Orlando, Florida
March 1 – 4, 2001
It’s hard to believe that yet another Gulf Games has come and gone. I, and several other folks, quite literally begin working on the next Gulf Games even before the current Gulf Games arrives! It seems there’s no break, as discussions, preparations and plans are constantly underway. Yes, it’s work … but I love it!
As most of you know, Gulf Games is near and dear to my heart. It is just so fantastic to spend quality time with such great people in an environment which is totally given over to friendship, kindness and love. Egos are checked at the door and everyone dives head first into this great big pool of camaraderie and joy. In all my life I’ve never experienced anything quite like it. Evan Davis, an attendee at Gulf Games 5 in Chattanooga, described it best when he said he felt a “divine presence in the room“. He is so right.
It was great seeing all the Gulf Games veterans in attendance, even though a few long-timers were unable to attend. Each Gulf Games, I get to spend some time with these great people … but never enough time. Afterwards, I berate myself for not spending more time with this person or that person, and am stunned when I discover that I didn’t play a game with a few folks. Still, the quality time I do get to share is very special to me.
We were also pleased to have quite a few “first-timers” in attendance, including several that I had met previously at various other functions: Mark Johnson, Steve Friedland, Rob Wood, Frank DiLorenzo, Andy Merritt and Richard Borg. I was particularly pleased to finally get Brent Carter to attend, as he was originally scheduled to attend our very first Gulf Games back in 1998 in Navarre Beach. Brent is one of the first good friends I made via the internet and we’ve had many great conversations over the years.
I also made some great new friends whom I had never previously met, but had corresponded with via the net. And, WOW … what can one say about such folks as Richard and Toni Glanzer and their incredible boys, Michael and Jeffery? What a fantastic family. After just a few days at Gulf Games, Richard pulled me aside and told me how great the event was and that, God willing, he would never miss another one. It was also fantastic to get to meet and know such great people as Chris Lohroff (and his family) and Jim Cobb. I thoroughly enjoyed gaming and socializing with them and look forward to having them both become Gulf Games regulars.
Even though I was more exhausted than usual (four days in theme parks and a wicked sinus infection didn’t help!), I still had a super time. Sure, the games were great fun, but the people are so much better. I take such great joy in seeing others having such a fun time. Often, I would push my chair back from a table and just look around the room, smiling with great satisfaction. Everyone seemed to be having such a wonderful time and there was such a strong atmosphere of friendship. Moments such as this are all to rare in life.
Although four plus days of non-stop gaming may seem like a long time for many, it is over before you know it. All of a sudden, it was Sunday morning and folks were beginning to depart for home. I’m an emotional guy, so it is difficult for me to say good-bye, even though I know I’ll be seeing most of these folks again in less than six months. Ty always looks for those tears to appear when I give my ‘farewell’ speech, and no matter how hard I try, the tears always come. Thanks to Gulf Games and the many wonderful friends I’ve made, my life is so much richer. Thank you all for sharing your friendship with my family and I.
What follows is my experiences at Gulf Games 7. I’ll detail the games I played and my impressions of them in a separate report.
Gulf Games 7 brought us as far South geographically as we’ve been yet … Orlando, Florida. The incredible array of attractions was sure to please just about everyone and many families took advantage of the opportunity to plan extended vacations to visit these attractions. My family and I arrived on Friday evening and spent four straight days in the theme parks, being joined by our good friends the Douds and Cheathams for three of the four days.
On Saturday, we visited the Walt Disneyworld Magic Kingdom. It was just my family for this day and we enjoyed the usual sites. The Magic Kingdom doesn’t change much, which delights most folks but, frankly, disappointed me a bit. After visiting the incredibly fantastic Universal Islands of Adventure theme park later during the week, I can’t help get the feeling that Disneyworld is beginning to show its age and is in sore need of a major face-lift. Still, we had a good time and saw everything we wanted to see.
Saturday night we met up with Ty Douds and his great family. We spent Sunday with them visiting Universal Studios, which is the first time I’ve ever been there. I loved the scenery, which was straight out of various Hollywood movies. Some of the attractions were a bit hokey (Earthquake, Twister, Jaws), but others were first rate (Men in Black in particular). We also had a great time taking goofy pictures … you just gotta see Ty and I as Moe and Larry from the Three Stooges!
