Who's Yer Con 2016 In Review (Part 1)

    Ever since moving to Indy 4 years ago, my hubs Chad and I have found ourselves increasingly immersed in the world of tabletop games.  Who's Yer Gamer's is a local group that has been promoting hobby gaming since 2008 and each spring they put on Who's Yer Con, a free, 3 day hobby gaming convention held at the Wyndham West hotel.  This was our second year attending, so I thought I would share my experience!  In the this post I'll go over my impressions about the convention in general, and in my next post I'll talk about the specifics of what I did this year.
  WYC has a very approachable, family friendly feeling and you see people of all ages, which I think is awesome.  Attendance this year was around 2400 people over a 3 day weekend.  And did I mention it's free?  Yes, I know I did, but it warrants repeating because it's a fantastic value.  They have a broad range of gaming activities from board games, video & arcade games, D&D and other RP's and social deduction games.  But if you aren't sure where you fit in all of that, you can peruse the various vendors or try trivia, crafts, jewelry making classes and even yoga.  Costuming is also welcome, so you see many people dressed up as their favorite characters, which is one of my favorite parts of conventions in general.  I opted for geek shirts over costumes (Team Loki, am I right?), but there were lots of fun ones.  My favorite?  A girl about 10 y/o dressed as Unicorn Batman.  #Goals.


   If you have never attended a geeky convention, it can be a lot to take in, especially if you start with one of the larger ones.  I would absolutely recommend WYC as a great introduction to con's.  I tend to be a "but what if I don't see all the things?!?!" person, so it's nice to be able to have a lot of choices, but in a relaxed setting.  Plus, it's a fun way to meet others with similar interests and support creators demoing their products.  We borrowed a few games from the board game library made by Indy local's Action Phase Games and guess what?  The creators noticed we had them and came over to walk us through the game play personally.  How nice is that?  We loved the games and ended up buying copies to take home ourselves. (Scoundrel Society, Kodama: The Tree Spirits and Ninja Camp).  We will be reviewing them in the near future over on Boards & Brews!

   One of my favorite things about conventions are the unplanned, random things that inevitably happen.  This year was no different.  Chad and I were sitting down to play the popular two player game known as Patchwork.  No sooner had we started taking the pieces out of the box, a little girl about 7 appeared at our table "Have you played Patchwork before?" she asks.  We advise that we have not, so she gives us a brief explanation of how it's played.  It was so cute.  Her mom was a volunteer close by and she just saw we were playing a game she liked and wanted to help.  I love that there is a convention that kids, especially young girls, can feel safe and validated in their interests enough to share with those around them.

Next post, I'll talk about the different events that I took part in and what I thought.  I hope you'll join me!