Kevin C. Wong

DunDraCon 47 AAR

I have no idea how attendance was but it seemed like more people. More games and those games were fuller than last year. I didn't really wander around much though nor did I check parking (in the old place parking always overflowed the small lot and the new place has so much more parking there's plenty of space all the time but it's pay parking $5 per day whereas the old place they made it free for the Con). Dealer room is bigger with more booths but not as crowded when I went (maybe it was a bigger room with plenty of aisle space).

I didn't get into any games. I only tried Friday and struck out with my three picks. Saturday I ran a game. Sunday I didn't see anything I wanted to play that started noon or later (some interesting war-type games but they started at 0800 or 1000). So instead Sunday I ran another session. And then Monday we left and I guess there is no breakfast buffet but I guess we didn't try.

The rooms were nice and we got adjoining rooms which Christopher Jr loved. Televisions you could watched your Netflix: the television shows a QR code which you scan with your device and then it goes to Netflix to authorize and then you can watch your programs for a day which is neat. I didn't use WiFi and relied on my Mint (T-Mobile) cellular. We played DDO Friday night and it couldn't handle voice (using Discord) and DDO unless I didn't talk, otherwise it would strangle my DDO connection. Sunday night it worked better though. Note that I've done the same from my parent's place using AT&T cellular just fine so I guess T-Mobile is not as good in terms of bandwidth.

I missed pretty much all the Rainbow. After one drink I was so tired that when Christopher Jr and Jonathan went up to the rooms I went with them (Sophia came up too) and then took a long nap and then rested and three hours later I came down right after the last drink. But while I was there Dave S had a neat 360-degree video camera for conference with Eric R (at home) and Rigo (at an MMA event?). But audio was bad so they had a hard time hearing us and vice versa. We need headphones or a quiet room.

Meals. Dinner at Pizza My Heart where I tried the vegan pizza and it was really good. Hiro Nori for ramen was also good though not as good as last year (or maybe my expectations have gone up). Hotel restaurant was quite serviceable though expensive. The DunDraCon gamer food is more expensive than at the old place but cheaper than the hotel restaurant and not bad food. We had dim sum on Monday with Dave W, Sophia and Jonathan and that was fine.

Overall still a good experience because it's a good excuse to hang out with friends, eat and game even if you're not taking advantage of the Con (I didn't even buy anything at the Dealer room). I did like running two sessions though so I wouldn't mind doing it again next year.