A sunny Easter Monday saw me set off on the early train from Bognor to reach the even sunnier Bedford Hotel in Balham, site of ZATU’s Easter ZatuCon 25. This was my 3rd visit to ZATU’s events at this notable London venue: the two previous being the August Bank Holiday ones, though I did provide the quiz for the last Easter one.
So, how was it? How is it different at Easter than at the end of the summer and how was it different for me? In brief and in order it was:
· A great show with lots of demonstration games, new kickstarter projects being displayed, an open to all Blood on the Clocktower, a comprehensively stocked ZATU stand, staffed by friendly personnel, with many bargain boxes, a huge room-filling raffle and a Quite Interesting quiz with a very generous first prize.
· ZatuCon Easter had about half the attendance that its larger summer sibling. This brings quite a few benefits from an attendee point of view. Less people means you can get round to see all the things you want easier and be more able to participate in the demonstration games. Of course, there’s always space and enough games in the ZATU library for you to play with others. Also the raffle and the Quiz prizes remain equally generous but with an enhanced chance to win.
· For me the difference was I qualified for an Exhibitor Wrist band. As well as providing the Quiz for the 3rd time and the 2nd time hosting it, I would also be demonstrating three different Osprey games: Battalion War of the Ancients; Undaunted 2200 Calisto and Katmai. Thus gaining the gaily coloured strip of plastic that garnered me a huge discount on food and drink, making the London pricing more acceptable to a simple country lad! This time was the first time I’d actually got around to ordering any food. Coincidence? Possibly.
Demonstrations
As well as myself there were fellow bloggers Stefano and Grey. Stefano was in the next room along, delighting all comers with his suave Italian style and a pile of Hot Potato games.
Grey aka Greame Johnston was right alongside me attracting great interest extolling the delights of Horrified: World of Monsters and Castles of Burgundy, albeit unlikely bedfellows.
Not that I can talk. My table held a trio of Osprey Games spanning a range of 2,000 years! On my left was Battalion War of the Ancients with four factions: Rome; Carthage; Han and Greco-Bactrian of circa 200 BCE slugging it out in conflicts such as the 2nd Punic War and the War of the Heavenly Horses.
Next along but 2000 years on was Undaunted 2200: Callisto. The latest in the Undaunted series set on Jupiter’s moon where disgruntled miners fight off the heavies of an oppressive corporation.
And in the current day we had the photogenic Brown Bears of the Katmai conservation area fishing for salmon in Alaska’s Brooks River. All three are excellent games with the outstanding production values that Osprey is renowned for.
Across the room from us the gentle people of Iconiq were presenting their Kickstarter project based on the adventures of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Crypt of Chronos. A story driven adventure and puzzle game for solo play. It looks very good unlike my Lara Croft impression sticking my head through the full size standee!
And thus the day passed in a blur of chat and dice rolling until the room filled up for the excitement of the raffle. There were a lot of really good prizes on offer. Attendees get 1 ticket free with their admittance but you can pay for more which can pay dividends as some lucky players walked away with multiple prizes.
I’ll ask the Questions!
The end of the raffle was my cue to nip downstairs into the main arena (The Bedford is a pub theatre and comedy venue where many famous faces have performed as evidenced by their, very young, photos on the adjacent wall) to accept entries for the grand ZATU Quiz.
I say grand not just because it is my own concoction but because of the very generous £100 first prize from ZATU. A good time was had by all (except when I lost my brown pen top!) and it was a close fought contest with two teams tying for first place with an impressive 59 out of 60 points. The eventual winners a Canadian called Sean and his charming companion got closest to guessing the number of pieces in the world’s largest jigsaw despite being over 175,000 out (It’s 551,232 pieces if you’re asking).
Hard luck to the Runner’s Up who lived up to their team name of Very Deep Regrets when they realised there was no 2nd prize. Ed. Note there may well be one next time.
So that’s it for now. Come along next time in August and try your hand at some new games and an entertaining quiz.
