PointCon is a gaming convention held at the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point campus and run by the Gamers’ Alliance of Stevens Point, a college club. This year it was held May 1 through May 3 in the Laird Room in the Dreyfus University Center. Peter and our friend Tim and I went to check it out (as we had never been to the convention before) and to run some playtests of our in-progress miniatures ruleset. We packed up the terrain and miniatures we’ve been using at the local conventions where we’ve been playtesting and made the hour and twenty-minute drive to Stevens Point.
The mostly empty hall
We got there around 10:30 a.m., parked in a lot a few blocks away, and walked to the Dreyfus University Center, a brand-new student union building. It’s beautiful facility with a food court and all kinds of amenities. We eventually found the Laird Room, paid the five bucks (it covered the whole weekend) and entered a huge conference center room with a very pretty hardwood floor. We were at the convention.
Actual ingame footage!
There were a few vendors, some videogames set up (a Wii, an Xbox360) and a sea of mostly empty tables. Plenty of places to play games. We found our table, met the people running the convention, and started setting up our terrain. The place was pretty empty, but it was still early (10:30 or so) to a degree, so we assumed the players would start showing up soon. I remember not being much of an early riser when I was in college.
A small force
Just before noon we realized that there were no more people at the convention than there had been an hour and a half ago. We did have one person who was interested in trying out our game, which was great, but he had been at the last several local gaming conventions we had been to and we knew him from the “circuit”, so we weren’t necessarily branching out much to new people. We played through the game in about an hour and a half (I won, but not decisively) and then grabbed some food. The number of attendees had increased a bit, but not by much: at the high point, I did a headcount and came up with 30 people, including vendors, staff and ourselves.
At least one full table
We didn’t have anyone to play with when our second timeslot came up at 4 p.m., so we just discussed rules and worked on how grenades were going to work next time we playtested. We packed up and had a quick talk with the organizer. He apologized for there not being many people there, and he picked our brains for suggestions. We gave him some advice, and we hope that they have a more sucessful convention next year. Wisconsin really needs more than two or three good, steady gaming conventions and we’re always happy to try and help.
Overall, I really hope they suceed and make the convention grow. It’s not too far away, it’s a nice drive, and it’s held in a great facility. They just need to advertise a little better and get the word out more effectively.
atom smashing 