Re parking at the convention here is a special rate for con goers of €5 per day.
If you bring your parking ticket to the hotel main reception with your Gaelcon ticket they will apply this rate.

Re gaining entrance to Howl at the moon on Sat/Sun, it is a 21s venue but gamers who are over 18 who have proper ID and can prove they were at the con with their ticket will be allowed in normal management rights reserved.

This year Gaelcon has a new perpetual award, "The Gamer of Steel" award Design by Oisín Creaner, Sculpture by Rúairí Creaner. (c) Creaner Bros. 2009





"It's made of sheet steel, 20mm a side and weighs in at over a pound. It's been cut, welded and scorched like the mind of the gamer who wins it. This trophy, to be awarded every year to the most insanely dedicated gamer at the con is not for lightweights."

If you want to check your directions this evening as you gear up for Gaelcon you can find them here along with most of the information you will need for the weekend.

See you all tomorrow

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go I'm gonna be at Gaelcon
with lots to do and I know where to go-o-oh I'm gonna be at Gaelcon
Just get me to the convention put me on a plane
Hurry hurry hurry before I go insane
Quickly Cthulhu is after me and I've lost my dice again
Oh no no no no no

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go I'm gonna be at Gaelcon
with lots to do and I know where to go-o-oh I'm gonna be at Gaelcon
Just put me in a snottling pump wagon, here come the fanatics again
Hurry hurry hurry before I become a bloodstain
I wonder if Felix really knows, what goes on in Gotrex's brain
Oh no no no no no

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go I'm gonna be at Gaelcon
with lots to do and I know where to go-o-oh I'm gonna be at Gaelcon
Just let me roll my d20 and loose my arrow
Hurry hurry hurry Drow coming up from below
Cos Dark Night and pumpkin Jack are after me and you don't want to know
Oh no no no no no

Ba-ba-bamp-ba ba-ba-ba-bamp-ba we're gonna be at Gaelcon
Ba-ba-bamp-ba ba-ba-ba-bamp-ba we're gonna be at Gaelcon
Ba-ba-bamp-ba ba-ba-ba-bamp-ba we're gonna be at Gaelcon
Ba-ba-bamp-ba ba-ba-ba-bamp-ba we're gonna be at Gaelcon

There is a intresting variety of Live Action Role Play running at Gaelcon this year.
Those who want to take on the challenge of walking, talking, acting and re acting as someone else for 3 hours will have the choice of:

A late night Mardi Gras party at Minskey's New Orleans' finest burlesque theatre.

The Lasdraad meeting after the latest quarrel between House Atredis and House Harkonnan.

The Cabinet meeting as Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan unveils the proposed budget.

Trying to hunt down a rabid killer on an interstellar cargo craft.

Finding out who built the Jumps ship which have helped reshape the universe.

For more info on these and the rest of the LARPS running this year check the website here.

Looking forward to seeing you there,
only 10 days to go.

Gaelcon is proud to announce a performance of Joss Whedon's Emmy award winning Dr Horrible's Sing a Long Blog.

The performance will take place in the main all of the D4hotel's conference centre at 6:30 pm on Sunday the 25th of October and is affiliated with Can’t Stop the Serenity 2009.

The performance is free to all those attending Gaelcon but there will a collection box and for those wishing to attend just to see the performance there are Horrible tickets which will cost 4 euro.

All funds raised by this will be going to charity, 75% to Equality Now and 25% to Gaelcon's award winning charity endeavours.


Looking forward to see you there, it will be shiny.

Gaelcon has always been about having fun and trying in include as many gamers as possible.
After several dialogues with those in the emerging fighter games community, we are happy to announce that the Street Fighter IV competition is being moved to the Sunday afternoon slot, with smash bros now taking the Saturday slot.
This means that those who are taking part in the SFIV comp at Lanparty.ie the day before now
have a weekend double header, will the same person win both competitions?
Will there be many grudge matches from the day before?
This throw down will happen in the Console lounge at Gaelcon on the Sunday and spectators are welcome.

