Origins '06: Wham and Knizia

I attended two large gaming conventions back in 1989 and 1990. Gencon (held in Milwaukee, WI) and Origins (a traveling convention hosted in Atlanta that year) were big events, with hundreds of games, demos, and a excellent dealer tables.

The big allure for me at the time, though, was the annual Star Fleet Battles tournament, which I did fairly well in both times. I made it to the "sweet-16" in the 128 player Captain's Tournament, a single-elimination affair, in 1990. I flew a Kzinti tournament cruiser and won the first three rounds, defeating a Klingon, Federation, and Tholian ship. I lost to an amazing Wyn player, who successfully bluffed me into dodging his first two plasma torpedoes and then ran me down with the real thing in the corner of the board, pointed in the wrong direction. But that's another story...

The reason for this post is to mention to of my favorite game designers, Renier Knizia and Tom Wham will be appearing as guest speakers at Origins '06 in Columbus, Ohio, June 29th-July 2nd.

Renier of course is know for the awesome Tigris and Euphrates, and Tom Wham for the great File 13 and Awful Green Things From Outer Space (pictured above).