If you want to go see Gray at CanGames, now is the time. He’s there right now peddling his wares. Go and say “Hi!” as I’m sure he would appreciate it. After that, you can go play some board games, and then after that you can buy that board game from us. Hurray! The board game section at the store is looking a bit like a toothless grin, so you’ll want to stop by CanGames anyhow if you need a game.

Just go here for the info.

Blessed are we, the board gamers of Ottawa, for we have two wonderful conventions that we can attend in our fine city! The next one on the ol’ ‘genda is CanGames – Ottawa’s oldest board game convention. CanGames is always a good time and it seems to attract the majority of the really hardcore gamers in the city. Not that that means the not-so hardcore can’t come and participate – quite the contrary – there’s always something cool going on. Whenever I go to CanGames, I never venture too deep into the game room, instead I focus on digging through the dealer’s room to find awesome deals and rare wares (and hope that these things are one in the same.)

Want the details? You do, I know you too well:

Rideau Curling Club (715 Cooper Street)

May 20-22, 2011

Weekend Pass is $28 ($33 if you register after May 1st)

Kids get in for $10

You can play:

• RPGs (role playing games) such as Dungeons and Dragons
• Board games such as Carcassone, Risk, and Settlers of Catan
• Collectable card games such as Magic the Gathering
• Miniatures games such as Warhammer, Flames of War, DBA
• and many more!

Who wants to play games all weekend? Pick me, pick me! The store’s going to be at CanGames too! We’ll be having all sorts of tax-free deals all weekend! CanGames has always been a blast! It’s always full of great deals, and hard-to-find items. You know those games that you see every once in a while, and they look neat, but they’ve been out of print for 20 years? Yeah, they have those. You know those miniatures you needed for your army, but they’ve always been too expensive? Yeah, they have those ON SALE. You know that really complicated board game none of your buddies ever want to play with you – people here will play. It’s going to be epic!

This weekend I traveled incognito to CanGames (Ottawa’s gaming convention) under the clever guise of “Conrad Albatross” to see if I could get the inside scoop on Ottawa’s gaming underground. I arrived at the convention center at around 2 pm on Saturday and was instructed to enter through the back door. My accomplice handed me my pass and I began my surveillance of the convention.

On first glance, it appeared to be a gamers paradise: miniatures, role-playing books, and boardgames as far as the eyes could see, but on a closer look it revealed something else… something I’d like to call “mad dealz.” “Mad dealz” is a term you use to describe an excess amount of savings to products you’d normally pay out the nose for. I was immediately drawn to the tables where I could find plenty of old Dungeons and Dragons books. These conventions bring product of the highest, and sometimes rarest quality, and today was no different. Toys on Fire brought its usual, enormous selection of board games (probably the largest in the city) and the prices killed the convention market, as usual. I quickly began to lighten my pockets.

After buying the weight equivalent to a small car in books, I quickly turned my attention to my second mission: finding “mad Warhammer dealz.” I was armed with $120 to get as much on the list as possible for our beloved Stephen- and ending up spending $180. Yes, the “dealz” were this “mad.” These conventions always somehow end up being tax-free, it was amazing.

As the show was winding down our friend Bill showed up after his job to take a look at some “mad dealz” at the show as well. As we all got our fill, Alex and I hopped in Bill’s stretch SUV limo thing and took a ride. That’s right, a DANG (forgive the pun, Dang) LIMO! It had a TV and an intercom, and crazy lights, and beverages, and EVERYTHING. BIG FAT TIRES AND EVERYTHING! I was King of the Town in that limo. Muchos gracias, Bill. We owe you one.

All in all, it was a lot of fun meeting up with our toy/hobby retail brethren, and local hobbyists to nerd out for an afternoon now it’s time for me to go back to being cool.

Why are you laughing? I’m cool, I swear!

I mean, I’m playing D&D tonight, but that doesn’t mean anything! I have an assortment of leather jackets!

…fine, don’t believe me? I’ll just put a HEX ON YOU! Or maybe a plague! A PLAGUE ON BOTH YOUR HOUSES!

Conrad “the Hitman” AlbatRoss. Chris.