Babycon X

Babycon X was held over Memorial Day Weekend, May 23 to May 26, 2003, at the Jones house in Germantown, Maryland. We had a huge turnout, with 25 players and a host of children in attendance. Every year someone comes to Babycon for the first time and this year was no exception. John Weber, a coworker of mine and an active organizer in the Games Club of Maryland, came to play on Saturday and Sunday. John introduced our group to several new games, including Emerald and Traumfabrik. For that, we are very grateful.

Special thanks go out to Kimberly Stern and Royal and Stephanie White. They worked hard to produce Babycon X souvenirs, including t-shirts and scrapbooks filled with color photos of everyone who has attended Babycon, nicknames, quotes, favorite games, and a host of statistics from Babycons 1-9. Many people bought a t-shirt and each person attending was given a scrapbook.

We started early this year, at 1PM on Friday, to get in another five hours of gaming. On Friday evening, we dined at a local Mexican restaurant, Mi Rancho, and returned for a packed weekend of gaming.

Since this was the tenth Babycon, we had several special events to commemorate the occasion. The biggest event was a huge Epic Duels tournament with eight teams of three players each. We also ran full group games throughout the weekend. More on all of this later.

As usual, each person started out with 15 unique Babycon Bucks one of which was antied at the start of every game. At the end of the weekend, those with the most Bucks were Paul Czarnota and myself, Alex Ruvinsky and Steve Bramer. See the Master Tote Board for full results.

Some weeks ago, Joe Bloch set up a Babycon group at Yahoo! We sent out invitations to join but I’m not sure they all got through. The group is a place to share information and Babycon news. If you haven’t yet, check it out here. We’ve posted many Babycon X pictures there in their full glory.

My thanks to everyone who attended. After the huge preparations for Babycon X, we’re making Babycon 11 a much more low-key, informal affair. We hope everyone can make it.


The most successful event of the weekend was the Epic Duels Team Tournament. Eight teams of three players each fought it out over two days in a single elimination tournament. At the start of each match, the teams were randomally assigned either to dark or light side (of the Force, of course) and were given some time to pick their characters. Battle was then joined in a fight to the death! The prize? Bragging rights, plus a custom made Yoda Trophy for each member of the winning team.

Special thanks go to Brady Severns whose unique contributions made this event especially unusual and interesting. Brady enlarged the Epic Duels boards to accommodate the 3" Star Wars action figures. Using the huge boards with the large figures added a great deal to the game. Also thanks to Jeff Spencer for bringing many of his Star Wars figures to round out the character ranks.

One testament to the success of the tournament, after numerous games over many hours, several people continued to play Epic Duels. Many players playtested Brady’s custom-made decks and figures which included Star Wars characters not included in the official game!

Haggle was the big game for the weekend, starting on Friday night after dinner and running until Sunday at noon. In Haggle, each player started with 10 randomly distributed “treasures”, plastic pieces (pineapples, trees, shells, fish) and glass stones of various colors. At the end of the game, the treasures were valued following a set of 25 rules. In addition to the ten treasures, each player started out with two of the rules. The goal of the game is to trade rules and treasures, figuring out the value of each treasure, and turn in the set of treasures worth the highest value.

While not everyone participated, many players engaged in active trading of both rules and treasures. Jeff Spencer, Zoe Spencer, and Rachel Jones worked together to gather as many rules as they could. Dan Korn began spreading false rules around to throw other players off the track.

In the end, Royal White turned in the highest valued set for the win.

Haggle Scores:

* Royal White - 74
* Alex Ruvinsky - 64
* Jason Ruvinsky - 61
* Rachel Jones - 49
* Dan Korn - 42
* Jeff Spencer - 36
* Marvin Gersho - 36
* Ken Cline - 35
* Zoe Spencer - 34
* Karen Bloch - 33
* Stephanie Ruvinsky - 32
* Brady Severns - 30
* Eric Haas - 28
* Glenn Bramer - 27
* Carol Jones - 8
* Bill Ruvinsky - 4

The 25 Valuation Rules for Haggle

1. The Crystal Gem has the highest value and is twice the value of the Pink Gem.
2. The Pink Gem is worth 4 points which is also the value of the Pink Clamshell plus the Rose Shell.
3. The value of each Blue Sea treasure is one quarter the value of the Crystal Gem.
4. The value of the Blue Gem is twice the value of each Rose Sea treasure and one third the value of each Stone.
5. The value of each Stone is equal to the value of each Green Island treasure plus the value of each Pink Sea treasure.
6. The value of the Green Gem is half the value of each Crystal Island treasure.
7. The value of each Yellow Island treasure equals the value of the Blue Shell minus the value of the Blue Gem.
8. Each set of a Green Tree and a Green Pineapple will cost you six points.
9. Each set of all four color Gems is worth bonus points equal to the value of each Stone.
10. If all your Gems are one color, you receive a bonus worth the value of the Crystal Gem.
11. The pineapple with the red dot on the bottom is worth fifteen bonus points.
12. The value of the Blue Stone is six points, which is also the value of the Crystal Tree plus the value of the Pink Gem.
13. Each set of four of any one color Gem is worth seven bonus points.
14. The difference between the number of Fish and Starfish will cost you one point per piece.
15. Having no Gems or no Stones will cost you points equal to five times the value of each Green Island treasure.
16. Having the number of Fish equal to the value of the Blue Gem in each of the three Sea treasure colors is worth ten bonus points.
17. Having more than three Crystal Gems will cost you twenty-four points, which is also the value of the Pink Starfish multiplied by the value of the Crystal Gem.
18. Having at least one of each Sea treasure is worth a bonus of twenty points.
19. Each set of a Yellow Pineapple and a Yellow Tree is worth six points.
20. Having the most Pineapples (no ties) is worth the value of two Crystal Gems.
21. Each complete set of Pink Sea treasures will cost you four points.
22. Each complete set of Blue Sea treasures is worth three bonus points.
23. Each complete set of Rose Sea treasures is worth one bonus point.
24. You lose five points for each treasure you turn in beyond fifteen treasures.
25. The value of the Blue Stone is six points, which is also the value of the Crystal Tree plus the Pink Gem.

Tote Board
Acquire Steve, Joe, Glenn, Ken
Adel Verpflichtet Bob, Ken, Rachel J, Jason, John
Adel Verpflichtet Brady, Marvin, Bob, Jason, Zoe
Epic Duels Alex, Kimberly
Epic Duels Alex, Kimberly
Epic Duels Stephanie W, Brady
Epic Duels Stephanie W, Brady
Epic Duels Marvin, Ken
Epic Duels Marvin, Ken
Amun-Re Jeff, Glenn, Eric, Bob, Carol
Amun-Re Dan K, Eric, Bill, John
Babel Marvin, Royal
Battle Cry Brady, Glenn
Bohnanza Paul, Joe, Karen, Dan K, Brady, Rachel S, Kimberly
Carcassonne Paul, Brady, Zoe, Kimberly
Cartagena Paul, Rachel J, Brady, Rachel S, Zoe, Kimberly
Cartagena Alex, Rachel J, Dan K, Stephanie R
Cartagena Paul, Bill, Jason
Cartagena Paul, Bill
Cave Troll Carol, Jeff, Kimberly
Chess Paul, Bill
Citadels Dan K, Karen, Paul, Eric, Bill, John
Daytona 500 Glenn, Steve, Eric, Jason
Delta V Dan K, Ken
Delta V Dan K, Bob, Rachel S, Jeff
Dragon Delta Jeff, Joe, Rachel J, Zoe