Recap: PLAAY-Dot-CON 2022

The convention always goes by TOO quickly and PLAAY-Dot-CON '22 was no exception. So much fun crammed into a couple of days, it all kind of seems like a blur! If you weren't able to be part of it, here's a quick recap...

Pre-Con Picnic

The night before (Wednesday night), we had a whopper of a storm roll through, which kind of got me thinking "rain." I really thought it was going to rain either during our afternoon convention set-up time at the hotel or during the picnic that evening--or BOTH! But we didn't get a single drop, and the temperatures were steady in the 60s--very cool for the end of July, about 30 degrees cooler than the previous two pre-con picnics.

We had a good crowd, and a number of PLAAY gamer wives. There was even a special appearance from my dog Millie! Lots of food, and many folks brought "treats to share." Ethan Musulin organized an encore edition of our live Fury Football game (photo below), once again won by the kids over the dads. This year's score was 26-18. We also had a corn hole game set up, and got a lot of mileage out of that. The pre-con picnic is always a highlight!

*Perfect weather for live Fury Football! Dads vs. Lads game in progress, with the Rocky Mountains in the background!*

Friday, July 29

Registration started promptly at 9 AM, where everyone received their "swag bag" and convention info-packet. This year's "swag bag" included three new games (Red White & Blue Racin' TURBO, History Maker Baseball Express, and Dodgeball World Tour) as well as an all-new Pro Bowl card set (based on real NFL players) for Fury Football. After getting their convention goodies, everyone dispersed to the early con "on your own" activities. There was our annual sports board game Flea market, with bargain basement prices on sports game stuff of all kinds. And for this year's convention we brought back the "PLAAY-around" demo session, where you could learn about and try out any PLAAY game you wanted, hosted by various PLAAY gamers who were fluent with the rules and mechanics of each game. A number of folks brought out other games to play during this opening session.

*Dave Jackson (left) shows Joseph Dowell how to play “We Have A Problem, Mr. President,” PLAAY NOW’s National Emergency Game!*

*James Cast (left) explains Fury Football to Kevin Sieg during the PLAAY-around session, with Demo Derby Smash-Down “on deck.”*

At 11 AM we gathered in the conference area for our first organized event, a tutorial on our new express baseball game. Having a professional sound system made this segment a first-rate experience. After about a half hour of instructions, I invited everyone to try out the game with a fellow convention-goer, if desired, before breaking for lunch.

*Going over the nuances of the new “express” version of History Maker Baseball, prior to this year’s Time Machine Tournament. It was one of the FEW times there was quiet in the room, haha!*

History Maker Baseball: “Time Machine Tournament”

After we returned from lunch, we began our annual History Maker Baseball Time Machine Tournament. This year's tournament was played with the express game, but featured the same format as in previous years. Each gamer chose his own team from any published PLAAY Games set. This year we had six Baseball America teams entered in the tournament as well as two teams from our 1961 Continental League card set. Tables of four gamers paired off, with winners playing winners and losers playing losers. Thus each table generated a 2-0 team and two 1-1 teams. The eleven 2-0 teams all advanced to the playoffs, and we selected five teams randomly from the 1-1 teams to fill out the playoff brackets.

Travis Jansen (left) and his 2022 Milwaukee Barrelmen take on Mike Fitzgerald and the 1961 New York Skyliners of the Continental League in an inter-fictional, inter-generational HMB Express Time Machine Tournament match-up!

Our 2-0 teams were: 1971 Pirates (Al Wilson), 2019 Yankees (Luke McEvoy), 2019 Twins (Judah Williams), 1983 White Sox (Mark Russell), 2016 Cubs (Andy McEvoy), 2019 Astros (Chad McEvoy), 1977 Reds (Sean Culnan), 2021 Columbus Express (Baseball America Team 5, Bob Hansen), 1995 Indians (Paul Salzgeber), 1949 Dodgers (Pete Adams) and the 1985 Mets (Bill Smith).

