My BricksWest 2002 Trip Diary (Page Two)   After much consternation and confusion over which LEGO-based game to try (Steve Jackson's Pirates! or BrikWars), I settled on the smaller, more brick-interactive game of BrikWars. What was supposed to be a quick and dirty 4 hour foray into BrikWars ended up spanning two days and over 9 hours! The game was hosted by Mike Rayhawk, one of the key designers of BrikWars, while the players included the Reverend Brendan Powell Smith and Lila Tene, Todd Thuma and Mark Rideout, and Steve D. (sorry I missed your last name ). The first few moves were filled with ridiculous mis-steps and a large preponderonce of bad luck visited upon each player's "hero". Poor Brendan and Lila's "hero" struck the underside of a gun turret repeatedly with his head, ultimately finishing the game carved in two, with each half deposited in a garbage can . Steve on the other hand spent the majority of the game attempting to vaporize a line of phone booths, though at our behest, he finally surrendered the fight and settled on dropping thermo-nuclear warheads out of the 3rd story window of an art museum. While Todd and Mark attempted to sabotage Steve's efforts to blow us all to the seventh level of hell, Stephen (me) secretly snuck up the clock tower and used his 'hero' to chop down the 'extra' flag which fell to a trio of awaiting soldiers on motorbikes waiting to race the flag back to his base for the win! All of this was on the first night. The second night was the 6 inch trip from the clock tower to my base - by motorcycle! Sound like a quick and easy win? Not so fast! When the other players noticed my devious and sniveling plan, they quickly sent in snipers, helicopters, garbage-can toting heros plumetting from the sky, and a wave of foot soldiers to stop my plans for BrikWars domination! They nearly succeeded, but ultimately I won - albeit via a scorched earth policy of destroying all modes of transportation near my base.  The game was the absolute high-point of the convention for me, as the game was a great deal of fun with varied personalities and creative thinking/strategizing/wackifying! "Everyone's a winner when heroes wear garbage cans!" Mark Rideout, Mike Rayhawk, Stephen Fisher, Rev.Brendan Powell Smith, and Lila Tene, Steve D. - not shown) Sunday, February 17th: Mark and I fueled up for Sunday with breakfast of a Caramel Frappucino and almond Bear Claw, and a lunch of Karl Strauss Pasta and $1 beers! Our afternoon was filled with a visit to LEGOLand, California where we dodged a light drizzle to play LEGO video games, visit the MiniLand displays (San Francisco here we come!) and a mondo-visit to the LEGO-refuse bins at the Maniac Clubhouse. Any place that sells LEGO by the pound in large unsorted bins is asking for our paychecks After another pile of young visitors to our Pavilion display, it was time for cleanup. But luckily cleanup only took a couple hours this time! Without my wife's careful packing and wrapping, the process went a lot quicker - in fact I just used a large mallet and a garbage bag to prepare my display for the return trip Sunday night was the under-promoted, but overly-rewarding First-(Annual?) LEGO Animation Festival. Key highlights were spoofs of Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Swingers, Mad Max, Lost Highway, and the Matrix. Original highlights included "The Bus Stop" with a rabid crazed kitty destroying a poor minifig's wait at a bus stop, and a young kid's plan to rout evil from the planet (before school starts!). Monday, February 18th: The final day of BricksWest provided no less excitement with an intimate discussion with Steve Jackson, Frank Filz, and Mike Rayhawk about the state and future of LEGO gaming. Also a final mecha discussion and LDraw community strategy meeting with key contributions by Tim Courtney. Finally, there was a discussion led by Matt Gerber including almost 25 people about the state and future of the LEGO Company and Adult LEGO Fan community. While the discussions were heated at times, much input and insight was provided, and a compelling conversation was partaken by all. Interesting tidbits included the tentative offer by LEGOLand to host the next convention, gauged interest in more frequent conventions, and comments regarding the transformation of the brick over time. (Steve Jackson, Mike Rayhawkm and Frank Filz) Mark Rideout, Dan Jassim, and I once again trekked out into the Carlsbad suburbs in search of grubbin' chow, and found Sammy's Wood-Fired Pizza. Though the beer was far from tap-worthy, the food fueled us up for a jaunt to the beach for a last look at a summer-reminiscent view of the soothing waves of the San Diego beach. (Dan Jassim, Mark Rideout) Finally, the fan-produced (David Schilling coordinated) Mindstorms Challenge was held, where 3 teams analyzed an obstacle course and had 2 hours to build a robot capable of navigating and weeding the course! In what was originally predicted as a rout by the smallest contributer (though largest team), the actual contest was quite exciting with trees thrown every which way, motors tearing up gears, and an affront to the Sierra Club for a climax! Congratulations to the winners and much kudos to the runners-up who gave us a gut-busting laugh and near-dead tie! (Tree Roto-Rooter plows the course, leading to uproarious laughter) Thanks to Mark R for another trip to the San Diego airport, and after some brief delays, I was back home in the dead of night to my warm home, lovingly crying cat, and LEGO-addiction supporting wife! Check out more pictures in My BricksWest 2002 Photo   or the BrickShelf BricksWest 2002 Binder Pavilion Displays (check out my Castle pics and Mark Rideout's Space pics) People Pics Background image © Copyright 1996-2002 by Todd Lehman, used with persmission. See: Fibblesnork Backgrounds for all the available images and terms and conditions of use.