Hello All,

We’ve almost made it to Railcon week!  We expect 85-100 attendees, including about 25 first time Railcon attendees.  So please pardon the length, but here’s a bunch of information including some last-minute details plus answers to common questions. 

We are returning to the Courtyard Hotel, 1311 American Lane, in Schaumburg IL.  The hotel has a new General Manager, but they remains committed to providing us the best experience they can for our National Championship event.

REGISTRATION AND BADGE PICK UP.  The registration desk will be open Wednesday afternoon, after we get everything set up, and Thursday morning before the first slot starts at 8:45.  Amy Beery, our esteemed Headquarters Conductor, will once again manage the check-in process.

ON-SITE REGISTRATION.  If you’d like to bring a friend along, we expect to offer on-site registrations, unless we sell out..  including a day pass or part-time badge if that fits your needs.  Please let us know in advance if you can, so we can plan accordingly.  As a reminder, all attendees age 13 and older must have a current TGA membership.

FEATURED SPONSOR AND SPECIAL WEDNESDAY MINI-TOURNAMENT.  Rio Grande Games is our longest-running TGA sponsor.  They publish TGA favorites like Boxcars and TransAmerica, but they have other train games too!  On Wednesday we are featuring their “cube rails” series, specifically Texas & Pacific, Gulf Mobile & Ohio, and Prussian Rails, by running a mini-tournament.  Play one of the three featured games any time between 4pm and 11pm on Wednesday.  Three players with the biggest blowout scores will win one of the games from the series, compliments of Rio Grande.

WEDNESDAY TEACHING SESSIONS.  Wednesday is also a great opportunity to get ready for one of the tournaments in the main event by learning a new game or getting a refresher.  Specifically, we will have people around to teach Rolling Freight and the newly re-released Express, but you can probably find someone to teach you a Ticket to Ride or Empire Builder series game or most of our other games.  As you check in on Wednesday, please let us know if you are interested in learning a game or five.  We will have a sign-up board to coordinate things.

TGA FUNDRAISERS.  This year’s primary fundraiser is a 50-50 raffle, where one lucky winner gets half the pot, and the other half goes to the TGA to help with our expenses.  You can buy one chance for $5, or five chances for $20, and you can do this as many times as you want!That drawing will occur during the Annual Members Meeting on Sunday.  And of course, we are always happy to take donations as well (not tax-deductible), via the website store or in person at Railcon.

GAME SALES TABLE.  We are also raising money by selling some of our excess game inventory.  Our friends at Darwin’s Toy will have some games for sale too, and the TGA will get a percentage of every sale they make at Railcon.  So bring some money and maybe an extra suitcase…

TOURNAMENT AND GAME RULES AND INFO:  The Railcon schedule, tournament rules and individual game clarifications are available on the Railcon page of the TGA website, and will be posted on site during the tournament.  Please also take some time to read the information posted in the main gaming room.  Many of the questions we get are answered there.

IMPORTANT:  FOOD AND DRINK POLICIES

• BREAKFAST.  For Railcon participants staying in the hotel and booked in our room block, a free breakfast is included with your room.  They will provide a buffet similar to past years on Thursday through Sunday from 7:00-8:40, and Bistro coupons for other days you are staying.  If you are NOT in the TGA block or not staying in the hotel, please don’t eat the buffet.  The hotel has every right to charge us a hefty fee if they find our attendees violating this rule.
• LUNCH AND DINNER.  There is a Bistro in the lobby, which the hotel is again opening extra hours just for us.  They will again offer a “specialty theme” to the Bistro meals each day.  Amy will coordinate order forms so you can pre-order lunch and dinner for pick up at a specific time.  Please patronize the Bistro as much as you can. 
• OTHER FOOD OPTIONS.  There a lot of restaurants in the area, ranging from fast food to elegant dining.  Several are within walking distance.
• OUTSIDE FOOD AND DRINK RESTRICTIONS.  Like most hotels, the Courtyard officially does not allow outside food and drink.  The hotel is once again allowing us some latitude to bring in food and non-alcoholic drinks, given the nature of our event.  It is OK to go out and grab something to eat and bring it back to your personal room or directly into one of our meeting rooms.  Please do not eat outside food in the Bistro area, or any other public area of the hotel.
• OUTSIDE ALCOHOL.  The hotel made a strong point of telling us that only alcohol that is purchased from the Bistro can legally be consumed in our meeting rooms or the public areas of the hotel.  There is no latitude on this.  We can be charged a hefty penalty and not allowed to return for future events if members of our group are found to be violating this policy.  So, *PLEASE* do not be seen consuming any alcohol that was not purchased from the Bistro.
• If you have any questions about these food and drink policies, please speak with Amy or Jeff

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A RAILCON PRIMER / REFRESHER / FAQ

