Homercon ended this year. I announced this in a short talk and thank you to the assembled gamers, many of whom have been coming for many, many years.
I believe that the longest participant was Rod Miller, who attended all but one of the 21 Homercons. The one he missed was on account of back surgery... I guess we'll give him a pass on that.
The first Homercon (called "The Retreat" back then) was held in the office with around 5-8 attendees (I forget). This was in 1991. The highlight was a Bloody 110th game where the senior commanders could not look at the map. Rod, was tasked with this job, but I forget the side... I do recall him sitting up in the front office, feet up on a desk, reading the sports section when he yelled back to the library (then Playtest Room A... the current Playtest Room (B, obviously) had not yet been built in the back of the warehouse) asking about the weather... he got a snotty reply to look out the &*@# window.
The next year, with a bigger crowd, we had so much fun, we ran the con twice (deciding that was a bit much for those with lots of travel).
Over the years the con continued to grow in numbers (peaking in 2001 with _too many_ because everyone assumed that since I had sold the company to MMP, that would be the last one... we actually had players in the upstairs part of the warehouse, not a good idea as those who have seen it can attest). After that con, numbers stabilized at a more comfortable number (usually in the 30's someplace).
The con was always free-form. In other words, we never "ran events", required registration and so on. Guys simply showed up and played whatever they wanted and invited others to join. We never charged a fee for coming, but everyone was asked to share the porta-potty cost by passing the hat. The guys never failed to come up with the needed money and Chip Pharr was instrumental in helping crack the whip so that the fund was taken care of before the doors closed.
Of note also is that the name "Homercon" was coined by Perry Andrus (sometime in the 90's, but I'm not sure exactly when).
Invariably, some major playtest was conducted of some upcoming (usually large) game. I recall all manner of games, especially repeated playings of games like Enemy at the Gates and Case Blue. In recent years, we've concentrated that effort on the LoB Gettysburg game (which is shaping up to be a real treat, even for the most jaded wargamer).
For several years in the late 90's, we featured a air combat miniatures game which ran on an excel spreadsheet I devised to learn a little more about aeronautical engineering. It worked well as a con game, we could usually cycle around half the participants at the con through it at one point or another. We could brag on having actually played 800 turns over the course of the convention.
A special treat was the numerous players who came from all over the world to play in little 'ol Homer. Among the gentlemen who "went the extra mile" were Gordon Dainty and Marcus Randall from England (Gordon is quick to point out that _he_ had been coming for years before he could convince Marcus to make it), Thomas Buetner a German living then in England, Joseph Vanden Borre from Belgium, and the furthest of them all Andrew Fischer from South Africa. It has been an honor to have them grace our little convention.
One sign that things were changing was the fact that 15 years ago, guys would play deep into the night (I was lucky to have friends like Jim Daniels who would stay late to lock up... since, as he would be quick to point out "I couldn't hang"). In more recent years, fellows couldn't last that long anymore and everyone broke to eat and go to sleep at much more reasonable times. They (and I) were getting older.
For many years, Tim Gritten ran the annual Circus Minimus game that was the closing event of the con. This was crowned by the awarding of the traveling "Golden Whip" plaque. The plaque itself was made by Ric Van Dyke and I and Rod Miller tied (exactly) to jointly win the very first game. After that game, it seemed that the goal of everyone was to kill the designer (me) within the first lap. They always succeeded, I never finished another game alive again. The plaque made the rounds all over the world (going to Belgium for a year with Joseph who thought to send a photo of him holding it while wearing a full centurion uniform).
One player we will never forget went by the name of Ernie (no last name that I'm aware of). Ernie was a special person. He would set up and play the largest of the games... using his own imaginary rules. He would play constantly for days and have a great time by himself. He'd regale every passer by with all the things that were happening in his game.
These are all great memories. The crowd was always friendly and supportive. Guys never lacked for opponents and games to play. I cannot even begin to count the number of games that came out of the woodwork for people to play... including Jim Daniels and his obsession with zombie games.
Guys want to know why it has ended. I need to say that the reasons are personal and not something I will discuss.
It will be missed. Everyone in that crowd is a friend.