[Deptheads] The Saga Of The Three Con Names

Fri May 3 10:05:39 PDT 2013

How long was Gamex in Pasadena?

On Fri, May 3, 2013 at 9:58 AM, Eric M. Aldrich I <ealdrich at mac.com> wrote:

> Gateway was founded in 1981 and Gamex in 1984.
>
> Eric
>
> On Apr 30, 2013, at 6:57 PM, Victor B wrote:
>
> Good stuff.
> I also have conbooks for krryssie as Alan E. was one of the people to
> found GAMA (and was their first VP) and his bio states he founded Orccon in
> 1977 (Orange county convention).
> HMGS was not founded until 1986 (although the proposition to start a
> national historical miniature gaming society was proposed in 1981 according
> to Courier magazine.).
> I don't hear much about the founding and start of Gamex and Gateway. I
> know who some of the original owners were and people who worked those cons
> as staff but the genesis is a mystery.
> I would love to know the complete history too. Back in 1977 we only heard
> about local cons as well as gencon thru Dragon Magazine. Social media was
> your local and school newspaper. Our archiving sucked.
>
> V
>
>    *From:* Michael Russell <mikeinva8 at mac.com>
> *To:* deptheads at strategicon.net
> *Sent:* Tuesday, April 30, 2013 6:02 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [Deptheads] The Saga Of The Three Con Names
>
> When I get home next week I will send you all that I have, I am away in
> Slovenia right now.  I agree it would be a interesting factoid.
>
> Mike
> On May 1, 2013, at 2:59 AM, Kryssie <phantom.hopscotch at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Would someone supply me with the history of the convention please?  It's
> interesting factoids usable in the tours.
>
> Kryssie M.
> Marketing Monkey
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On 2013-04-30, at 5:56 PM, Michael Russell <mikeinva8 at mac.com> wrote:
>
> Actually son of Orccon was a one time convention they tried in November,
> but it never took off. Orccon has always had the same name and time of
> year.  I have the complete early history of the cons as written my Alan E.
> one of he founders of the cons on my home computer, it was in one of the
> Con books years and years ago.
>
> Mike
> On May 1, 2013, at 2:52 AM, Tim <Tim at stugiii.com> wrote:
>
>      Actually Orccon was founded by HMGS.  I believe it was "Orccon", then
> "Son of Orccon".  It reverted back to "Orccon" after that.  Orccon = Orange
> County Convention which is where it was originally held.
>
> Someone besides John has to give history lessons on occasion...
>
> Tim
>
>
> On 4/30/2013 4:18 PM, Victor B wrote:
>
>
>  Thanks for all the input everyone.
> Orccon was first and was established in 1977. The other 2 followed. The
> original founder from 77 plus some of the other previous owners are
> vendors at our con, and/or support our con. I even met 2 previous owners at
> GAMA--one from the 80s and one from the 90s. They both talked fondly of the
> con and started sentences off with "back in 1995 when I ran the con....".
> Neither has lived in cali for many years. We have a rich 36 year history.
> There are less than a handful of people, like Ryan, that have been with
> this con over 25 years and been a part of 70+ of it's conventions. This con
> will still be going when most all of us have moved on.
>
> I mentioned Orccon, Gamex and Gateway versus strategicon 3X a year (feb,
> may, sept) because I wanted everyone here to put in their 2-cents before we
> made a decision.
> I wanted everyone to hear what Ryan, Norm, Mike Russell, Mike Fryer, Eric
> N., Eric B., and Kryssie had to say as well as supervisors and others on
> this list. Your input is valuable.
> Thanks
>
> V
>
>
>   *From:* Michael Russell mailto:mikeinva8 at mac.com <mikeinva8 at mac.com>
> *To:* deptheads at strategicon.net
> *Sent:* Tuesday, April 30, 2013 1:52 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [Deptheads] The Saga Of The Three Con Names
>
>  Ok just wanted to get my two cents in on this before the final word
> comes down.  I think that we need to have either Strategicon or the name of
> the conventions on the banners for few reason.  One, not only are people at
> the hotel for the convention, but a lot of guest of the hotel walk through
> wondering what is going on.  With out Strategicon or the con names  on the
> banners there is NOTHING advertising who we are. When working the reg desk
> many many times people have noted the name Strategicon or the con name when
> asking what was going on.  Second if someone is new to the cons, this
> reaffirms they are in the right place, and with a move coming soon, I think
> we need this more than ever.
>
>  As for the names of the Cons (Orccon, Gamex, Gateway) they have been
> those name for over 25-30 years(Yes me and Eric A. have been going to these
> con for that long), and have worked well (by the way for those of you that
> don't know this, Orccon stood for Orange county Convention) not the ugly
> beast :)   When ever I think of changing the names I think of companies
> that did that and it was a disaster - Think Radio Shack trying to change to
> "The Shack" how well did that work for them?   And all three names are
> something easy to remember, so when they get home and google it, right of
> the bat, strategicon come up, and that is what we want.
>
>  As for each Convention having a "Theme" not bad but like someone else
> said have it very low key, like the program cover art of one con be board
> games, another war games and another RPG.  We do not want people saying "Oh
> I don't go to Gamex because that is there RPG con", we might loose people
> to something like that.
>
>  So that is my two cents worth.
> Mike Russell
>
>
>
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