On January 11, we headed off to MidWinter Gaming Convention. Thursday was spent talking about our prototype, Luck: Legends of Ireland, connecting with other designers, chatting with people who have gone through the whole game development process to learn some tips and tricks, and introducing Luck to the protospiel hosted at MidWinter. It was AWESOME! (A theme you will hear a lot when we talk about this weekend.)
Friday came with lots of fun game playing and about 16+ inches of snow. I mean, it wasn’t bad at all! Being snowed-in at a hotel that had a water park, delicious food, cool vendors, and hundreds of our favorite types of people…. board gamers! We played Luck: Legends of Ireland and Haunted Inheritance with lots of fun groups. Then… came Friday evening.
Begin… the power-outage with a side of fire-alarm, dropping temperatures, and no heat. Oh… this was gonna be a weekend like no other.
Or was it.
When the power went out, David, a friend, and I were all sitting in the bar having dinner. Almost immediately, David and our friend realized that 10 years ago, they were sitting in this exact spot, on this exact day (Jan 12) at this exact hotel, and about the same time…. when the power had gone out! Our friend even brought along a few flashlights, which ended up being a saving grace. We had a good laugh about it. (I’m not traveling with them anymore on Jan 12, though!)
Even though the temperatures were dropping, our car was under a foot of snow and plowed in by an even bigger pile, we all decided to make the best of it. And it was the best! The MidWinter Staff and Volunteers, along the with Ingleside Hotel, were INCREDIBLE! They closed the doors to the gaming rooms and they were toasty warm with all of us in there. The hallways and our rooms were cold, but we put on all of the clothes in our suitcase and we were A-OK. We had a warm breakfast and lunch with smiles from every single staff member. There was warm coffee, tea, and hot chocolate to warm us up before we headed to play games again.
The power did come back on about 4pm on Saturday with cheers and HUZZAH’s, but the icy weekend will live in infamy. …again.
We do want to thank Ann and the MidWinter staff & volunteers for a truly incredible job well done. There was a lot to contend with and they kept a light heart and a smile on their faces. We tip our hats to you!
To the Ingleside in Pewaukee, WI… that may have been one of the best breakfasts I’ve had in awhile. And the soup and salad at lunch was amazing! Thanks for all of your hard work behind the scenes to make the uncomfortableness as comfortable as possible…. and then some.
I can’t wait for next year!