July 4-7, 2002
ORIGINS game convention in Columbus, Ohio
Karen Malewicki with the Sciota river and walkway along the shore in the background. A short walk from the Hyatt Regency where we stayed. ORIGINS is one of the largest game conventions in North America. This is the ORIGINS program book listing all the onsite activities.
Leafing through this 1/2" thick program book shows an almost unlimited number of scheduled game tournaments. My 1965 invention - the Nuclear War game is listed. I was flown out as one of the special guests of honor. My first duty was to participate in a gamer's version of IRON CHEF, appropriately called IRON GAME DESIGNER. Teams of gamers competed against a single selected professional game designer (I wasn't chosen) to design a complete game in one hour using provided components. Doug; Chainmail Girl; and famed Demi the Demoness artist - Steve Crompton.
I spent most of my free time helping out in the Flying Buffalo, Inc. booth. This is the Scottsdale, Arizona company that has been licensing the game from me since about 1972. Well over a quarter million of the games have been sold in the past 37 years!Renowned sci-fi and fantasy author, Michael Stackpole; Chainmail Girl; and Doug with his Supergem T-Shirt (one of the characters in the Nuclear war game). Some of the 10,000 plus people that attended the four day ORIGINS convention. Origins 2002 was host to the 28th annual Origins Awards ceremony. It is a tuxedo and black tie event, quite similar to the Oscars. At this gala event, the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design honors the industry's top achievers in dozens of categories: board, role playing, miniatures, computer, and trading card games, professional and amateur magazine publications, game-related fiction, play-by-mail game design, and accessories and supplements. My game - Nuclear War - was elected into their Hall of Fame back in 1998!
Karen on another of our scenic walks. Karen and I can highly recommend Buca De Beppo's nearby Italian restaurant and Schultz's Sausage Company restaurant in Germantown.
Doug with his Dr. Strangelove outfit (John Lennon type dark glasses and self strangling black gloved hand) with Chainmail Girl in her 25 pound outfit Young 28 year old Cali has had a character from a role playing adventure book created about her. Yes, that is real chain mail she is wearing (Note how it varies from aluminum to brass to copper - quite artistic)!. Helps her sell her souvenir calenders (each month is by a different artist) to her fans.
Yes my T-Shirt says "I heart Nuclear War"!
Doug (being auto-strangled); Steve Crompton; and Chainmail Girl. This was at the Saturday July 6th annual WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Nuclear War Tournament. The movie character, Dr. Strangelove, played by Peter Sellars, used a wheelchair. Of course, I try do him one better by doing radical wheelies while rolling up and down the aisles!
Flying Buffalo, Inc.'s president Rick Loomis explains the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Nuclear War tournament rules to the players. Thirty six people played (six per table playing against each other only). Points were awarded for the winners at each table. After each round Rick rotated all players. As usual, many of the tables ended up with all six players losing, so no one earned any points were awarded zero points. The final 6 competitors are shown here. They had each earned the highest total points after 3 complete games were played.
The WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Nuclear War Tournament winner was Robert Zahn (2nd from the right). The other finalists were John Delany, David Nowell, Steve Smith, Jeff Pfeiffer,
and Gail Brown.Gobs of people were still lining up to get their ORIGINS tickets on Sunday - the last day of the convention. The line stretches all the way down the hall!