After returning to the hotel, we gathered for a few family games, including Und Tschuss and Drahtseilakt. Ty took us to the cleaners in Und Tshuss, while Shay nipped her daughter Ariel for a victory in Drahtseilakt.
On Monday, we again paired with the Douds and visited Universal Islands of Adventure. This theme park is simply awesome. It’s brand new and filled with amazing architecture and the latest technologically advanced attractions. The theme park is divided into different sections, including Dr. Seuss Land (Cat in the Hat ride and the Green Eggs and Ham Cafe!), Marvel Super Heroes (Spider Man 3-D ride, Hulk Roller Coaster and Dr. Doom Drop of Fear), Comic Strip Ville (where all the buildings and characters were straight from the newspaper comic strips), Jurassic Park (where Zane Douds still believes the dinosaur was real!), Lost Continent and more. This was, by far, the best park we visited and we had a blast. We also got completely soaked on Popeye’s Barge ride, forcing us to return to the hotel and change clothes before venturing out to eat!
Ty and I played a late night game of Babel, but aborted the game after going back-and-forth for over an hour without anyone winning. Babel has some interesting ideas and mechanics, but it is prone to becoming a drawn-out slug fest.
On Tuesday, we visited Epcot and met up with Andy and Juliette Merritt for a brief period, then spent most of the afternoon with Ted Cheatham and his family. We took some great pictures at several of the Epcot ‘countries’ … I’m sure you’ve seen our Mexican and Viking photos! Epcot is my favorite of the Disney parks, particularly the World Showcase.
We were able to get into the meeting room early on Tuesday evening, so many of us moved our games into the room. This also meant that we stayed up late playing games. Joining in the late-night gaming were Michael and Shanna Labranche (and family), Rob Wood, Ty and his family and Andy & Juliette Merritt. I was involved in games of Ivanhoe and Traumfabrik.
We spent most of Wednesday preparing and decorating the meeting room. The theme of GG7 was “Theme Park, U.S.A.”, and Tim and Vickie Watson again did an incredible job with the decorations. In addition to the multitude of giant game pieces hanging from the ceiling, there were large illustrations of theme park rides adorning the walls. Each of these rides had a selection of medals, each depicting a different game. The idea was to ride as many different rides as possible by playing and winning games depicted on these medals. It was loads of fun and really added to the great atmosphere of the week.
To further compliment the theme, Tim had also distorted photos of various games, calling it the ‘Fun House Mirrors’ contest. The challenge was to guess which games were pictured in these distorted images.
We did manage to complete the decorations by late afternoon, leaving time for even more gaming. More and more guests arrived throughout the day, so by Wednesday evening, we had about 1/2 of those registered in attendance. We gamed late into the night, continuing the cycle of tons of gaming with very little sleep.
Gulf Games officially began at 9AM Thursday morning, although several of us were back in the game room at 8AM. There’s a lot to do each morning, including vacuuming the floors, re-filling the ice buckets, replenishing the snacks, cleaning the tables, etc. Fortunately, I can usually count on such folks as Mark Jackson, Chip Triplett and a few others to rise early and help with these chores.
Thursday was straight gaming with no special events or tournaments scheduled. The event-long contests did begin, however, including the ‘Friendliest Person‘ contest (see how many different people you can play a game with) and the ‘Gaming God‘ contest (see who wins the most games). Both of these contests are very popular and folks constantly rush to mark names on the Friendly Person board or to choose a humorous medal to wear on their name badge when winning a game. I managed to capture the first medal of the event with a victory in Riffifi!
Folks arrived throughout the day and by Thursday evening, nearly everyone had arrived. Again, we gamed till the wee hours of the morning (3:30AM for me!) and all staggered back to our rooms for a few hours of sleep.
More gaming on Friday, with all 11 tables being occupied most of the time throughout the day. On Friday evening, we had our official ‘Welcome Party‘, once again hosted by Ted Cheatham. Ted had designed another fantastic contest. Each person had the name of a game on their back, along with several bits of information about the game. Everyone had to attempt to discern which game they wore on their back by asking questions of other attendees. Each person could only be asked one question, however, so this forced everyone to mingle and meet everyone else.
