From Darter to Gen Con and Back Again…

Darter was the offspring of two minds (Jason Conkey and Dove Byrne) that yearned for more in a world dominated by computer games. It was the early ‘90s, and traditional boardgames had fallen by the wayside. If you weren’t playing a first-person shooter game, you weren’t playing, let alone enjoying yourself. Jason and I whole-heartedly disagreed, and began working on what would become Darter. Our goal was to capture the fast-paced excitement we saw all around us, and add in the element of human interaction. Darter is as much about figuring out how each darter will move each turn as it is about competing.

Flash-forward a decade…I will always remember Thanksgiving as the day the first set of Darter rolled off the production line. Who cares that the factory was the family home. Or, that the table where we were going to give thanks that evening was the assembly line. We had a lot to be thankful for, but still had a lot to hope for. Gen Con So Cal 2004 was less than a week away!

Colin Byrne, Jason Conkey, Bill Byrne, Dove Byrne and Jacqueline Therien

On December 1st, Team Darter headed to Anaheim. Jacqueline Therien and I flew in from Arcata, CA. Colin Byrne and Bill Byrne packed a truck with twenty-seven copies of Darter and drove from Willits, CA. Jason would be two days behind, driving from Tracy, CA.

Gen Con So Cal was our first game convention. Our plan was not to sell any copies of Darter, but to play as many games with as many people as we could. In our hearts, we knew Darter was the next hot game, but we needed to see how it would be perceived in the minds of other gamers. I did not know what to expect from Gen Con. I was scared that not having any games to sell would be our downfall. I was wrong. In fact, I think it was the one thing that differentiated us from everyone else. We were there to have fun. And fun we had.

Thursday

We began setting up our booth which consisted of a banner, a computer displaying our website, two open copies of Darter ready to play, and a rack of unopened games. As soon as the convention opened to the public we had people playing Darter.

Colin playing Darter with Shawn

Men, women, and children of all ages were playing Darter. And, they continued to play. Often, one game was not enough. People would come back for more. In fact, we began making many friends whose faces we would regularly see at our booth throughout the weekend. As Thursday came to a close, we couldn’t dream that Friday could get any better, but it did.

Friday

Friday began, much as Thursday did, with a steady stream of people coming to our booth to play a game of Darter. I was sorry to disappoint all of those who wanted to buy a copy, but could not. I quickly let them know they could win a copy by playing in our tournament, which was scheduled for 1 PM that day. This was to be our second Darter Tournament ever (a Friends of Darter Tournament was held a few weeks earlier). The tournament went off without a hitch, as six serious players vied to be crowned the Gen Con Darter Champion, and more importantly win a free game.

Tournament One Semi-Finals

After three rounds of head-to-head competition, the top four moved on to the single-elimination semi-finals. The results of the tournament can be seen here. To the surprise of the players, all entrants received prizes. The tournament was such a success, we decided to hold a second the following day.

Colin and Bill playing Black Box with Frank Mentzer observing

Other Friday highlights included meeting Frank Mentzer and being introduced to the great game, Black Box. And especially for Jackie, meeting Will McDermott the fantasy writer was a blast. In fact, we met so many great people who were very gracious. We are honored to have met all of you. You know who you are, and we appreciate you.

Will, Jackie and Bob

Saturday

Jason Conkey arrived at Gen Con on Saturday. He put in a lot of time at the booth, in order to make up for lost time, while the others of us were able to enjoy Gen Con from the point-of-view of an attendee.

Jason giving a Darter demo

The rest of the convention was dominated by card games and strategy war games, some exciting, some not. The second Gen Con Darter Tournament, like the first, had six very serious entrants.

Tournament Two Semi-Finals

The results of this tournament can be seen here. Again, all entrants received prizes.

Gen Con Auction

Saturday Night featured the portion of the Gen Con Auction dedicated to collectable games. We donated a copy of Darter to the Gen Con charity auction to benefit Make-A-Wish Foundation. The auction was a blast, and I highly recommend attending it. I was happy that the copy of Darter brought in $200 for Make-A-Wish Foundation. It was a fierce bidding war, with many Texas Holdem’ connotations flying around the room. I wanted to walk up to the guy who bid $150 and give him a game, but I did not want to ruin the integrity of the auction. Again, I want to thank the auction staff for bringing so much attention to Darter.

Sunday

It was raining. Living in Northern California, I am used to it, but we were in So Cal! The weather, however, did not dampen our day. Darter was the talk of the convention hall, after word got out about the auction. With an early flight, and a long drive ahead of us, Jason was left to man the booth alone. We said our goodbyes to all of our newfound friends, packed up all of our swag, and left Gen Con So Cal 2004 with much more than we had ever expected.

Jackie, Dove and Colin

We want to thank each and every one of you who took the time to play Darter, and help us on our way. It was a great feeling to walk around the convention hall and see people who had won a Darter game sharing it with their friends. We are still dedicated to getting every one of you a copy of Darter who signed up at our booth. We look forward to hearing from you on our message boards. Thank you for making Darter, and our experience at Gen Con a success.

Photos courtesy of Bob C.