Fantasy Fantasy Baseball takes a road trip
April 15, 2016
This past week was a hectic one for the CSE Games gang. It kicked off with a trip to the Nation’s Capital (of Canada) for the Capital Gaming Expo. Fabio Del Rio was on hand with the latest version of Fantasy Fantasy Baseball.
“It was great playing Fantasy Fantasy Baseball with the fine folks of Ottawa,” said Del Rio. “We’re really happy about how the game was received and that it was enjoyed by players of all ages.”
FFB artist Rob Lundy to sign a few autographs for his fans at Capital Gaming Expo. Here he is signing a Splinter Fantasy Fantasy Baseball promo card
Baseball fans really appreciated the fun references on the Character cards. It was pretty much unanimous that the “Ghouly Bats” card was the favourite.
Del Rio was also excited about the response to the game from non-sports fans. “We had several people play the who admittedly were not sports fans, but I think they may have enjoyed the game the most. These players really enjoyed the modern and intuitive mechanics used in the game.”
Fabio Del Rio demonstrating latest edition of Fantasy Fantasy Baseball at Capital Gaming Expo
After the Capital Gaming Expo, next stop was Snakes & Lattes in Toronto. A bus-load of industry heavy-hitters made the trip from the Gathering of Friends in Niagara Falls, NY.
Good times had by all at Snakes & Lattes on College for the FFB Gathering of Friends afternoon of fun
Everyone was introduced to Fantasy Fantasy Baseball and given a limited edition promo card along with a ticket to the Blue Jays – Yankees game.
FFB banner at Snakes & Lattes afternoon of baseball
Last stop was, of course, the Jays game. It was the first game for many of the attendees, some travelling as far as Germany and Poland. Since the gang was all grouped together, everyone was able to understand and enjoy the Blue Jays 7-2 victory.
Enjoying the game are (L-R): (second row) Tanya Thompson, Jay Cormier, Mike Gray, Mike Fitzgerald, Ignacy & Merry Trzewiczek, Gil Hova (front row) Tim Brown, Paolo Del Rio, Stephen Conway, Fabio Del Rio, Daryl Andrews, Philipp El Alaoui
We would like to give a special thanks to the Snakes & Lattes ownership and staff for making us feel so welcome and joining in on the fun.
We were also lucky enough to be travelling with our friend and The Spiel co-host Stephen “Major Fun” Conway. Here’s his report on the trip:
Back home after an amazing 7 day Canadian odyssey.
I started with a road trip with Fabio Del Rio driving from Toronto to Ottawa. We could have driven 12 hours instead of 5 and never ran out of things to talk about. That’s the sure sign of a good friend.
My first 4 days were spent in Ottawa receiving rock star treatment at the Capital Gaming Expo as one of the guests of honor.
Christina Luedtke, Sheena Lobo and Evan Harvey went so far above and beyond the call of duty to make me feel welcome and part of the geek scene in Ottawa. I can’t thank them enough.
The event itself was tremendously fun. I got a chance to teach dozens and dozens of games every day, we screened my film, and I ran a tension filled demo of Burgle Brothers with the 3-D tower. It’s a growing convention and anyone in Ontario interested in games should mark in on their calendars for next year.
I’ve already posted an entry about our tour of TD Place, home to the CFL Ottawa Redblacks, so I won’t belabor the point here except to say I was like a 10 year old grinning from ear to ear during the tour the whole time. Ask, Fabio. He was, too.
Weather was cold and snowy so not much chance to walk around downtown Ottawa but I did squeak in a peek at Parliament Hill.
I spent many hours after the con each night at The Loft with Evan and many of the CGE staff sharing drinks and laughs and games into the wee hours. The Loft has one floor dedicated to board games and another for video games, with good food and drinks flowing on each level. Every bit as charming and inviting as Snakes & Lattes in Toronto.
At the end of the stay, I got to spend an evening with Fabio and his wonderful parents, eating a feast of Lebanese delicacies and some Italian and Colombian treats to boot. We stayed at the dinner table talking politics and solving the problems of the world into the wee hours.
Fabio and I drove back to Toronto and spent some great hours doing game development. Fabio owns CSE Games and I’ve been helping in some capacity as a freelance consultant when time allows. We also spent some quality hours on a game I am designing and made some great progress. It’s not there yet but it’s really starting to shape up.
We also met up with Fabio’s brother, Paolo Del Rio and took in some batting practice and a pub night (wings and swings). My skills were dreadfully rusty but by the end I managed to swat out a few singles and maybe even a double or two.
The trip ended just a day ago with a wonderful get together at Snakes and Lattes on College. The goal of the day was to introduce some folks to CSE’s upcoming title, Fantasy Fantasy Baseball and then watch the Blue Jays and Yankees play that evening.
It was great fun to meet up with several Spielers during the afternoon for games and coffee and conversation. So many amazing people in the world of games and I feel lucky to count so many as friends. Tim Brown, Debbie Ridpath Ohi, Jeff Ridpath and Tanya Cook Thompson just to name a few….
The nightcap was a trip to see the Blue Jays beat the Yankees at the Rogers Center 7-2. Really fun atmosphere and having everyone together sharing the experience made it even more special. Listening to Ignacy Trzewiczek in the row behind us shouting “ohgodohgodohgod!” with every foul ball that came our way makes me smile even now.
Thanks to Fabio and Fantasy Fantasy Baseball co-designer Daryl Andrews for planning such a fun day for all involved.
Now I am back from the land of maple syrup and beaver tails.
Unpacking and letting the events of the week soak in will take some time.
One thing is clear – I’ll be headed north again sometime soon. Too many great friends and fun places to keep me away.
Random items of note.
Number of poutines eaten: 2
Number of stops at Tim Hortons for Fabio’s coffee fix: a lot
Number of stops at Swiss Chalet: 1
Number of days I watched at least 15 minutes of curling on TV: every day!
