Rincon 2022: Surviving Rincomicon

By Meeple Lady | October 19, 2022 | Comments 1 comment

The pandemic has changed many things in our lives, and that rings true for board game conventions. A few conventions have folded up during this era, while others have had to tweak their programming. Case in point: Rincon, Tucson’s Tabletop Game Convention! Last month, Rincon paired up with Tucson Comic Con during Labor Day weekend to feature gaming at the convention and after-hours gaming and dinner at a nearby hotel, the Ramada by Wyndham Tucson.

Rincon attendees needed to purchase a ticket to Tucson Comic Con and Rincon after-hours if they wanted to participate in both things each day. And while the setup wasn’t ideal, it was still great to see the wonderful people who work so hard to get this convention back on its feet. I even received a pencil from the a conventiongoer that said “I survived Rincomicon!” Yes, indeed!

An overhead shot of the exhibitor hall at Tucson Comic Con. So much shopping!

I only attended RinCon for two days — Friday and Saturday — as I couldn’t stay away from home for too long (more on that at the bottom of this post). I arrived in Tucson on Friday afternoon to get ready to teach Cascadia at the women’s table in the gaming hall.

I personally love teaching all types of games at the women’s table because it gives us a chance to learn a game in a stress-free, ask-as-many-questions-as-you’d-like environment. I taught two games of Cascadia, one 2P and another as a 3P, and it was a hit!

I am always so happy to teach Cascadia. It has such a pretty table presence.

After teaching the game, I was able to walk the Tucson Comic Con floor and see all my fellow nerds — and buy some nerdy things, like a giant Kirby fan (which came in handy as it was hot that weekend) and some D20 earrings.

Once evening hit, Keep it Rollin’ w/RinCon festivities moved over to the Ramada, which was a quick walk on the other side of the freeway from the Tucson Convention Center, where Comic Con was being held. Evening tickets provided dinner and ballroom space for gaming and smaller rooms for LARPing.

The gaming room at the Ramada by Wyndham in Tucson, where scheduled gaming took place.

On Saturday, I spoke on a panel called Diversity and Inclusion in Tabletop Gaming. We had a great discussion about inclusion and diversity, which touched on topics such as themes, game choices, welcoming spaces and many others.

I was on the panel with Lizzy Jayne Took (from left), Mariah Johnson, Darrell Lynn aka Sosha Justice, and Karen Arnold Ewing) at the Diversity and Inclusion in Tabletop Gaming panel.

I then walked the other half of the exhibitor floor to for more shopping (as one does at a Comic Con) and literally squealed when I saw this: The Batmobile!

The 1960s Adam West Batman is my absolute favorite version of Batman. I grew up on this show in reruns and literally know every single episode and famous cameos on the show. I also own a copy of The Official Batman Batbook and spent childhood memorizing it. Ah, the days before the internet!

I then taught a game of Honey Buzz to three other women. One lady said she had wanted to learn how to play the game before purchasing it, and everyone enjoyed the game! Plus, the components are always so delightful to play with!

Honey Buzz is just so adorable and it’s a quite a strategic economic game! Plus, who doesn’t love beeples?

After leaving the convention center and walking over to the Ramada, I met Zach of Korrosive Games, who brought their prototype Fate of Venterra. It’s a 4x game with a gorgeous build-out of various terrain, and there are five different factions you can play from. The company is local to the Phoenix area, and the game is still being developed, eventually getting on Kickstarter.

Fate of Venterra is a 2-5 player strategy game that’s being developed.

The Ramada had some signature drinks at its bar, so naturally I ordered a drink that was named after me.

Being on the drink menu was a nice surprise!

It was yummy and sweet! And that garnish was of a fruit roll-up consistency.

I need to figure out how to make these small meeple garnishes!

And with that, I drove back home to Phoenix on Saturday night. It was wonderful seeing gamer friendsI hadn’t seen in a few years because of the pandemic, especially Karen, chair of the Rincon Convention. She is truly one of the nicest people out there in the gaming sphere and worked hard to make it happen this year. Thanks for having me, Karen!

It’s always a pleasure seeing Karen Arnold Ewing!

And for those who have made it down this far, I’ll circle back to why I couldn’t stay at RinCon for the entire four days. The day before Rincon …

My husband and I adopted a new dog! He’s a 10-year-old dog that we adopted from the Arizona Small Dog Rescue. He’s a handsome boy, and we’re so happy to have him. My husband was originally supposed to come with me to Tucson but he stayed home with our new dog, and I just couldn’t wait to get back home to this smiling face.