Gottacon 2013

This will be the 5th year that VicLUG has been at Gottacon, Victoria’s 3 day gaming convention. We do a host of activities with our main event being VicWars, a table top minifig game loosely based on Mike Rayhawk’s BrickWars. After lots of brainstorming we’ve come up with a fun new rule set that integrates very nicely into the existing game called Active Buffs. I’m still in the process of putting together documents for the actual core rules and description but here is the new expansion we’ll be trying out:

and here’s a pic of the dice, freshly cooked!

We will also have a kid build area, blind build stands, a moc table and we’ve recently come into contact with a crew up island who are developing their own Lego game called Steel Wheels, a racing Lego game, so they will be there for a couple of days and really looking forward to seeing it in action. Our VicWars page listed below is still under construction but will hopefully have all the rule docs up there by tonight.

http://www.gottacon.com

https://viclug.ca/vicwars.html

http://brikwars.com/

https://www.facebook.com/SteelWheelsGame?fref=ts

First Lego League BC Championships

I had an interesting opportunity this weekend to be a project judge at the BC Provincial Championships for First Lego League in Vancouver. Steve was there as a referee, as he’s done for several years in Victoria. I’ve tried my hat at ref’ing, design and now project judge over the past few years, and a couple of other VicLUG members have also done ref’ing and judging in the past as well but couldn’t make it to this stage.

Last week I was a project judge at a regional scrimmage match here in Victoria and saw a half dozen teams. Our role was to give the team extensive feedback so they could prep for the championships. I was able to see 4 of those teams and great to see how/if they followed through on the suggestions. There were 3 trophies for us to award and 2 of those went to teams we saw at the scrimmage. It was such a treat to see all of the kids’ presentations and kind of jealous of the ones I didn’t get to see, I was told that one team presented their project as an opera!

The clip below showcases one of the winning teams, the Hurricanes, and their project. Keep in mind most teams if they made a prototype, it might have been Lego replica or purely for demonstration. When I asked them how they got to their precise price point for their prototype they told me it was because they actually made it, factoring in patents and FDA approval.

http://bc.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=852272&playlistId=1.1131271&binId=1.821957&playlistPageNum=1

clip might not work in Chrome or IE, worked in FF for me.

The FLL trophies The FLL trophiesThe robot competition The robot competition

http://bcrobotics.wordpress.com/

See us in Sidney!

There are some great opportunities to see the work of VicLUG members in Sidney right now!

In January, February and March you can see our work alongside a huge collection of official LEGO sets @ the Sidney Museum. They are also running a contest for LEGO builders (THIS MEANS YOU) on FaceBook.

In the middle of all this is a huge Family Day celebration on the new stat Holiday coming February 11, 2013. Come out with the family to see the Museum exhibit and catch Robin Sather, LEGO Certified Professional, as he constructs a giant LEGO sculpture with YOUR help!

Cherrybomb 10th Toy & Hobby Show

VicLUG is going to be at the CBT show, natch. Here’s the deets, hope to see you there!

Victoria’s 10th Ultimate Hobby & Toy Fair
October 14th, 2012
Pearkes Arena
3100 Tillicum Road (By Tillicum Mall and Silver City)

Vancouver Islands premier toy & hobby show! Vendors with items for sale including action figures, vintage toys, models, trains, comics, Barbie, dolls, bears, LEGO, video games, Star Wars, GI Joe, Transformers, diecast cars, Hot Wheels, vinyl records and more! You never know what you might find with 200 tables of fun!

General Admission – 9AM to 3PM

Adults $5 and kids are FREE!

Early Bird entry for the serious collector at 8am for $15.
Store Promo at Cherry Bomb Toys – Early Bird Tickets $7
Free door prize entry with admission. You could win stuff!
Loads of door prizes donated by local businesses!

Special Guests! Jim Henshaw, Ken Steacy, Glen Mullaly, Gareth Gaudin, Tanya Zbitnew

Silent auction for the MS Society.

Special Spooky Charity Carnival with all proceeds going to BC Children’s Hospital.

Costume Contest! Dress up and get an extra door prize entry!

Please visit our website for further show information and feel free to contact us if you need any further details.

http://www.ultimatetoyfair.com