Gathering of Friends April 10-16, 2001
by Dave Bernazzani
In Pictures (page 1 of 5)
Unbelievable! What a week of gaming I had. This is not meant to be a rub-it-in page for those that cannot attend the Gathering of Friends - it's always hard to post content regarding this special but invite-only event. I felt that before I was invited I enjoyed seeing the pics and commentary on new games played so I have decided to post my own observations of this event. This online photo-album with commentary of the Gathering is partially for me to help remember the great event and partially it is to post some general observations on the games I managed to play. It is also (hopefully) interesting to those who attended to see snapshots of the event from a different perspective. During one of the many special events that takes place during the week I saw the phrase "There Can Be Only One..." in reference to the Gathering of Friends. I think that's about as true a statement as you can get these days. Biggest thanks to Alan Moon for putting on the show!
I have reduced and cropped most of these pics. If you are in a pic and would like the full-sized version just drop me an email. If you are in a pic and want the pic removed from this site (for any reason), just let me know and I'll do so right away! I didn't post any prototype pictures that I'm aware of (we are asked to keep silent on these). Stephen Glenn's fine game of Bird's and the Bee's does make an appearance but it's won an award and although Stephen is still tweaking it I've decided to include a picture of the designer with his game (Stephen, let me know if this is not OK).
In addition to thanking Alan Moon for this great week, I must also thank all the friendly people I got to game with and chat with. It was really great to see "old" friends such as Greg Schloesser, Ty Douds and Greg Aleknevicus. And equally nice to chat with some people I did not game with - Craig Berg and Ben Baldanza spring to mind. Although I had appeared on his Board Room show, it was a blast gaming with Bob Schwartz for the first time. And Mik Svellov - The Great Dane! Of course I knew who he was from B&B and numerous posts on the internet, but you really don't get a full sense for someone until you meet them. I can honestly say that Mik was one of my very favorite people to see and game with during the week. Mik always had a kind hello whenever he (or I) wandered by. It was phenomenal to see such a large turnout of people I game with on a semi-regular basis - Alison, David, Mark, Craig, Pat, Dave R, Jonathan, Walter, Scott, Pitt and crew. Last year I basically knew Jenn and had just met Mark and that was it. Although last year was phenomenal, it was all new to me -- so this year really felt much more like "Gathering of Friends" from my perspective. I met lots of other folks gaming - all great and if I try to name them all I'm sure I'll miss someone so I will just say a big thanks - I can honestly say that I enjoyed gaming with everyone I sat with this year. Great to meet Doris and Frank for the first time as well as the other designers in attendance most of whom I had met at least once before. It was also nice to spend some time chatting with Alan Moon throughout the week - occasionally he would just come up to tell me a quick funny story or just to say hello which meant a lot to me. It seems Alan was mentioning the Unity Games list that we use here in the Eastern MA area to coordinate game efforts -- often someone of note would come up to me and say 'Hey - you're Dave Bernazzani from the Unity Games list!'. We even gathered a couple more prospective gamers from the region who will probably join the UG list.
Finally, I want to thank my fiancée Jenn who bore with me as I tried to game with as many people as possible and for taking care of me the final day when I got a bad head cold (it seemed to be going around - at least a few people were sniffling and sneezing at the beginning of the week). She got me through the long ride home!
We decided to drive out to Ohio this year - it took about 13 hours (12 driving, 1/2 hour each for lunch/dinner) both ways. No traffic either way so we did fairly well. But it's an exhausting drive! Still, it was great to have a car throughout the week where we could eat and travel as we liked.
Here is the link to my text report for the games I played during the week... Feel free to check it out either before or after looking at the pictures!
Now on to the pictures!! Mostly these are in order as I took them during the week... except the first one...
Alan Moon and I near the end of the week (still both looking fresh I might add!).
A picture of my games stacked along the wall. A few more were hidden in back. Because I drove this year, I managed to take quite a few games to Ohio - and quite a few more home (In addition to new games I bought, I also took home some games for friends who had flown - don't worry the rate I charged was only 10 cents per mile :).
And yes, that's the little pretzel bear from SSG the previous week - it made the trip out to Ohio with me - but the pretzels were gone within a day!
Tom Jolly, Aaron, Greg Aleknevicus, Mitch and I (off camera) playing Carcassonne.
Jonathan, David, Alison and I (off camera) playing Exxtra.
Greg Aleknevicus, Greg Schloesser, Mark Hauser, Ralph (obscured), Jenn and I playing Dragon's Gold. New game for me and a big thumbs up for Bruno's new light negotiation game.
Close-up of the EVO board game. New to me and I played twice and really enjoyed both plays although I think other reactions were more lukewarm.
A big chunk of the Gathering of Friends main ballroom. Tons of gamers!
Ty, Chuck, Greg, Michael, Mik (off-camera) and I (off camera) playing M. Greg taught us this multi-player abstract game and I was a big fan. Played at least twice during the week and will be looking for a copy soon.
Don't they look like a great couple!! Except that's my fiancée Jenn and my friend Mik Svellov! Great to meet and game with Mik throughout the week - a genuinely nice guy although a lousy card playing partner! ;)
Die Handler von Genua was one of the new big games at the GoF. I liked my only play and Jenn felt this was the best game of the Gathering for her. Lots of good reaction to it but some felt it was a little long (our only 4P game took 2 hours). That's Mark Edward's hand making an appearance in this photo.
