Pyat and the Nth Annual Gamer Expedition to the Gates of Dawn

[pyat]

Tomorrow is the Great Canadian Bayshore Game Sale, a nearly annual tradition that has been recounted in this very journal lo, these many years past. I've gone almost every year since 1990. Tomorrow morning, bright and nerdy, myself and a collection of local luminaries will gather at Bayshore Hobbies. Schedule as follows!

07:00 AM: Rendevous at Bayshore Hobbies in Hamilton's west end.
08:00 AM: Receive golden tickets, which determine your place in line for the sale.
08:15 AM: Greasy spoon breakfast.
09:45 AM: Return to Bayshore, stand in line.
10:00 AM: The Vaults of Wonder are opened.

Anyone reading this is welcome to join us if they can!

Over lunch hour I ran over to Bayshore to drop off some of my unused, unwanted games. Prior entry to the contrary, it seems I am capable of doing this. I'm selling some GURPS supplements, an old boxed Card Wars set, and a handful of Judge Dredd books and supplements. While there, I chatted with Rose, who has been running Bayshore Hobbies since 1980. She suddenly remembered a stack of photos she'd found, and we looked through some pictures of past events. She let me take some home, as there were a few familiar faces.

These photos were taken at the Hamilton Mountain location of Bayshore, which has since closed down. At this point in time, I didn't know either sassy_fae or doc_mystery. I'm not sure of the year, but I'm guesing 2000 or 2001.


sassy_fae between two people I don't recognize offhand!


doc_mystery, lurking in the background.


Me! And mr_weasel, and Driss, who has since gone on to be a big wheel down at the Cracker Factory. By which I mean, "Microsoft." I'm wondering why thebitterguy isn't in this photo.


Larger photo for reference. Some years, the line was about 200 people long.


And finally, Bayshore Hobbies and Rose as they appeared today!

Comments

[relee.livejournal.com]

Oh you do this every year? I guess you'll never get to see the Artwalk then.

Alas. ^.^;;

Tiny game shop is tiny. Where are the tables?

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's just the RPG area and cash - there's a little basement, a board game section, and a area with models. But it is quite tiny. There's no room for a game table, for example.

[relee.livejournal.com]

Oh that's too bad! It's lots of fun to have a big table and play Warhammer 40K and freak out when some mentally handicapped guy shows up and starts fingering your miniatures. ^.^

Incidentally, apart from having 10x as many Baby Boomers as any other community in Ontario, Sarnia also has the best facilities for mentally handicapped people. Like Fish Mouth and Talks Too Loud Guy and Afraid of Authority Lady. ... Gosh I hope nobody thinks of me the way I think of these people. ;.;

[sassy-fae.livejournal.com]

No, I don't think I'll be making it this year, for reasons mentioned earlier.

Hee! It's me and the two Matts! They were part of my gaming group/social circle of the time. I was hanging out with theatre geeks, if you can believe it. ;)

[doc-mystery.livejournal.com]

Boy, did we all look younger back then...

::B::

[thebitterguy]

Funny how that works, eh?

[hossblacksilver.livejournal.com]

Spotted you right off. I could tell because of your cunning goatee. You still have that red jacket? j/k