Our five "wild card" teams were: 2022 Milwaukee Barrelmen, Baseball America (Travis Jansen), 1971 Pirates (Silas Williams), 1940 Indians (James Cast), 1990 Reds (Steve Tower), and the 1985 Cardinals (Joseph Dowell). So, our post-season included all three members of the McEvoy clan--last year's TMT championship game was between Chad and Andy, with the same teams (2019 Astros, 2016 Cubs). And the '71 Pirates were represented twice!

The rest of the Time Machine Tournament field: 2022 Montreal Royal Blues, Baseball America (Keith Avallone, 0-2); 1971 White Sox (Tom Kerwin, 1-1); 2011 Rangers (John Lowe, 1-1); 1968 Tigers (Dave Santistevan); 1985 Cardinals (Chris Day); 1962 Mets (Brien Aronov); 2021 Eau Claire Express, Baseball America Team 1 (Kevin Sieg); 1986 Mets (Lenny LaFrance); 2022 Baseball America Team 12 (Ethan Musulin); 1972 Athletics (Erik Holdaway); 1994 Expos (Harvey Couch); 1985 Blue Jays (Dave Jackson); '71 Reds (Dave Little); 1998 Astros (Cooper Gilbert); 1985 Cubs (Jay Williams, 1-1); 1984 Tigers (Charles Helms, 0-2); 1994 Expos (Rob Gallamore, 1-1); 1961 Denver Grizzlies, Continental League (Ian Bach, 0-2); 2018 Red Sox (Colin Garlick, 1-1); 1998 Cubs (James Hart, 1-1); 2022 New England Minutemen, Baseball America (Dan Garlick, 0-2); 2022 Charlotte Challengers, Baseball America (Jim Surprenant, 1-1); 1959 White Sox (Scott Johnson, 1-1); 1990 Reds (Steve Heller, 0-2); 2001 Diamondbacks (Brian Preece, 1-1); 1961 New York Skyliners, Continental League (Mike Fitzgerald, 0-2).

*First round action is underway in the 2022 History Maker Baseball (Express) Time Machine Tournament!*

When the smoke had cleared, we had a classic "old vs. new" title game between Pete Adams' 1949 Dodgers and Chad McEvoy's 2019 Astros. The Dodgers scored four runs in the bottom of the second to take an early lead. The Astros got a run back in the top of the fifth on a solo homer from Yordan Alvarez, but the Dodgers put it away with five runs in the seventh. Jackie Robinson had a three-run double followed by a two-run homer from Carl Furillo giving Brooklyn a 9-1 lead. The 'Stros managed a late rally, four runs in the ninth inning made it respectable, but Pete's Dodgers closed it out for a 9-5 win. Preacher Roe pitched a complete game for the win, and the Dodgers became just the second team from the 1940s to win the Time Machine Tournament (Lenny LaFrance's '46 Red Sox were the other, in the 2015 tournament).

The Time Machine Tournament just wouldn’t have been complete without a seventh inning stretch—here’s AFR’s Steve Tower leading the crowd in a round of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” on his ukelele! Oh Yeah!

Panel Discussion: Sports Board Game State of the Union

This year's panel was made up of PLAAY Game Community Facebook Admin Al Wilson, AFR's Steve Tower, Gary Brown from Stone Mountain Press and S.T. Patrick, publisher of Sports Sim magazine. As always, it was a fascinating 45 minutes of insights and observations from these hobby "movers and shakers." Each was asked to give a letter grade for the current state of the hobby--there were four "A's" and one "B." (Who gave the "B?" Well--you had to be there!) We also talked about what each panel member had on his game table the last 30 days, and what they would like to see more of in the hobby. We spent a good amount of time talking about the movement in our hobby toward faster-playing games: I think the consensus was that it can rightly be considered an expansion of the hobby rather than a trend.

*S. T. Patrick has the microphone as the sports board game “state of the union” discussion continues…*

After the discussion concluded, we broke into an open gaming session, with S.T., Gary and Al hosting tables featuring their own game designs, as well as design ideas from guest designers Ian Bach and Mike Fitzgerald. Me and Sam also hosted tables with some of our in-development game ideas. Two of our recent game lab ideas--Truckin' '76 and our Downton Abbey-themed game--made it onto the play-test table giving me some really great feedback and input.

