Hello Handysaurs!
HandyCon 4 starts tomorrow (or for some of you, this afternoon/evening)! We are incredibly excited to host the con at our new venue, the Holiday Inn Maidenhead, and have a whole host of gaming delights lined up for you to enjoy.
This is going to be a bit of a big update, so please bear with us! You can also find most information about the con on our website, so be sure to take a look of there is anything you are unsure about or if you want to get an idea of what to expect.
Bring and Buy
Given the popularity of the bring and buy and the limited amount of space, Paul has come up with a list of things to help the bring and buy run smoothly:
- Lots of people like to trade and we want to help, however 400 people putting 10 games into the bring and buy won’t work so we have a few solutions :
- Try to list all sales on the Facebook Group using HandyTrade where possible
- Limit your Bring and Buy games to 3 at a time max (use your car and hotel room for spares when when you sell those)
- Use the sheets provided (pdf or docx) instead of leaving games; it is far less space intensive.
- Don’t make Trading the point of your Handycon, sure if you can sell something you don’t want then well done but remember that gaming and meeting people is what makes it great not that you sold something.
- Avoid bringing the games you picked up at the works or at the last convention for a £5 and hope to double your money… help us out here a little.
Price low for speedier results, please use www.boardgameprices.co.uk to find the current brand new price of your game and then take at least a tenner off or even more to represent a good deal for the buyer and shift your unwanted game. Try to make get it shifted quickly so it isn’t kicking around for ages. - CAR BOOT… just an idea, and not Handycon affiliated but let’s say that on Sunday at 10-11 some car boots were open in the car park with people by them showing a whole selection of games they didn’t want to take home and let’s say other people went out and bought those games at really low prices because, hey, you want to sell the games right? And then let’s say some delighted people spontaneously donated a few pounds of their takings to the Handycon charity bucket and the bargainers were so happy they too donated some more loose change to the bucket then wouldn’t everyone just be so happy?
Car Parking
The eye in the sky cameras will be off from 9am Friday untill Monday but for Thursday guests at the hotel you MUST register your licence at reception to avoid a nasty penalty.
The car park has 229 spaces, Handycon has currently 410 attendees. That doesn’t fit exactly HOWEVER there is lots of on road parking for free. Drop off bags, partners and games at the hotel and the map I’ve attached shows (in yellow) all the roads where free parking is available and easily walk-able to the venue.
Floor Plan
It’s finally here! The HandCon 4 Floorplan! You are pretty much welcome to game everywhere within the convention spaces (ground and first floor), as well as in the bar area, so long as it is not being used for an event, tournament, playtesting or demos. Note that the room with a cross through it on the first floor is not for HandyCon use. We have two quiet gaming areas, one on the ground floor near the bar and the other in Cedar 2 on the first floor, as well as toilets on each level.
Toilets on the first floor and ground floor are gender segregated, with the toilets on the ground floor being wheelchair accessible. The toilets on the basement level (down the stairs by the Berkshire Rooms) are designated as gender neutral.
Please note that the first floor areas and basement toilets are only accessible via stairs. We have previously stated that all of the convention space is wheelchair accessible in the FAQs, but the lift in the hotel only goes to some of the bedrooms, not the first floor convention space. We apologise for this oversight and anyone affected by this can get in touch on Facebook or via email should this be an issue. You can contact the hotel on 0871 423 4901 should you have any specific accessibility requirements.
Menus
We are hoping to get the menus out later today. We are just finalising things with the hotel.
Tournaments, events and demos
Online registration for tournaments, events and demos is now offline. You can still sign up to tournaments at the front desk, demos at the Gaming Rules! zone and events just turn up for (if space is limited it will be first come, first served).
We also have a request for anyone who would like to be of use; if you have any of the games being used for tournaments and would not mind temporarily donating it to us it would be most appreciated. We are especially looking for copies of Azul and Gaia Project.
Anti-Harassment Policy
Just a reminder that HandyCon is committed to providing a safe and enjoyable gaming environment for everyone who attends. Please behave respectfully to all other attendees, ensuring all can feel safe and enjoy themselves regardless of gender, gender identity, sexuality, appearance, race or religion.
Physical and verbal harassment will not be tolerated and the organisers reserve the right to take appropriate action including warning the offender or expulsion from the convention with no refund, and in some cases informing the police.
Some examples of harassment include:
- Offensive verbal comments
- Explicit sexual images or references
- Deliberate intimidation
- Unwanted attention or following of persons
- Unwanted recording or photography
- Sustained disruption of games or activities
- Innappropriate physical contact
- Unwelcome attention, including sexual remarks, jokes or taunting, leering, staring or suggestive gestures
To report harassment: If a request to stop behaviours does not get the desired result or there are continued problems with one gamer, please report the problem to a member of the HandyCon team.
We also run the ‘Ask for Angela‘ scheme which allows anyone to discreetly approach a member of the HandyCon team and ask for assistance.
And that’s it! See you at the con!
