Registrations: Passing the Century Mark

Just a quick announcement that we've now surpassed the century mark for number of expo registrations received. We are now really starting to see some interesting monster game and open-gaming choices develop as we see expo registration activity at a quickening pace! Later this week, we will have a major update to our Special Events page to let you all know about the many exciting activities planned.

Special Guest of Honor, Frank Chadwick

CSW Expo and Victory Point Games proudly presents, Guest of Honor: Frank Chadwick.

We hope you are as excited as we are that this multiple award-winning game designer and New York Times Best Selling author will be joining us to celebrate our 10th Anniversary event! Mr. Chadwick founded Game Designers' Workshop in 1972, and was inducted into the Origins Hall of Fame in 1984. He has more than sixty published games to his credit, and his Desert Shield Factbook (1991) reached number one on the New York Times bestseller list. [Game design credits]

CSW Expo on YouTube

I didn't realize how many video clips are posted on YouTube covering CSW Expo. Viewing them is like taking a nice stroll down memory lane, and for those who will be attending for the first time, you will have a glimpse of our wonderful gaming atmosphere and camaraderie amongst the attendees. Watch the CSW Expo clips here.

Nice Trend for Expo First-Timers

It's nice to see that of the 45 early registrants thus far, that six are attending for the first time. And of these six new attendees, four will be traveling in from outside North America. So far, that means about every 1 of 8 participants registering at this time are newcomers to CSW Expo. Hopefully we will see this trend continue...the positive word-of-mouth of past attendees is definitely a key factor in making this happen, so we appreciate you helping spread the word!

Custom Map Auction ends midnight 12/31 (tonight!)

Just a quick reminder that the special auction to have a custom designed game map of any game of your choice ends tonight, midnight (Mountain Time Zone). Todd Davis who is the map designer for many professional designs is offering this special promotion with all proceeds going to ConsimWorld. If you win high bid, Todd will create a new game map (22x34") based on whatever game you select. Bid now!!

Current high bidder is: Barry Setser @ $260.

First-Time Attendees

We've received another early round of expo registrations, and I'm pleased to announce we have two individuals who will be attending CSW Expo for the very first time! Michael Vallance joins us from Warwick, United Kingdom and he is primarily interested in playing Highway to the Reich 2, published by Decision Games. William Quoss hails from Crystal Lake, IL and he is primarily interested in playing Overlord/The Killing Ground, published by New England Simulations. We look forward to welcoming these newcomers to CSW Expo and the many more we anticipate will be joining them as well. In other news, we've posted the group hotel reservation code for those who wish to book their hotel stay online.

Down In Flames Debriefing Report

Be sure to check Mike Lam's exhaustive Down in Flames Debriefing Report which included 31 participants. We are certainly looking forward to having Mike Lam and Jack Beckman back in 2010 for another great year of Down in Flames competition!

Game Sign-ups Page Update

The Game Sign-ups page is now updated based on initial registration activity. Please note that we are quite early in the process of accepting registrations, so some have not yet committed to a specific game title. Naturally, we expect registration activity to pick up over time. In years past, we typically did not start registration until 4 months leading to the event!

Attendee Page Update

We've decided to incorporate google docs as our solution for tracking attendees and game sign-ups. We've taken the first step in getting the Attendee Profile page updated, and we will announce shortly when the Game Sign-ups page has been completed as well.

First to Register!

Barry SetserCongrats to Barry Setser of Millersville, Maryland. He was the first person to register for CSW Expo 2010! Barry was actually the second person to register for 2009, but then the first person had to drop out of the Expo at the last second, so Barry now holds an unbroken streak that is three years running.

What will Barry be looking forward to playing? Well, it's nearly a full year out from when the opening moves begin, but Barry has indicated at this time he would like to play Patton in Flames, published by Australian Design Group. The idea behind this alternative history game is that Patton convinced the Allies to take the war immediately to the USSR, using the Germans as their own allies. Weighing in at five maps and 1000+ counters, this is definitely a monster game.

We look forward to welcoming Barry back to the event, and we will be posting initial sign-ups over the course of the next week or two, so stay tuned!