*Special guest S. T. Patrick from Sports Sim magazine presents a seminar on rating college football teams for Second Season football.*

Cold Snap Canadian Pro Football: Interprovincial Pro Football Conference Playoffs

Meanwhile, over in another part of the meeting space, the 2022 Interprovincial Pro Football Conference playoffs got underway with COLD SNAP Canadian Pro Football Game. This was the first year that the entire league playoff schedule was played in-person, head-to-head. Eastern champion Niagara (coached by Sean Culnan) defeated second-place Quebec (with Chris Day at the helm) 22-17. In the West final, Ethan Musulin led Vancouver to a 37-12 win over Windsor, coached by Mark Russell. In the championship game (played Saturday night), Niagara won its first IPFC title ever cruising past Vancouver 42-30. Mark coached the Nightfall in this one, Ethan led the Cougars. Vancouver QB Shotgun Johnson had a ton of yards but a couple of key picks--story of his career! You can read a recap of the game in the Saturday events section below.

The Jinkerson Jam: Bob Jinkerson Memorial Roller Derby Game

Bob Jinkerson was a long-time member of the sports board game community, a PLAAY gamer dating back to the start of the company in 2000. Bob passed away this spring after suffering a series of strokes. He had many sports game interests, but was especially fond of ROLLER RUMBLE and FACE TO THE MAT. Gary Brown had the idea of honoring Bob at the convention, and Scott Johnson had come up with an idea for creating coaches cards for ROLLER RUMBLE. I asked Scott to create a card for Bob, and we made him coach of the San Francisco Bay Bombers, facing Lester Quarles and the Chiefs. The Bombers took an early lead (Francine Cochu had a 5 point jam, Tony Roman had another) and, under Bob's guidance, never really looked back despite the mean-spirited antics of his coaching counterpart. (Bomber star Charlie O'Connell got knocked out of the game with a cheap shot injury!) Final score: Bombers 51, Chiefs 26.

*Scott Johnson sets ‘em up for the Chiefs in the Jinkerson Jam!*

After a full day of sports games, time to hoist a few at “Livin’ The Dream,” a local brew-pub! From left: James Cast, Brien Aronov, Kevin Sieg, Travis Jansen, Al Wilson, Harvey Couch, S. T. Patrick, Cooper Gilbert, Paul Salzgeber, Bob Hansen. (photo courtesy of Al Wilson.)

Saturday, July 30

Red White & Blue Racin’ Turbo Tournament

Everyone got a copy of this game in their swag bag, it's not a simulation of NASCAR racing but rather a NASCAR themed card game. Sam spent about 30 minutes explaining how the game works--there's a bidding phase where you're trying to acquire race "moves," and then a racin' phase where you put those moves to the test against the moves your opponent has picked up. There's three rounds of escalating action, and the first one to 13 points gets the checkered flag. Congratulations to Colin Garlick, who won the Turbo Title with a come-from-behind win over Kevin Sieg.

We're still working on rules for using RWBR cards of real drivers in the game, as well as developing a solitaire version of the game both of which will strengthen the connection between this game and its PLAAY Classic inspiration. We shared a little bit about this at the convention, but we'll plan to expand on it at some point, either through a video stream or blog post.

Fury Football: Pro Bowl Mini-Season

Back in February, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was bemoaning the fact that the Pro Bowl game has devolved into a mostly-unwatchable, half-hearted affair and suggested that the game needed to be "re-invented." That gave me the idea--why not transform it into Fury Football? We carded all of the players on the 2022 Pro Bowl rosters as Fury Footballers, and included a set in everyone's swag bag. Then we set up a draft league scenario, hosted by Steve Tower. Each participant would draft his own personal pro bowl team of sixteen players, and then play a three-game mini-season against his table opponents.

