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Gridiron Games 2024 at the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Gridiron Games 2024 at the Pro Football Hall of Fame
I've just returned home to Charlotte after a whirlwind of a weekend in Canton. I made so many great memories this weekend and wanted to share a few of them here.
Friday: No photos for the first day. After a 7 hour drive, I just wanted to say "Hi!" to my friends (new and old), have a couple beers, and wind down. We had a very enjoyable dinner in the hotel restaurant, with many of us playing musical chairs to have conversations with each other. The vibe was great and I could tell it was going to be a fun weekend. Geoff Giordano, our amazing host, ended dinner with some last minute instructions for day one and we ended the evening with more conversation and some post-dinner gaming as we looked ahead to Saturday.
Saturday: First highlight - bringing my game to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I thought it was pretty cool that the HOF even gave us a shout out on their sign.
Once inside the Hall, I got to work getting the table for Fast Drive Football set up, and managed to find a few more people to play in a FDF Single Elimination Tournament. We kicked off the tournament on Saturday and completed it Sunday (final result noted below). The second highlight of Saturday was getting to meet Hall of Famer, Fred Biletnikoff. He took a look at my shirt when I introduced myself and he said "Oh Jesus, a Steelers fan!" That's why I'm laughing (very nervously) in the photo!!
Then I joined a few people heading out to look around the Hall of Fame. It was great to see the busts of players that I got to see play in person when I lived in San Diego (1990-2015). In the group photo, that's me with Cooper Gilbert, Keith Avallone, Paul Salzgeber, and Harvey Couch.
During the day, I think I made it onto Dave Gardner and Ron Juckett's Digital to Dice Podcast 2 times if you count the "view of the room" camera - LOL. Thank you both! I have to say that I was happy to see Dave at the event. Dave has publicly talked about how he feels about traveling, and gaming with other people in person, so I was super appreciative that he made the trip. It was also very nice of him to have me talk about my 3D printed scoreboards for a bit on the show. That was fun.
Many of us had dinner together Saturday night and then it was back to the hotel. I played a couple games of Draft Duel (such a GREAT GAME!) with my gaming group, while other groups of guys were playing other games in other parts of the hotel lobby. It was a complete Gridiron Games lobby takeover.
Sunday: I made sure to get a few selfies with people that I hadn't met before, including Mark Miller (top) and Arthur Franz (bottom). Mark (aka Jerry Cuan on Facebook or Sanpurdue on Delphi) is the brand ambassador for Fast Drive Football. He has contributed a TON to the game, and I am his #1 fan. Such a great guy!! For those of you that enjoy the larger "enhanced" team cards with the player finders, you can thank Mark. Arthur is the designer of Breakaway Football, which was an attendee favorite over the weekend. I bought the game around 5 years ago and think the design is a TON of fun. He and his team did an amazing job introducing new people to the game and their section of the room looked like a booth at a board game convention. They even had matching Uplink Underground golf shirts. Very professional team!! I also learned that their company name is a nod to the movie "The Running Man." It was a treat for me to introduce FDF to Arthur and get his feedback. Definitely a highlight!!
Besides the Digital to Dice Podcast, I also had the pleasure to record a short segment for James Cast's Tabletop SportCast, along with Paul Salzgeber. Officially, I think this will be my third time on the Tabletop Sportcast. (not that I'm counting, heh...)
One of the coolest parts of the FDF Tournament was testing out a new set of 2-player rules for the game. Big shout-out to Dave Gardner and Arthur Folse (Breakaway Football) for their insightful ideas that helped me refine the rule-set as the games progressed. We had 13 coaches participate in the tourney, but in the end it was John Thompson's 1968 Jets defeating James Cast's 1963 Giants by the score of 45-24. It was a really good time, and I'm looking forward to using the FULLY refined 2-player ruleset next year!
The event was a complete success in my book, with all the credit going to Geoff (that's him with me in the selfie) for opening up the weekend to other games besides APBA. The feeling of community was great and I can't wait for next year!
Although some folks had left already, Geoff got us together for one last group photo as Sunday came to a close. That's a hell of a good looking group!!
See you all next year!! - Al
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