Considering that the convention had its financial backing pulled out from under it last year by Hasbro/Avalon Hill, the convention affectionately called Formerly-known-as-Avaloncon (the World Boardgame Championships) was a raving success. Attendance was on a par with previous Avaloncons, perhaps down a few percentage points. 

The admission of hallway exhibits by a wide variety of boardgame companies was seen by many as a very positive change. The cost of these exhibits was diminished long-term open gaming table space, which bothered some. 

In truth, plenty of tables were always becoming available as tournaments bounced losers or ended. Those gamers looking to burn a few hours before their next tournament had no trouble finding a pickup game, or more intriguingly a demo of a new or pending game. 

Passersby got glimpses (and chances for easy buys) of new games by Avalanche Press, Decision Games, GMT Games, McCartland Sports, Rio Grande Games and others.

Even more exciting for gamers was the inclusion of the world's best non-Avalon Hill games in the tournament events in addition to the traditional AH fare. New events on Medici, Paths of Glory, Settlers of Catan and Krieg (to mention just a few) drew well. 

A new feature of this year's convention was the issuance of rectangular plaques for finishing 2nd through 6th in many of the largest events (in addition to the usual, highly-coveted wooden shield plaque). Also, the biggest of the events provided a winning plaque that was also a working clock--what better way to brag about your success and pass it off as utilitarian! 

Another new dimension was the Classics Iron Man competition, which linked 28 of the smaller events into an overarching championship. Proficiency in the old-time AH games like Afrika Korps and Waterloo as well as some of the old 3M sports titles produced points for the top four finishers in each events. At the end of the day on Sunday, Bruno Sinigaglio earned the Classics Iron Man plaque for scoring points in Bulge'81, Fortress Europa and Afrika Korps. These events also showed a better-than-average attendance trend.

As for the quality of the competition, I can say that I owe my greater success this year largely to luck, not to weak opposition. The WBC clearly draws the world's best players to its five-day crucible to test their mettle. Many a former Avaloncon champion was toppled. New strategies emerged to surprise even the old hands at these games. While the foreign contingent wasn't large, I personally crossed swords with opponents traveling from Sweden, Israel and Alaska, and noticed plenty of British accents passing me in the hallways.

The Team Tournament received spirited attention, including a spontaneous embrace of the winner of Titan: The Arena (scoring enough points to put that team on top, if only for a few hours). The late finish of the Diplomacy tournament, however, keeps the final result of the Team Tournament still under wraps. 

The existence of the Boardgame Players Association (formed to keep this convention alive) was quite evident during both the BPA membership meeting and the After Action meeting. Gamers have stood up and told the manufacturing community that this convention for gaming will continue regardless of commercial interest in the endeavor. It seems certain that once the new Board is installed in mid-August we'll be hearing news of WBC 2000. 

The World Boardgame Championships:
The Mindzine has received a report from an event that manages to be similar in nature to the MSO, and at the same time radically different. Although both events cast a wide net, there only seems to be one game that features in both the MSO and the WBC - Diplomacy!

Stuart Tucker is expected to be a central figure in the Boardgamers Players Association. Despite the WBC's loss of sponsor, the show went on, and the freedom from "commercial influence" may even give them a chance to grow.