Gen Con: Java joint won't be caught napping
Gen Con provided the first of jolt of the day not inside the Indiana Convention Center, but at a coffeehouse on Monument Circle.
Au Bon Pain actually ran out of coffee early this morning, and gamers also formed long lines at nearby Dunkin' Donuts and at the java station inside Borders in Downtown.
"They kind of caught us off guard," joked Howard Readus, manager of the Au Bon Pain store, by phone. Some 300 customers -- sleep-starved gamers in town for the convention, mainly -- scarfed up two things: coffee and bagels.
Readus said the store will be ready on Friday for sleepy-eyed patrons.
"Definitely, we've got extra cases coming in as we speak," he said. "We definitely will have pots laying across the cafe."
"We're always happy to see them come," he said.
Celebrity sightings: In the age of Twitter and cell phones, there's no hiding from your fans.
Author, actor and gamer Wil Wheaton (aka Twitter user @wilw) -- better known as Star Trek's Wesley Crusher -- is one of the featured guests of Gen Con. Attendee and Twitter user @AmandaCook627 sent out this evening missive after spotting Wheaton: "Best con moment ever just happened. @wilw was standing right next to us, and I was able to give him a die. Got a pic, too. Awesome #GenCon!"
And celebs aren't just being passive. Tweeted television satirist Mo Rocca, aka @MoRocca, this afternoon: "At #GenCon in Indianapolis. Far more authentically nerdy than ComicCon. That's a compliment."
Turnout 'fantastic': You'd be hard-pressed to find any evidence of an economic recession inside the Convention Center, where customers like Terry Patnode, 63, Kansas City, Kan., lined up to pay for merchandise. Patnode was buying a $35 card railroad card game, and others around him were loading up on $12 action figures and figurines.
Jerry Sunkin, CEO of Orlando-based CoolStuffInc.com, a games and collectibles supply company, brought an estimated $50,000 worth of gear to sell. "Day One is one of our biggest days for buying and selling ... they come to purchase (and) they get to really geek out."
Turnout of 30,000 is "fantastic" given the economy, although he believes if times were better, some 40,000 attendees would be on hand, Sunkin said.
Caped crusaders: If you cruise Downtown, you'll see all types of costumes being worn by attendees. Star Trek uniforms. Long robes. Elegant masks. Gencon attendee William Caldwell, 20, got plenty of attention dressed up as Nova, a character from the series Bleach. Only his eyes were visible in an all-cotton garb he described as "very hot." Here's a picture of Caldwell with his cousin Gillian Bundles, 13. Some people stopped to pose with him, but Caldwell joked that his costume only cost him $109. "I'm at the bottom of the barrel compared to everyone else," he said.
No sweat:Just because there's sit-down board-gaming going on doesn't mean there isn't action. Ever heard of Amtgard? It's a live-action fantasy roleplaying and combat game. The weapons are made of those kiddie pool noodles with a thin lightweight rod made of graphite.
Pay $2 and you'll get to battle people like Patrick Brinegar, 27, Indianapolis, or Sarah Winkle, 26, or John McMahan, 26, both of Springfield, Ohio.
Here's a picture of Sarah Winkle in action.
"People tell us they wouldn't come to Gen Con" without the Amtgard activity, because not many cities allow the games, Brinegar said. "They want to swing foam."
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