By Harvey Mossman:
It is coming that time of year again when we all look forward to Long Island’s premier gaming event, the Friday After Thanksgiving Day of Gaming affectionately known as FaTDoG. For those of you who have never attended, FaTDoG is an all-day gaming extravaganza that includes historical wargaming, historical and science-fiction miniatures, euro gaming and board gaming. It is held at the Radisson Hotel in Hauppauge, New York on Long Island. The event starts at 9 AM and ends at midnight and here’s what you’ll find when you arrive:
- an extensive gaming area with plenty of table space to accommodate everyone’s favorite games.
- A collectible FaTDoG door prize given upon admission with the proper ticket
- Gaming vendors selling your favorite historical stimulation, euro games at discounted prices
- a huge Fleamarket where you can sell your used games and by games from other attendees
- a tremendous Game Raffle where you will find all the games your heart desires. Buy tickets and take a chance to win your favorite board game
- a hot, 4 course, lunch and dinner buffet along with snacks and drinks all included in your cost of admission
- meet and play with famous game designers!
- Gaming tournaments with prizes going to the top players!
What’s New for FaTDoG 2018
Tiered Ticket Pricing – as the cost of this event has risen, I have tried to keep the entry fee reasonable. Providing all the food, drinks and snacks is a very expensive proposition. In order to keep the admission entry fee reasonable, I have instituted tiered pricing for the online ticket purchases.
The $30 ticket for admission will include coupons for both the hot lunch and dinner, a collectible door prize and general admission.
The $25 ticket for admission will include only a coupon for lunch and general admission. It will not include the collectible door prize or the coupon for dinner.
Tickets purchased at the door will be $30 and will only include the price of admission. There will be no meals or door prize. These tickets can be upgraded at the door for an extra $5 for a lunch coupon and another $5 for the dinner coupon and the door prize. Therefore if you know you’re going to be attending it is best to buy your tickets ahead of time online.
Ticket sales will end on November 21 at midnight
You can get tickets at FaTDoGCon.com
The Curb Your Dog Raffle
This will be a new concept we are trying for FaTDoG 2018. This raffle will be reserved for highly sought, new, very expensive games or games that have long been out of print and are highly valued. Tickets will be $5 each and will be a special color to denote them from the Underdog raffle (see below). These games will be listed online prior to FaTDoG so everyone will have an idea what’s in this raffle. For example, we have a new complete Kickstarter version of Steve Jackson’s Ogre, a brand-new Gloomhaven, Scythe with all its expansions, Terraforming Mars and its expansions and some very rare out of print wargames.
There will be one caveat, however; in order for someone to win these games in the raffle, there must be a certain minimum number of tickets in the raffle cup to cover the cost of the game. Each raffle cup will clearly display the number of tickets needed in order for the winner to claim his prize. For example, Steve Jackson’s Ogre game will require a minimum of 60 tickets. We will make every effort by way of announcements prior to awarding the raffle to try to reach this level so that games can be claimed. Should there not be enough tickets in a particular game, we will pick one raffle ticket from that game’s cup and award half the money value of the tickets to that person. They will not, however, get the game. In this way will be able to offer high-value, dearly sought after games in this raffle. Hence the name of the raffle… Because if you win one of these games you have truly stepped in sh@#t!
The Underdog Raffle – this will be the same as the raffles we always had at FaTDoG. New and used games will be raffled off for $2 a ticket with no minimum in the raffle cup.
Gaming Events at FaTDoG
We are already lining up events for FaTDoG and would hope that other attendees will come forward and run some events also. Here is just a preliminary list. More events will be posted on the website so please check this frequently.
Song of Ice and Fire demo (CMon Games)-with room for up to 8 players we will have a large Game of Thrones miniatures battle using this wonderful game system. The rules will be taught, no experience level is necessary.
Root – a demo for 4 players will be running at various times during the day
Napoleon 1806 – this wonderful game from Shakos is simple to learn rules but and the strategies and challenges.
Summoner Wars – take a faction and join the action in this very popular board game
Circus Maximus – we are trying to persuade Dave to run his wildly popular chariot race again this year.
Ironclads – the beginning of the age of steam and iron sheathed ships, we will be using the old Yaquinto board game rules but have miniatures in place of counters.
Axis and Allies – this wildly popular event will again run at FaTDoG with prizes for the top players
Summary
These are just some of the events that will be at FaTDoG. We encourage people to participate and run some events and tournaments. We will provide the prize for each tournament.
So, all in all, it is shaping up to be a very good FaTDoG 2018. Please purchase your tickets online early as this helps us know the number of attendees the venue will need to account for regarding food and beverage.
See you there!