• Railcon is our National Championship, which is the TGA’s most prestigious title.  You’ll find the best train gamers here, and we expect the usual strong competition for the biggest plaques.
• What happens at Railcon other than train games?  Nothing!  All of the hotel’s meeting rooms are for us.  There will be a table of games for sale from TGA inventory and our friends at Darwin’s Toys, but no dealer’s hall, no costume contest, no art show; it’s all train games, all the time!  If sixteen hours a day of gaming isn’t your thing, the hotel has a pool, one of the best shopping malls in the US is a half mile away, and there are many other things to do in the area.
• Is everyone there a hardcore train gamer?  Like all of our tournaments there will be a mix of players – some who are very focused on winning plaques, and others who just enjoy playing games and seeing old friends.  Many regular attendees, competitive or not, will tell you that this is by far their favorite con.  But you can assume everyone there likes train games!
• Are the rules and scoring any different from other TGA cons?  The game rules don’t change, but the tournament structures do.  All rules will be posted, but briefly it is harder to win at Railcon.  At Origins and Gen Con, the PB score is the best four category scores plus the best four finals bonuses.  At Railcon we count the best five category scores plus all the finals bonuses you can get.  The Iron Man score includes all nine categories, not the best eight.  It is the National Championship, after all!
• Everyone gets to compete fully.  At Origins and Gen Con we have a small army of volunteers who give up hours of playing time to help us run things.  We couldn’t manage those big conventions without them, but this means our volunteers (who are often among our best players) compete at a significant disadvantage there.  Our commitment at Railcon is to allow everyone to play in every slot they want to, so everyone has an equally fair shot.
• Can we win plaques like at Origins and Gen Con?  YES and then some.  In addition to the usual plaques, there will also be a prize table full of games to be chosen by the tournament winners and the top place finishers in the PB and Iron Man tournaments.
• Who organizes the games and deals with score sheets and such?  It’s a group effort, that mostly runs itself with a bit of organization.  Fortunately, more than half the people who come to Railcon are experienced volunteers who know our system, and collectively we make it work.  If no one in the game you want to play knows what to do, just ask somebody.
• So who’s in charge?  Jeff Jackson (Senior Tournament Director), is the Head Conductor for Railcon.  He will generally be available to deal with any tournament questions, and there will be other experienced Conductors around who can help.  All of them are competitive players, so you’ll find them playing most of the time, but one of them will be able to take a break to resolve an issue if needed.  Amy Beery (Headquarters Conductor) is another resource for many things, other than the game rules minutiae.  Amy manages all the registration logistics, the scoring, and she is generally in charge of keeping everybody sane.
• What if I have a question or problem during Railcon?  If there is a medical issue, bring that to Amy’s attention, or for emergencies call 911 or ask the front desk to do so.  If something affects the game you are currently playing, stop the game and find someone to assist.  Many game problems just can’t be fixed after the game is over.  Generally, if it is a rules question, find a designated conductor.  If they don’t know the answer, they can find someone who does.  If you have a Code of Conduct concern, we’d ask that you take those directly to Amy or Jeff.  Either of them can always be interrupted during a game if something needs to be addressed immediately.  If you are playing in a game with Amy or Jeff, please understand that your game may get interrupted occasionally.  Of course, you are welcome to bring an issue to our attention between games too, and feel free to call or text either of us (numbers at the bottom of this email) if something comes up that we need to know about.
• Can I learn new games at Railcon?  Yes, but we do not have scheduled teachers or teaching games (except for Wednesday).  For the more popular games you can usually find someone to teach you, but we can’t guarantee it will always work out, or that every game will be an ideal teaching situation.  If there is a particular game you want to learn, you might ask someone to explain it to you during a break between games, before the scheduled game slot.  Wednesday afternoon / evening is a great time for this too; let us know if you’d like to learn a particular game that night and we can probably arrange that.  Or you can look online beforehand – many of our games have teaching videos that would help you prepare.  But if you wish to learn and play a game during its scheduled slot, *please* let whoever is organizing the game know that as you are getting a table assignment, so they can try to put you in the best possible situation.
• Are unscheduled pick-up games or teaching games allowed?  YES, they are not just allowed, they are encouraged.  There is no way to design a schedule that allows everyone to play exactly what they want when they want.  There will be a white board designated for the purpose of coordinating unscheduled games.  Pick-up games can be played at any time.  To count, they must follow standard rules and turn in a score sheet.  If you don’t care that it counts, you can also just play a partial or introductory game without keeping score.  This can be a great way to learn a game too.  Just make sure you all agree in advance what the plan (and time commitment) is.
• What will be happening on Wednesday?  If you are around early in the day, we will start getting everything set up in the rooms around 10am.  At 3pm official open gaming will start with chances to learn or refresh yourself on a train game or three, including a featured learn and play tournament sponsored by Rio Grande Games. 
• What happens on Sunday?  The actual tournament play will end by 12:45, followed by the Awards around 1:00.  That’s when you get your plaques and game prizes.  Then we hold the Annual Meeting of TGA members.  You’ll hear from the TGA’s President, other Officers, and the Tournament Directors who will update you about the TGA, our sponsors, and future plans.  Ask questions, or share concerns and ideas, or just be there to learn more about the TGA.  After the meeting, it’s a group effort to get everything packed up and driven back to our warehouse.  Many people will start leaving, but quite a few of us stick around to, yes, play some more games, socialize, and go have a nice dinner somewhere.  Everyone is welcome to stay!

If you’re still with us to here, thanks for reading, and of course let us know if you have any questions.  See you soon!

Jeff and Amy

Jeff Jackson                                                                                         Amy Beery

Senior Tournament Director / Head Conductor                              Headquarters Conductor