*The Fury Football Pro Bowl draft in progress, Al Wilson (Padres-themed All-Star Game jersey) asks Harvey Couch, “Who are YOU going to take?”*

Bob Hansen was the regular season champion, winning his first two games by scores of 47-0 and 54-12 and then staging an epic comeback against Cooper Gilbert to finish 3-0. In that game, Bob found himself down 34-6 on his final possession. An injury on the defensive line forced Cooper to play a "nameless player," and I casually said something about how Bob needed to exploit that. Man, did he ever! He scored a touchdown on a run right through the nameless player, and then burned him again for a pair of 10-point conversions (combined with a three-pointer) for an unbelievable 35-34 win and a playoff bye.

*After the Fury Football Pro Bowl mini-season, some of the younger PLAAY gamers kept the action going with pick-up games! (clockwise from top left) Luke and Andy McEvoy, Silas and Judah Williams.*

The wild card game was between Silas Williams and last year's champion Harvey Couch. Silas broke out to an early 18-0 lead and cruised to a 24-6 win. The championship game against Bob's team was a back-and-forth affair, with Silas coming back from a 10-0 deficit to post a 34-22 win.

Highlight Maker Hoops: College Hoops PLAAY-Down

After a one hour seminar from S.T. Patrick on rating college teams for Second Season football and a couple of open play-test sessions featuring game creations of James Cast and Bob Hansen, we moved on to our College Hoops PLAAY-Down with Highlight Maker Hoops! This is a PLAAY-based presentation of "March Madness," with fictional colleges, coaches and players. We've created 64 fictional college hoops teams--with an official release this fall--as well as a special head-to-head game board. Everyone got to choose a school from the pool of teams, knowing only the ratings of the top player in the stack.

We had a total of 28 teams in action, and a great mix of results in the preliminary rounds. In the first round, New Jersey Tech routed Honolulu U 76-38, that was the biggest margin of victory for the entire tournament. Elburn State’s 82-59 win over Central New Hampshire was another blowout win, but most of the games were pretty close. University of Indiana at Zionsville got a buzzer-beater to sneak past Kerwin College 63-61, as did East Dakota State against Fairborn University, 81-78. College of Los Angeles stunned tournament favorite Erie State 88-58, only to see its offense dry up in a second-round 64-45 loss to Florida Military Institute.

Jim Surprenant faces Steve Tower in College Hoops PLAAY-Down action! Jim’s Cape Girardeau College squad defeated Steve’s Florida Military Institute 79-72 enroute to what evefntually resulted in a berth in the championship game!

Our final four was made up of Nara Visa College (Bill Smith), Clark College (Dan Garlick), Cape Girardeau University (Jim Surprenant) and New Jersey Tech (Luke McEvoy). In the semi-finals, Cape Girardeau defeated NJ Tech 72-60 and Clark College turned back Nara Visa 73-61. The championship game, it was Clark with a 74-63 win--congrats to Dan! (Combined with Colin's win in RWBR Turbo, it was a father-son twin win at PDC '22!)

History Maker Golf: 2022 PLAAY Gamer Open Tournament

We first held this tournament in Atlanta in 2017, and Charlotte in 2018 before it found a permanent home at the convention. This year's tourney course was the Yellowstone National course we played in the 2020 online convention. We'd never used it for an in-person event, and thought it would be a good time to do so!

For the golfer cards, we did something different this year. In past years, we gave everyone a choice of three to five pre-made golfer cards. This year, we made a "do it yourself" golfer card, and allowed everyone to choose two full qualities and two semi-qualities, in whatever combination they felt would work best on the Yellowstone course. It was interesting to see the different combinations people went with. The GOLD, CHAMPION and ICON qualities were the most popular, although the LASER, LEGEND and MASTER qualities each had their fans.

Silas Williams came into this year's tournament having won the last two live events (2019, 2021)--Giorgio Salvadego won the online 2020 tournament--he was the pre-tournament favorite, I guess. It was a really exciting afternoon of golf. Chad McEvoy shot a first round 67 (five under par) to grab the lead. Rob Gallamore and Paul Salzgeber were just a stroke off the pace at 68, with Jay Williams and Andy McEvoy right behind at 69. Defending champion Silas was definitely in the mix with a two-under par 70.