The contest didn’t end there, though. You see, Ted had posted 8 or so ‘rides’ on the wall, each with a theme (Tom Sawyer’s Island, Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc.). Then, you had to figure out which ‘ride’ you were assigned to based on the theme of your game and gather all the other folks who also ‘fit’ that ride. The first group to get everyone together won the contest and each received a special prize!
It was great fun and really funny watching everyone running around the room asking questions and trying to find others who fit their ride. This was one of Ted’s best contests yet. Bravo, Ted!
We again closed the Welcome Party with our traditional ‘Take it Easy‘ group game. This year, it was little Emily Cheatham with a score in the 180’s.
Following the party and our group “Mamma Mia!” dinner, it was back to gaming, with some die-hards remaining at the table until past 5AM!
Saturday was a busy day. At 10:30AM, we held our traditional Liar’s Dice tournament. This year we had a special treat as the game’s designer, Richard Borg, was in attendance. Interestingly, he played the first round at the table of GG6 Liar’s Dice champ Kim McCarthy. Even more interesting was the fact that Richard and his wife Sandy were the last two contestants remaining at that table, with Rich emerging victorious!
Sadly for Rich, he was ousted in the finals in a match that went down to a 1 die to 1 die shoot-out between Ben Baldanza and Tim Watson. It appeared Tim had won, but he revealed his die before Ben had a chance to make a call. So, true to form for south Florida, we had a re-count! They re-rolled, and Ben emerged victorious.
This wasn’t the only re-count we would experience, as it initially appeared that Neil Carr had won the mega Die Macher match between Ben Baldanza, Marcia Baldanza, Vonda Matthews, Derk Solko and Neil. However, a further re-count of the board, including hanging blocks, gave the victory to Vonda. I’m just happy we were able to rectify the situation before Jesse Jackson or the Supreme Court stepped in!
At 8:30PM, it was time for the much anticipated prize table. Over 120 games were available and each attendee walked away with four games. There was some great stuff given away, including a copies of Svea Rike, Princes of Florence, Carcassonne, Zertz and more. However, I’m wondering just how pleased Mark Johnson will be with his copy of Auru Poku, or Ken Girton with Global Survival!
Sunday morning always results in folks staggering into the game room, exhausted from three or more days of non-stop gaming and very little sleep. Still, those who managed to make it were treated to ‘Family Feud’, Metro-Gamers style. Derk Solko and Ken Girton again hosted this wacky, trivia style contest. The really scary part is that to do well, you have to get inside of Derk’s brain and figure out his bizarre clues. Many thanks to Derk and Ken for another fun event.
We also announced the winners of the various contests and gave away loads of prizes. I was extremely pleased to see that 7 folks managed to play with 50 different people. Mark Jackson edged me out in the Friendly Person contest by two points! The ‘Gaming God’ contest was also very close, with Ty Douds edging out Frank DiLorenzo, 17 wins to 16 wins. Ty also was a winner in Pastor Mark’s Box of Enlightenment, correctly identifying 90% of the game pieces inside the box. Kudos also go to Dennis Mills for identifying 44 of the 46 photos on the ‘Party Crashers’ poster.
By Noon, most folks began heading home. This is always a sad part of Gulf Games and many hugs are exchanged. Still, we did have a larger than normal group remain behind to play a few more games and help pick-up all of the decorations and supplies. By 6:00PM, we were out of the room.
I did get to enjoy a nice dinner that evening with the Glanzers, Matthews and Ken Girton. I managed to get eight hours of sleep that night in preparation for my 10 hour drive home on Monday. In my stupor, I managed to leave behind a few articles of clothing, but fortunately an alert Ken Girton found the clothes and brought them home for me.
In spite of some added confusion due to the presence of some toddlers, I think everyone who attended had a marvelous time. I’ve received dozens of notes praising the event and have already received several advance registrations for the next Gulf Games in Nashville. Gulf Games has become an essential part of my life, one I wouldn’t dare miss. Fortunately, it seems as though many other folks share this sentiment. With the continued friendships and enthusiasm being shared by everyone in attendance, the future of Gulf Games continues to look bright. I can’t wait till Nashville!