and various contests and activities. It was a real hoot to see everyone wandering the game room and hotel (and local mall and restaurants) wearing massive quantities of mardi gras beads around their necks. Well, these beads and doubloons were then redeemed for prizes … some valuable, some not so valuable. But the whole point was to have fun …and we certainly had that.
I managed to capture the top prize for earning the most victories with 12 wins, closely followed by Jimmie ‘Buster’ Williamson with 11 and Eric Wood with 10. I think they took it easy on me! Jonathan Degann correctly deciphered all 9 board segments in the ‘I Spy’ contest, while Ty Douds took the crossword puzzles as a personal challenge and correctly completed all 3 of the puzzles. In all, I think EVERYONE received some sort of prize or token of appreciation for attending the convention.
Unfortunately, Gulf Games was approaching its end. Tearful good-byes were said and our friends began departing for their homes. Jonathan, Lenny and I were the last to leave, getting in a final game of Cheops before heading to dinner and then bringing Jonathan to the airport for his long journey back to L.A.
What words can describe the emotions I experienced? Incredible joy and love probably come closest .. and that doesn’t even do it justice. I am an emotional guy by nature, but the love shared between everyone there was overwhelming. And to think that with the exception of the local New Orleans crew, I would never have met any of you were it not for the internet and our mutual love of games.
From the bottom of my heart I thank each and every one of you for making the effort to rearrange your schedules, make the financial commitment and, in some cases, leave your family behind to attend Gulf Games. But more importantly, I thank each of you for the friendship and love you shared with me and my family. I am eternally grateful.
Now, I look forward to Destin … October 21 – 24, 1999. That’s about 7 1/2 months away. Far too long. Rest assured I will be counting the days, and to quote an old (and obscure) song from the Moody Blues ….
“The Day we meet again, I’ll be waiting there. I’ll be waiting there for you.”