Foot Foot Gamers Retreat 2007

So what began as a half baked idea to spend a weekend by the water with no one around but gamers, playing games, drinking, eating, and having a general good time has just ended it's second year.



I never thought in a million years I would be able to pull the first retreat off, and when I did I thought for sure it was a fluke. Something that happened purely by luck. There was no way that a bunch of grown men with jobs and kids and SOs back home could ever get away from it all and blow off some steam for a whole weekend doing something with such a perceived juvenile air as gaming. Who in their right mind would let us all do that? And, now after year 2 I must say that the people I have decided to game with, are some pretty dedicated fellas. We had guys who came all the way from New York and Virginia to come to this thing. And, I cannot thank enough the people in their lives that let them get away for a half a week in August to play games with me. You are all very, very generous and understanding people.



Last year Paul wowed us at one point during the stay with an amazing piece of Salmon that he cooked up on the grill. This year he really took the bar that he set and raised it well above, I think, every one's expectations. Not only did he provide large meals on the scale of pork loin, and prime rib roast, but he also cooked eggs, bacon and fried up some very yummy cheese sticks, jalapeno poppers, and coconut shrimps.



Jake was also a superstar on the food front, he was able to convince his mother-in-law to make us some homemade tortilla chips, salsa, and mosticiolli. All were far and away the best of each that I have tasted before.



Everyone who came provided something special though, whether it was food, or drinks, or just the simple act of playing a game with someone. I just couldn't stop thinking of how lucky I was to be there with all of you doing something that we all enjoy. Many laughs were had, and I hope that everyone is looking forward to the '08 retreat as much as I am.



When we started this thing up we decided that it would be a good idea to award a prize to the player that gave the best overall gaming performance during the whole stay. So I went to a sporting goods store, and had them make up a plaque, quite a fancy one at that. And I made sure that the plaque had space for at least 10 names on it. I wanted this thing to be like the Stanley Cup of the Foot Foot gaming world. I wanted there to be stories that went along with it, to make it almost mythic. Paul set about generating a scoring system, one that would help take into account various anomalous gaming situations. We all agreed to the way he set it up and went about our business, not really giving to much care to the overall score.

The winner the first year was Jake, he had some really good victories with some very long games that had many players, thus the point rewards, according to our system were high. Jake also just seemed to have a mojo going that year almost like he couldn't be beat no matter what we did. This year it was Paul that had some very strong wins in some of the biggest games of the weekend. This combined with a very intimidating Care Bear tshirt was all it took for him to carry home the prize.

I think in the end, I was able to get about 20 games in. Some of my favs got played much to my delight, and I was also able to get in some new games that I had been very excited about. The only down side is that it still seems like the stars will not align in the right way to get A Game of Thrones to the table. I have owned that game for 2 years and it just seems like it will not get played. I know our group would like it. Maybe soon, I hope.

I managed to not come in dead last this year. By 2 points, I really need to win more games next year. I'll work on that, I was on a bit of winning streak leading up to the retreat, I think that all the drinks, and the good times just won't let me focus my attention for long enough to win.

It was a really great weekend though, I feel like everyone enjoyed themselves, and that people were able to do whatever it was they wanted to do. The cabin that we use for the purpose of our modest gathering is on the shore of Lake Huron, and sits on a bluff that over looks the beach. So whenever the whim hits you, you can simply put on yr. swimsuit and dive right in. I think that the water has a very big calming affect on people and that helps the atmosphere of the whole retreat. It makes everyone feel stress free, and allows all a little time to decompress from the stress of the real world for just a few days.

I think this retreat was great success, and I look forward to seeing all the same people, and maybe more, next year. I just want to say a great big thank you to all the people that came this year, I hope you had fun and are very excited to attend next year. And, thank you all for making this little hobby of mine all that much more enjoyable, because it's not really about the games, it's about the wonderful people that we all get to play them with.