Announcement! Please join other podcast listeners for the next online BGTG Mini-Con, scheduled for September 6. I plan to be online from 9am-9pm Pacific time, including Discord for voice & video. The games will mostly be played on BoardgameArena, but adventurous gamers can also use Yucata, Brettspielwelt, Boardgames.io, Steam, apps, or whatever. It's free, and no RSVP or signup is necessary. Opener: Qwinto Closer: The SdJ awards ceremony, which we watched/listened to live on the drive back from a convention Over the years you've heard me talk about a number of game conventions. Usually that's recounting the games I played, and my enthusiasm for them in a 5-star rating. This time, I'm taking more of a meta approach to the topic. Yes, I'm still talking about a convention I went to recently, and some games played there, but half of the episode is about the idea of game conventions in the first place. The different types, which ones I prefer, and so on. Then the second half was recorded at a recent convention, meant to highlight the sort of fun, deep, not-so-serious discussions about the hobby and our shared experience in it. That's a lot of what I enjoy about game conventions--getting to hang out for continuous time with others who are just as geeky as I am about boardgames. I'm among my people! In this particular case, DaveO, Jonathan, Jeff, and SteveV join me to talk about games of designer Rüdiger Dorn. We concentrated on those for an entire day. This prolific designer has titles from 1992 to the present day. He's won the Kennerspiel des Jahres and been nominated for the Spiel des Jahres multiple times. Some of his most famous titles include Istanbul, Goa, Jambo, Traders of Genoa, and Louis XIV...none of which we played! Instead we tabled Dragonheart, Las Vegas Royale, Emerald, Montana, Rune Stones, My Farm Shop, Karuba, Arkadia, Danger 13, Mercado, Karuba the Card Game, and Diamonds Club. That was primarily with two groups playing all day long on two tables. It was the Dornücopia! At the last minute I thought a funny hat would be a great addition to our little event. While I couldn't find a cornucopia hat on short notice, I did find a corn hat. That was great! The winner of a game was crowned with it, and soon enough we were calling that person The Great Dornholio. Now I think all of our future mini-events will benefit from a special hat! -Mark