The rules for the SFIV comp were also revised and now stand as

Street Fighter 4

 

A true successor to Street Fighter 2 has emerged at last!
Following some rather heated discussion the rules for our SF4 tournament are going to be:

Single elimination format.
Each match is the best of 3 sets.
Each set is the best of 3 rounds. Players may change character between sets.
All characters are allowed. 
Players may use their own controllers.
Players may customize their key configuration before the match.
Pausing mid game results in a forfeit of the round by the player who pauses this, unless its agreed by both players to restart.
In the event of concerns about counter picking, double blind picking will be used.In the event of concerns about which side people are starting on a coin toss will be used to decide who gets which side.
 

Thanks to the mods of the fighting games forum on boards.ie for their help and to the organisers of Lanparty.ie for their support.

Yes parties, for as we know all good things come in threes and for three nights there will be revels. Saturday and Sunday in Howl at the moon and then Monday post con drinks in Cassidy's.

Gaelcon celebrates its 21st birthday this year so, of course, we're ready to party!

For those of you who have had your gaming fix sated during the day at Gaelcon and don't want to continue rolling your dice on into the darkness with the late night games slot, we're planning a whole bunch of night time social fun for the convention!

The festivities begin from 8pm with the Gaelcon Pub Quiz on Saturday and the award-winning Charity Auction on Sunday - both taking place at the convention centre.

These will be followed on both nights by a mass exodus to the Gaelcon Club - Howl at the Moon on Lower Mount Street! In this luxurious venue, there are four floors of bars, including an underground bar (The Zimmer Room) and a heated roof terrace - it's looking to be a lot of fun.

The Monday evening slot begins with the closing ceremony at 7pm and continues with a more relaxed night in Cassidy's on Westmoreland Street.

Be sure to arrive before 11.30pm on Saturday night to avoid cover charge. No charge on Sunday. club winds down at 2.30am. Costumes are welcome. Bring ID!

Howl at the Moon is only an 11 minute walk from D4hotels in mostly a straight line ( or you can jump on a bus ) there and it is halfway from Gaelcon to where the nitelinks leave.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

If your not a card player, you can often wonder what keeps them so busy,
well the answer is there are a a lot of card games which run each year at gaelcon and this year is no exception.

Sat:
12:00 - Magic the Gathering GP Paris GPT
13:00 - Yugioh Advanced Tournament
15:00 - L5R Constructed Tournament

Drafts for all of the above games and also for VS System available as soon as 8 players have registered all day and evening.

Sun:
12:00 - Yugioh Tag Duel Tournament
14:00 - Magic the Gathering Bring Your Own Standard Tournament
15:00 - Vs System Bring your own Modern Age Tournament


Drafts for all of the above games and also for Legends of the Five Rings available as soon as 8 players have registered all day and evening.

Mon:
12:00 - Yugioh Traditional Tournament
12:00 - Magic the Gathering Vintage Tournament (10 proxies allowed)
15:00 - Vs System Bring Your Own Legend Tournament

Drafts for all of the above games and also for Legends of the Five Rings available as soon as 8 players have registered all day and evening.&

There is a wonderfully varied array of rpgs running this year at Galecon.
This year sees the return of Paranoia with not one but two games running,
several types of Gurps games including GURPS Horror and Discworld.
There is a World of Darkness game running as well as Werewolf the Forsaken and Vampire: the Masquerade
Also Deadlands, Spirit of the Century, L5R Adventure and the newest oldie 4th Ed. D&D

For information on what else is running and the blurbs on the games above check out the rpg section of Gaelcon's website.

It's the 1st of October, we all know what that means, the count down to Gaelcon has begun 23 more days to go.

So what will you be taking part in over the 3 day weekend of gaming, we have done our best to have fun for gamers of all sorts and ages.
The Timetable is up on the Gaelcon website what on it tickles your fancy?

What is the shortest stroll to Gaelcon in the D4Hotel conventions centre?
Why it has to be from a hotel room in the Ballsbridge Inn and for those who are looking at booking in for the weekend
there is a 'Gaelcon price'. For the Saturday night the it is 79euro per room and for the Sunday night the price is 59 euro per room.
To make sure you get this price mention Gaelcon when making your booking.

If you do not wish to stay in the hotel attached to the conference centre ( which Gaelcon is taking over for the weekend)
and are looking for other suggestions then there are listings on the Gaelcon website.