Chattanooga, Tennessee
March 2 – 5, 2000
I am back at home, in Seminole Florida (the Tampa Bay area), having just spent the past several days on vacation in Chattanooga Tennesee.
As many of you know, Internet buddies Greg Schloesser, Ted Cheatham and myself decided to put together a family outing where we all could finally meet face to face, introduce our families to one another, and yes….play games.
Our first meeting took place in Navarre beach, located in the Florida panhandle. That first meeting was over two and a half years ago already! Since then we have met in Panama City, New Orleans, Destin, and just recently, in Chattanooga Tennessee. Chattanooga was our fifth such get together…. which seems hard to believe, doesn’t it Greg?
Somewhere along the way Greg dubbed our gaming getaways ” Gulf Games“, so naturally our vacation to Chattanooga became Gulf Games V.
We had a blast! Greg did a stellar job as usual in planning and negotiating the best possible prices and location for GGV. Gulf Games Five was held at he Hawthorne Suites where we had our largest “gaming” room yet, a conference room that was over 1,300 sq. feet. The accommodations, rooms, service and attitude of the staff there was absolutely excellent.
Since this Gulf Games was held in Chattanooga, good buddy Mark Jackson’s neck o’ the woods, the theme was the Blue v.s. the Gray.
Tim and Vickie Watson created I.D. badges that aligned everyone with either the North or the South, based very roughly upon where we all actually hailed from. Both Ian and Desmond were a real stretch, coming from Scotland, but I suppose that they were an obvious choice as “Yankees” after all.
In the center of the conference room a table was set up where players from the South and players from the North would go head to head in a Button Men tournament. The South surged to an early lead, but after the final day the North had won more battles, due largely to the success of Brigadier General Jason Matthews, who could really “roll them bones.” The kicker was, that whenever either side claimed a victory, a garbled rendition of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic”, or “When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again”, depending upon which side won, was played over the cassette player that Greg provided.
The family atmosphere has certainly grown. I think that this Gulf Games saw a record turnout in children, which included my two little ones, Ariel & Zane; Kenny’s boy, Calvin. Ted’s Emily and Doug; Matthew Triplet; Cassie, Kayla & Kyle, from the Berg clan ; Lindsay Schloesser and cousin Karie, and the most large and vociferous adolescent of all, Derk Solko. (Actually, I think that God, who was probably bored and in need of a challenge one evening, combined “abrasive” with “obnoxious” and somehow perfected these two seemingly unredeemable qualities, and created the entertaining and lovable character that we affectionately know today as Derk!) “Yeah Baby!”
The Take it Easy and Liar’s Dice tournaments, which have become mainstay’s at Gulf Games, were held once again, but neither Greg Schloesser (Take It Easy) or my brother Kenny (Liar’s Dice), were able to defend their titles.
This time around Michael Bland won the Take it Easy title and Ben Baldanza hung on to take his first Liar’s Dice trophy. Way to go guys!
The ” I Spy“contest, where you must try to identify several different games by viewing a small picture of the board from those games, was won again, as it always is, by the Moo Man, Frank Branham. (actually, I think someone shared the honors with him this time around.). Editor’s Note … that would be Jason Matthews!
Unfortunately, the crossword puzzle contest was done away with, and I am not quite sure why. I felt that this was a real shame, since I had won it outright all three times had Greg had previously put this together. 🙂 Actually,this proved to be a good idea, as it freed me up to spend extra time at playing games instead!
Our special guests at Gulf Games V included the return of Jay Tummelson! Jay found out how much we all really cared for him when our response to his arrival went from “Wow, it’s Jay Tummelson!” to “Oh, it’s him” upon learning that his latest batch of games and goodies was lost, thanks to airport authorities!
However, Jay was soon again surrounded by “friends” when his games finally did arrive. As usual, Jay has brought the very finest games available, from around the world! Most of these games will end up branded with a seal that has grown to be much more meaningful than the popple from the Spiel des Jahres committee….. Jay’s very own Rio Grande label! Way to go Jay! Thanks again for giving us an early glimpse at these great games. I can hardly wait to get my hands on a copy of every one of them…er, except for ” WONGAR.” (more on this later.)
Other special guests included Ian Borthwick and Desmond Middleton from Scotland and the gang fromQ.E.D. games: Evan Jones, Jeff Simon and Jay Watt.
A special surprise was provided by Greg, as he had communicated with Hasbro, who then sent him advance copies of Acquire, Stratego: Legends, Axis & Allies Europe and Diplomacy to bring with him to Gulf Games. Unfortunately, we did not get to see Richard Borg’s Battlecry, (formerly Command & Colors). Since this was a Cival War game, this was the initial reason that Greg had contacted Hasbro, in the hopes that a copy of this game might be ready and available to show off at Gulf Games.
Not only did we get to see and play these great looking games, Greg threw them into the already impressive batch of prize table offerings, that we award to everyone who attends, by picking names at random, on Saturday evening.
Ken Girton was the lucky recipient of the first draw this year, and to no one’s surprise he chose the new and lavish Hasbro production of the all time classic, Acquire. We had all been “lusting” for a shot to win this one … way to go Ken.
End of part one. Part two to follow.
Highlights from part two include:
* My personal gaming and reviews
* Greg fails again to impress those who find talent worthy of prime time television. …but Craig Berg delivers!!!
* and a few other random thoughts.