*Final round action in the PLAAY Gamer Open, with Rob Gallamore (left) looking on as Paul Salzgeber (in Guardians hat) finds himself set-up for another birdie putt! (photo courtesy of Al Wilson)*

In the second round, it became a three-man dogfight between Chad, Rob and Paul. Chad hit a couple of bogeys to drop out of contention (he finished at 77 for the round, even par for the tourney). Silas and Jay both struggled to stay at par. Meanwhile, James Hart strung together five consecutive birdies to surge into contention. Paul's birdie putt on 18 gave him a 66 for the second round and one-stroke lead over Rob for the tournament at 9 under par. James sat at seven under par with three holes to go, but was unable to convert any birdies. When he holed in for par on 17, it left Paul with a two-stroke lead, effectively sealing the tournament. James ended up in fourth place at 7 under par--nicely done.

Other top finishers included Kevin Sieg (-6), Judah Williams and Erik Holdaway (-4), Al Wilson and Chris Day (-3) and Dave Little and Harvey Couch (-2). Judah shot a 6 under par 66 for the final round, after a first round 74 to earn "best comeback" honors.

“Who, ME!? Tournament CHAMPION!” Paul Salzgeber, after sinking a birdie putt on 18 to clinch the PLAAY Gamer Open Championship! For the record, Paul's golfer card had the LEGEND, GOLD, SEMI-CHAMPION and SEMI-HERO qualities.

Dodgeball World Tour: “DIY Dodgeball Tournament”

The convention concluded with our "DIY Dodgeball Tournament!" We invited everyone--convention-goers and those unable to be here in person--to create their own custom dodgeball team, choosing seven players (six starters and a sub) from a pool of twenty player profiles and then dressing them up as elaborately (or simply) as they wanted.

Silas Williams’ Dunder Miflin “Office” Team on the court facing Travis Jansen’s “Scrubs” Squad. The Office made a deep run in the tournament, ousted in the semi-final round by Joseph Dowell’s “RainBlows” team!

We had a separate "non-con" bracket held the week before the convention, which was won by Ben Fletton's St. Lucia team. Convention-goers earned bonus raffle tickets for "blinging up" their cards, and I was astonished at both the number of folks who participated AND the quality cards they produced! We wound up with a three-way tie for "best bling," James Cast (Goonies), Harvey Couch (Top Gun) and Chad McEvoy (PLAAY All-Stars).

Here are the rest of the DIY Dodgeball Squads: Colin's Red Sox (Colin Garlick); SuperVillains (Dan Garlick); Luke's Avengers (Luke McEvoy); Happy Days (Pete Adams); Sol Goodman Squad (James Hart); Robots (Brien Aronv); Kevin's Rough Edges (Kevin Sieg); Kent's Who-Vians (Kent Gray); Scooby Squad (Bob Hansen); Mascot Maulers (Steve Heller); P-Funk All-Stars (Erik Holdaway); Kaneland Knights (Andy McEvoy); Dodgeball America (James Hart); Psych Stars (Judah Williams); Avs Avengers (Rob Gallamore); Soupy Slammers (Jim Surprenant); Phineas & Ferb (Cooper Gilbert); The Mascots (Al Wilson); Dunder Miflin/The Office (Silas Williams); The No Names (Bill Smith); Scrubs (Travis Jansen); PLAAY All-Stars (Brian Preece); Parks & Rec (Jay Williams; Rainblows (Joseph Dowell); North Carolina Tar HEELS (Dave Jackson); Pauls Salz-Stars (Paul Salzgeber); Yellow Generic (Chris Day).

