12/28/2023
Dear gaming friends and GobbleCon attendees,
I hope this message finds you well and in good spirits! As many of you know, organizing GobbleCon over Thanksgiving weekend has been a fantastic journey filled with incredible memories and gaming experiences. However, after much consideration, both Amrit and myself have decided to take a break from producing the event in the coming years.
Fear not, though! Like many of you, we still crave the joy of tabletop gaming with friends over Thanksgiving, and I'd love to invite you to an informal gaming weekend at the Hyatt Regency Burlingame. We’re calling it… “The GobbleThon” Ha! No fancy scheduled events, no organized play groups, no large game library and no admission fees —just a laid-back atmosphere for us to enjoy some quality open gaming together.
But, to attend, you’ll need to be a registered guest of the hotel for a minimum of 2 nights over the weekend.
The Hyatt has worked with us to scale our event in such a way that we will retain the majority of our gaming space, but with less of a contractual commitment to how many room nights we sell.
For those who might not know, Room Nights, or pickup, is how most gaming conventions secure their gaming space without a large outlay of $$. Typically, a hotel will say “We’ll give you these spaces, but you need to sell 100 room nights.” Now, what that means isn’t that there has to be 100 rooms sold each night, but instead, over the course of the event, the total number of rooms sold to attending guests must be 100. So, if 10 rooms are sold Thursday night, and 40 each for Friday and Saturday, plus another 10 for Sunday, then you’ve achieved your pickup goal.
So, for The GobbleThon 2024, we need to achieve about half of the room night pickup we’ve been required to get in past years. Our gaming space will include the Cypress rooms, and the area (foyer) outside the Cypress rooms. (This is where the game library and open gaming has been.) We will likely also have access to the Atrium.
BUT… and this is important… we have until January 31st to determine if this model, and the scaled requirements will work! ��The Hyatt is TAKING RESERVATIONS NOW FOR GOBBLETHON 2024! If you think .. or are sure!.. that you want to attend.. PLEASE book your room(s) now! YES.. it’s very early.. like a year early! BUT… we need to get a sense of whether people are interested in this model of a mini gaming convention.��We’ll have a rooming list in hand over the convention, to help determine who gets a wristband. (Yeah.. we’ll still have those!) Likewise, we’ve not set a limit of how many people can stay in a room… so basically… we’re trusting you to ‘help us, help you’ by not abusing the room night booking/admission requirement. If you have 2 or 3 in a room… all guests will get admission. If you have 6-8 in a room, well hmmm?��IF WE DON’T ACHIEVE ENOUGH BOOKINGS BY JANUARY 31ST, WE WILL CANCEL THE EVENT. And.. in that case, your rooms will be cancelled by the Hyatt. We don’t yet know what ‘enough’ means.. but we’ll be tracking our ‘pickup’ over the next few weeks to get a feel for interest.
Event Details:
* Location: Hyatt Regency Burlingame
* Date: Thu, Nov 28, 2024 - Sun, Dec 1, 2024 (NOTE! We’ll have the Cypress room available starting Thanksgiving day at 4pm)
* Time: 4pm Nov 28 through 5pm Dec 1, 2024
* What to Bring: Your favorite board games, a playful spirit, and an appetite for fun! We’ll try to do a small version of a game flea market too!
* Cost: Proof of 2 room nights booked over the course of the weekend. (Meaning for example, one night Thursday and another night Friday)
Accommodation:
The Hyatt Regency Burlingame is offering the special discounted rate of $119 per night. Book online or just mention the code “G-GOB1” when booking.
https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/group-booking/SFOBU/G-GOB1
This is not a GobbleCon, and there won't be any formal events or tournaments. It's all about good company, great games, and the joy of sharing our passion for tabletop gaming.
I hope you can make it!
Please let me know if you have any questions or if there's anything specific you'd like to see at our informal gaming weekend.
Looking forward to rolling the dice and making some memories together!
Best regards,
Japji Khalsa
