Summary: World Boardgaming Championships<br> Seven Springs Mountain Resort, PA<br><br> July 21 – 29<br> The Boardgame Players Association’s (BPA) largest event is the annual World Boardgaming Championships® (WBC) where about 2,000 people from around the world compete to be named champion of their favorite boardgames.<br><br> Link: <a href="https://www.boardgamers.org/">https://www.boardgamers.org/</a><br> BPA History (<a href="https://www.boardgamers.org/historyindex.html">https://www.boardgamers.org/historyindex.html</a>)<br><br> The Boardgame Players Association (BPA_ started in 1991. The gaming convention which would eventually evolve into the present WBC got its start in 1991 as Avaloncon when years of campaigning for it by Don Greenwood finally convinced Avalon Hill management that a “return to basics” gaming convention emphasizing competitive play of the games was the best way for The Avalon Hill Game Company to reverse its flagging fortunes. Having started the Origins gaming convention two decades earlier—with all of 13 tournaments—Avalon Hill had freely relinquished control of that annual gaming fest to the fledgling Game Manufacturer’s Association to concentrate on the production of its own games.<br> Ed, Mike, and Celeste are looking forward to checking out the event in person this year and will report on their experience! <br> <br> Internet Archive<br> <a href="https://archive.org/">https://archive.org/</a><br><br> About the Internet Archive:<br><br> The Internet Archive, a non-profit, is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, the print disabled, and the general public. Our mission is to provide Universal Access to All Knowledge.<br> Evan and the panel marvel at the large collection of software and games, which you can play from the website. <br><br> <a href="https://archive.org/details/software">https://archive.org/details/software</a><br> <br> The Decemberists Present: Illimat<br> <a href="https://www.illimat.com/">https://www.illimat.com/</a><br> In 2009, the band The Decemberists had an Idea for a photoshoot where they would be a secret society playing a weird and wonderful game in different locations. Carson Ellis and photographer Autumn de Wilde created a game board as a prop and call it The Illimat.<br> Twogether Studios and Keith Baker worked to create the Illimat board game, which was successfully Kickstarted in 2016.<br> <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/twogetherstudios/illimat">https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/twogetherstudios/illimat</a><br> <br>