The St. Lucia team made a quick exit from the tournament, bounced out by the Salz-Stars. Colin's Red Sox made a nice run through the pack, dispensing of the SuperVillains, Avengers, Rough Edges, and Mascot Maulers to face Joseph Dowell's Dodger-themed RainBlows in the championship game. The RainBlows got there by knocking off the Top Guns, Tar HEELS, Salz-Stars and--in a marathon struggle--took down Dunder Miflin (Kevin was the Office Dodgeball Star, tough to knock out the whole night!). With a crowd of convention-goers looking on, Joseph piloted the RainBlows to a convincing championship win, knocking out the last Red Sox with five players remaining and denying Colin of a double title (he had won the RWBR Turbo Tournament).

*Championship game action in the DIY Dodgeball Tournament, Joseph Dowell (left) pilots his RainBlows against Colin Garlick’s Red Sox!*

Cold Snap Canadian Pro Football: IPFC Championship Game, The Cartier Bowl

Here's a recap of the game, written by Lenny LaFrance and shared in the IPFC group...

First Quarter: Niagara went back and forth the first 15 minutes. Niagara took the slight edge connecting on two field goals (35-yd, 33-yd) while Shotgun Johnson was picked off by Larar Beck at the 2:40 mark. Niagara 6-0.

Second Quarter: At the 11:40 mark, Vancouver's RB William Jacoby fumbled on an outside run which was recovered by Niagara. Niagara converted this turnover into another 35-yd field goal. Niagara 9-0. With 8:20 left in the quarter, Niagara boomed a punt into the end zone and Vancouver chose to take the single. Niagara 9-1. As time ticked off the Second Quarter clock, Vancouver continued with ball control. At 6:00, FB Nick Harmon fumbled on an inside run which was quickly recovered by Niagara. Again, this turnover resulted in a 44-yd field goal by Niagara. Niagara 12-1. With minutes remaining on the clock, Vancouver's Shotgun Johnson began displaying his cannon connecting on a 41-yard bomb to SB Gibbs. Ultimately, this resulted in a 44-yd field goal. Niagara 12-4. Having the last word in the first half, Niagara connected with a 30-yd field goal. Niagara 15-4.

Third Quarter: Receiving the ball, Shotgun Johnson continued with his mad bombs down the field and connected on a 41-yard pass to Walsh. Two plays later, Johnson connected with Laurence on a 24-yard touchdown reception. Vancouver's 2-pt conversion was good. Niagara 15-12. With 9:40 on the clock, Niagara responded with a Jeff Fountain 7-yard TD pass to Robert Malone. Niagara 22-12. After a failed drive by Vancouver's offense, their defense picked off Jeff Fountain. This resulted in a 42-yd field goal. Niagara 22-15. However, thing started moving downhill for Vancouver after Kyle Roderick reached paydirt on a 58-yard punt return. Niagara 29-15.

Fourth Quarter: Vancouver's young QB failed to bring calm to the chaos and threw a pick-6 to Will Marsh. Niagara 36-15. On the immediate drive, Shotgun Johnson was picked off again by Niagara. Niagara converted their turnover into another field goal. Niagara 39-15. With 6:20 remaining, Vancouver's Johnson dug deep and found some composure connecting with William Jacoby on a 5-yard TD pass. Two-point conversion was good. Niagara 39-23. With limited time left in the game, Niagara began controlling the clock and finished their drive with a 15-yard field goal. Niagara 42-23. As seconds remained in the game, Vancouver didn't give up - Johnson connected with Molson on a 33-yard TD pass. Niagara 42-30. After a failed on-side kick, Niagara kneeled the ball a couple times and secured their first Cartier Bowl Championship.

Closing Ceremonies

*Just before wrapping up the convention, we got (pretty much) everyone together for this group photo! What a fun event it was, over too soon!*

Thanks for reading through the recap of our convention! Below are a couple of freebies that you can download. There's a PDF of the two-way head-to-head game board we used for the college hoops tournament, a file containing as many of the finished dodgeball team PDFs as we could collect, and the "Do It Yourself Golfer" card we used for the golf tournament. NOTE that the dodgeball file is relatively large, about 14mb, so it may take some time to download.

HMB Express Scoresheets

HMH Head-to-Head Board

HMG Do-It-Yourself Golfer Cards

Do-It-Yourself Dodgeball Teams