Conventions. The smells of body odor, fried food, the sounds of box farts, cards shuffling, and heated discussions about who was hotter, Princess Leia or Amidala. People complaining that 7XL was the largest t-shirt available (yes I witnessed that) and all the geek ego stroking you can imagine. You wanna hear about my character? My deck? My greatest 18XX triumph? Fat women in tight leather asking if M'lord would like to demo their new CCG, stormtroopers waiting in line behind Klingons to take a piss. More Mountain Dew Code Red sold in one day than is sold the other 364 days of the year. For some, this would be a scary sight or something to make a documentary about. For me, it was a chance to play a whole lot of games in one day and hopefully see a bunch of new stuff.