GAMA Trade Show 2011 Update: We Are Booked!

Thanks to the magic of Kickstarter.com, Livingdice.com is going to the GAMA Trade Show! I anticipated many backers with smaller contributions, but I was completely wrong. Instead a few large backers chose to sponsor  our efforts.  This is great news. I was concerned about the rising cost of covering the show and the Kickstarter contributions really go a long way to making the trip viable. I just booked the flight and hotel for the trip and thought I should mention this fact to those interested in attending GTS 2011: it is more expensive than last year. The hotel especially rose over the previous two years. My rate last year was $59.00 per night at Bally’s, which was better than the rate GAMA offered using the convention code. This year, the rack rates for the hotel went up substantially ($138.00 per night average). The GAMA rate is $114.00 per night.  GAMA’s rate is clearly cheaper and the nearby hotels are significantly more expensive than Bally’s rack rate, much less the GAMA rate. Looks like Bally’s is the low-cost winner this year.

I suppose this is a sign the economy marches towards recovery, but it did make the trip a bit more costly than I expected. Still, it was within my margin of financial error so we will still cover the show.

In the interests of full disclosure, here are the costs for the flight and hotel.

Round-trip Flight for Two: $368.80

Hotel (single room for three nights, not including tax): $383.04

Total cost:  $751.84

Though we already reached our initial Kickstarter goal, supporters are still welcome! Any additional funds go towards miscellaneous expenses (eg food, taxi rides and fees for things like the liveblog software) over and above the flight and hotel. If you are interested,  I suggest you check out the $1.00 supporter option. You get full access to our liveblog of the show that will not be available to the general public until after the show is over.  Get a jump on all of your friends and flaunt your pre-release gaming knowledge in front of their envious eyes!

My heartfelt thanks to all of our current supporters and look forward to seeing everyone at the GAMA Trade Show 2011!

Oh, if you are an exhibitor at GTS 2011, please drop me a line. I am putting together my yearly attendee list and will happily add your name.

Trask, The Last Tyromancer