Over an extended version of the last weekend, I had the pleasure of attending an event with 30+ friends, many of whom I know on some level through Megan. They’re delightful people, and I love letting my inner (and outer) nerd thrive when I’m with them.
In years past, this group of friends attended a geeky convention involving fun, silly, and nerdy events. Eventually they decided just to have a small version of the convention for themselves, and it became an annual friends reunion of sorts. This is the second year I’ve attended (here’s a link to my post in 2022)
We rented a big vacation property just outside Branson, Missouri, and over 5 days we ate, drank, played games, and participated in a number of whimsical events. The house itself is huge; it includes a massive covered deck in the back, a tiered home theater, at least 10 bedrooms (each with its own private bath), two game rooms, a large kitchen with two of everything, and a hot tub and swimming pool.
I’ll quickly run through some of the events:
Science fair: Each team of 6 had three challenges to complete, including an egg drop (my main focus) and a bridge that needed to hold as many eggs as possible.The weather was perfect throughout our stay, so we spent many hours on the large patio.Groupvergence is very social, but I like that there are some quieter activities like this jigsaw puzzle table.We played dozens of different games, and you could frequently hear the click-clack of Crokinole discs.We hosted a Star Wars Cantina party one evening involving lots of fun costumes, Sabaac, Halcyon-inspired cocktails, and lots of lightsabers.One of the marquee events of the weekend was Den of Wolves, a massive, 7-hour megagame inspired by Battlestar Galactica. I was the first officer on the Quellon, a Proxima ship.There was a room party based on the animated show Gravity Falls, and one of the activities was to create a fictional monstrosity. Nina and I helped to create this Stereotypical Demigorgon.An annual tradition at Groupvergence is the Drinking Panel, where the audience selects a variety of special drinks for the panelists to sample, react to, and rate.I brought my advance copy of Apiary to play on a table outside that we kept moving to avoid the sun. Other games that were heavily played at the event were the Star Wars deckbuilding game and So Clover. I had fun learning more about people through Fun Facts too.The final event of the weekend was the Anime Quiz. I must admit that this is an area of geekdom that I don’t know much about, but it was fun to see how passionate and knowledgeable some people are about it.
I think that covers most of the events. There was a Mario Kart tournament that I missed because it was quite crowded, though I heard great things about it. There was also a fun Groupardy trivia event that I participated in. Also, there was lots of good food throughout the weekend–my belly is still feeling the results!
Have you ever participated in an event, weekend, or convention like this?
