Ok I know that not every one who reads these insane muttering of mine, know what a gaelcon is.
Most of the people who are friends and who have been in my house do but some don’t and then
there are those people who stumble into this place via boards.ie or other internet tubes.
So for those of you who may not know, this is what Gaelcon is.
Gaelcon is a gathering of gamers, who all come together in a certain place at a certain time for the same reason, to play games and have fun. The average is about 450 from all over Ireland, the U.K. and some as far flung as the U.S.A. and even Israel. This is a tradition which has been on going for the last 20 years. Each October bank holiday weekend for 3 days the convention opens to provide a place were dice are rolled, cards are played, imaginations run riot, old friendships are renewed and new ones forged. Gaelcon welcomes anyone who wants to come and play, there are a large range of games from scheduled events to casual pick up and play games running all weekend.
Gaelcon also run a charity auction which over the past 15 years has raised and donated over €271,000 to many worthy children’s charities. Last year alone just over €21,000 was raised. The slogan for the auction has always been “For the kids” as the gaming community know how much joy can be had in playing games and contributes to trying to help children who’s life’s for what ever reason could use some help to be more fun.
Some of these charities have been:
Barretstown Gang Camp
DEBRA Ireland (the Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa Research Association)
The Cari Foundation Children At Risk in Ireland
Jack and Jill Children’s Foundation
Temple Street Children’s University Hospital
Crumlin Children’s Hospital
The charity auction is made entirely up of donations and if you have something which you would like to donate to wards the auction then please use this email address to get in touch with this years charity officer. charity@gaelcon.com
That’s what a Gaelcon is, I have been attending on and off over the last 10 years and am glad to be able to give a hand this year to help organise it; and yes if you have never been to a Gaelcon before or to any gaming convention you will be welcomed when you sit down to play and gamers love to spread the fun and turn another person into a gamer. Personally I love bringing gamer convention virgins along with me to Gaelcon and have managed to do that for the last 4 years.
www.gaelcon.com October 24th – 26th 2009. D4 Hotels, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.