boardgames

I've been reading articles for my internship today, on Co-Design.

In a while I'll be leaving to Amsterdam, to the ship of the Scheepsvaartmuseum (Netherlands Maritime Museum).

Tonight there'll be two Kolonisten tournaments at the same time. A WK Qualification and very big one just for fun. It's organized by 999 Games and the VARA (a Dutch broadcasting organisation).

I've improved the Excel spreadsheets as there was a maximum of 64 players and the big tournament tonight will have 130+ people playing.

We played a new game with Marjolein, Daniël and Jerry yet again. It's called Puerto Rico and it's really nice. Not only because I won of course.

Daniël showed us Boonanza and we played it once. It's a nice game and seems to be suitable for more than 3 players very well too. Another update for the Games List.

Yesterday evening I finished the pictures of the Spellenspektakel. Because I was quite busy this morning with some internship things I didn't put them online yet. But here they are!


I separated the pictures in a few sections: building up, Kolonisten, Behind the Scenes, pictures of the stands, Friday evening and Saturday evening. Click here for an overview of all of them. The pictures are big, the bandwidth of my server is limited so viewing them might take a while.


For some reviews of the Spellenspektakel 2002 by other websites (Dutch): Roll the Dice.nl or Spellenstapel.nl. At Spelmagazijn are more pictures (and a review) online. And last but not least Michel of 999 Games made a lot of pictures too and put them online at Spellenspektakel.nl

We came back from the Spellenspektakel 2002 at around 21:00 o'clock.

Finally an update from the Spellenspektakel! I'm in our hotelroom now, after the traditional borrel ('Trinken' auf Deutsch) in the café downstairs. We're staying in the Holiday Inn hotel which is really close to the building the fair is in.

Today was of course the openingday of the Spellenspektakel, and it went really smooth. Yesterday evening we went home at 22:30 o'clock (a lot better than last year!). We were rather tired and didn't go for a drink.

As always the breakfast in the Holiday Inn was delicous. We were in the Beursgebouw around 9:00 o'clock to finish the last parts. When the fair opened one of the first things I did was signing in my mother for the Vara/999 Kolonisten tournament at the VOC ship in Amsterdam. I called her and she was really happy with it. Sunday's bordspellen-tournament doesn't have a lot of participants, and the latest rumour I heard is that it will be cancelled in favour of a... Steden & Ridders tournament! It's not official though, so if you want to apply check with the tournament people first.

So, now we're in the hotel and the people downstairs are playing games (I'll join them soon!). Sasha, Jerry and Marjolein are playing a new game.\

I took a lot of pictures yesterday and tonight, but the internet here is very expensive, so I'll put them online next week.

Even though there is a lot of work we're having a lot of fun here with a nice group of people.

There is even an internet connection at the Beursgebouw itself; really nice.

The construction goes really smooth, most of the things will be ready at 18:00 o'clock (that is a lot better than last year). After that mainly the decoration of the 999 Games' booths is left.

We have new clothing; it's purple with yellow. It's really easy to find us now :)

Took some pictures, I'll put them online tonight from the hotel.

Well, perhaps not the most early departure ever (that must have been to Leeuwarden), but still... early.

We'll take the train at 07:40. It's nice that there is a direct connection between Haarlem and Eindhoven, but there's a big risk there will be delays today.

Tomorrow morning we'll be leaving for the Spellenspektakel (Games Spectacular), a big games fair in Eindhoven. It is (partly) organized by some people of 999 Games, and many of our friends will be there.

This the 4th time I'll work for the Spellenspektakel. The first year I explained a single game (Land in Zicht) 3 days non-stop, that became quite boring in the end. Last year I helped out in various things. This year I'll be doing a lot of different things again, which is nice.

Daniel will bring his laptop and Ettie her digital camera, so with a little luck I'll be able to update my website regularly.

There will be a lot of tournaments during the fair, including some Kolonisten ones. To see some participants visit this thread on Kolonisten.nl.

As always there are many volunteers on the Spellenspektakel, most of them explaining games. Read one of their stories here, or see what this shop-owner thought about the fair last year: spelmagazijn.nl (with a lot of pictures).


The Spellenspektakel starts on Friday. Tomorrow we'll install all the things necessary, decorate the booths etc. Last year it took us till midnight. Let's hope this year it will go smoother.