As far as gaming conventions go, this one wasn't too bad especially since it was put together by Andon Unlimited/WoTC. I expected a bigger convention space than what was available especially from the company that produces conventions such as Origins and AndCon. One problem that seems to be a common trait amongst conventions was obtaining the scenanos for the game masters such as myself . I considered myself lucky to receive my scenario prior to my leaving for this convention.

I had about two days to read it at home and attempted to read it on the way to Pittsburgh. From what I heard from some other judges they only received their game one or two days before the convention. I think Andon cut things a little close by not having the scenerios sent out a little bit earlier than a couple of days before the convention. The short time delivery certainly didn't leave any time for preparation, or even to play test.

The dealers room was rather small but still had a good selection of local stores to show their wares. The big push was Magic the card game. Being an anti-Magic kind of person I felt a bit out of place. I did manage to find a few hard to find items. I guess this is where some gaming stores go and dump off their excess inventory. If you ever need a hard to find item and Crazy Egor is at your con you just may find what you need I think they had just about every gaming system available and the prices are rather reasonable.

I think the biggest problem I had was the hotel, the Greentree Marriot where the convention was held. The hotel was having a part in a ten speed classic bike rally that was being held in Pittsburgh. The bikers kept getting in the way with event registration, game marshaling and just about every other aspect of Three Rivers Game Fest.

The hotel staff paid more attention to the bikers than the gamers even though the gamers out number the bikers by more than two to one. The gamers did have common courtesy when a wedding party had shown up at the hotel. None of the gamers stepped into any of the photos or stepped on the brides dress. The bikers on the other hand kept walking into the photos and a couple of the bikers ran over the train portion of the brides dress.

It typical style of a convention run by Andon/WoTC there was a gaming auction. I couldn't attend due to I was running a game at that time. However, I did not miss out on some of the items I was interested in. I did have an ace in the hole, and that was my wife, who cheerfully sat in on the auction. For a person that doesn't take gaming as seriously as I do, she did rather fine on the bids.

According to other information, there will be another Three Rivers Game Fest convention this May. I hope this time the classic bikers won't show up and we'll have a better time. This is a good convention, and being that it is Memorial Day weekend, it is an easy one to attend.

All in all, I rate this con a C+.

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