GameStorm Updates
In this update:
- GameDay Canceled
- Registration Cutoff/At Convention membership
- Vaccination and mask requirements
- Last day for submitting events
Game Day Canceled
The Coronavirus continues to wreak havoc on the scheduling of events. As of this writing, at least 4 January events have been canceled, including the New York Toy Show. The Omicron variant is running extremely strong and right now we are at the peak of its strength.
With this in mind, and in looking out for everyone’s safety, we have chosen to cancel the January 20th Game Day and focus all of our attention on making GameStorm the best event we can make of it. We apologize for those of you who had made plans to attend. We strongly encourage you to game at home and share your gaming with #GameStormathome and #GS22 on twitter and Facebook and make sure to mention us. We look forward to sharing your images.
Registration Cutoff/At Convention membership
In addition to this, and to keep the membership strong, we have decided to cut off Memberships. On February 1st, memberships will no longer be purchasable for GameStorm 22, and there will be no in-person purchases available.
We understand that many of you still operate with Cash and only pay in person, and this is a decision we have not made lightly, but in order to control crowds and minimize contacts, we feel this is the best answer.
Vaccinations and mask requirements
As of the time of writing, the following requirements will be followed for admission to GameStorm
- All attendees ages five and up must be either fully vaccinated or show proof of a negative test ran within 48 hours of the day you are attending the event.
- Fully vaccinated is defined as being 2 weeks past the final shot of your chosen immunization (2 shots for Moderna/Pfizer, 1 shot for Johnson and Johnson)
- Proof of negative test must be a test that is administered by a Health Care official within the 48 hours prior to the day(s) of attendance in order to be valid for the entire convention.
Masks will be required at all times In all function space except when eating food in Glisan. The hotel additionally requires masks to be worn at all times throughout the hotel except when eating or drinking. Failure to properly wear your mask can result in removal of membership privileges.
Last day for submitting events
Our online schedule is looking pretty good, but we still have a lot more room for events. The last day to get an event submitted and be available for players to signup will be Sunday, February 13th at 12AM. This will allow our scheduling team to assign tables as needed.
We know these are some big changes, and we appreciate everyone working with us to make the convention as safe as possible. We’re looking forward to amazing convention. Please get yourself a room at the hotel and come join us for a fun filled event. As always if you have any questions or concerns, please contact feedback@gamestorm.org (responses directly to this message get filtered and your response can be delayed.)
-Jason
-GameStorm 22 Chair
Winter Newsletter
GameStorm Winter Newsletter.
First off, we apologize for the delays. Normally this update would have sent this shortly after Thanksgiving, but life has been crazy and GameStorm has only been a portion of that! But rest assured, we are still moving forward, and this weekend finds us with a large amount of updates to share.
In This episode:
· Covid Response Plans
· Game Submissions are Live!
· Hotel Block Link
· Membership Pricing Schedule and Rollover Status
· Game Day
Covid-19 Response Plan
The most common questions people are asking us revolve around our responses and requirements for vaccinations or testing. While we would love to give you a solid 100% answer right now, we can’t.
We know that the requirements and limitations are changing on an almost-daily basis, and we as a group want to make sure the event is as safe as possible. Right now, our current intention is to make a final decision sometime around January 22nd. This will be about 2 months before the convention and will give us the best insight as to where things should be while still giving everyone a chance to respond as needed. Hopefully nothing drastic changes after that point, but from there we will be ready.
Game Submissions
Great news! After some hard work and long hours from our technical team, GameCon, The Game Submission System, is live and ready to accept games. If you are interested in running a game, this is when you would go ahead and submit your game requests. Please be as detailed as possible including preferred times and table needs. Please note that due to increased distancing we likely will not have quite as many tables as previous years but will do our best to accommodate everyone’s requests while still leaving plenty of tables for open play.
To submit your game, please go to: https://gamestorm.org/schedule/index.html and make sure you are signed in with your GameStorm login information. If you have any issues with this login, please contact events@gamestorm.org and they will work to assist you.
As soon as we have tables ready to schedule and the games are scheduled, we will open for Player Signups. Watch for more updates on this near the end of January.
Hotel Link
As we have previously announced, as of January 1st the hotel will be changing names to the Holiday Inn on the River-Jantzen Beach. As part of this change, the link to reserve hotel rooms has moved. Please visit the following link to reserve your room if you have not already: https://www.ihg.com/holidayinn/hotels/us/en/portland/pdxhv/hoteldetail?fromRedirect=true&qSrt=sBR&qIta=99801505&icdv=99801505&qSlH=PDXHV&qGrpCd=GST&setPMCookies=true&qSHBrC=HI&qDest=909%20N.%20Hayden%20Island%20Drive,%20Portland,%20OR,%20US&srb_u=1
Make sure to adjust the dates to the ones you wish to be staying as the new site does not automatically default to our dates (we are working on this). This will be the best price you can get for a hotel during the convention so you can continue to game all weekend (and having a room gives you a great place to relax socially away from others, enjoy a meal, and more).
Membership Pricing Schedule and Rollover
As we move on through the year, this is just a reminder that the price of GameStorm memberships will go up again on December 31st to $70.00 and will remain there until March 12th, which will be the last day you can purchase before buying at the convention.
If you have not yet confirmed your rolled-over membership, please note that unless you have asked for a refund, you have a 98% chance of being already moved over; however, please contact registration@gamestorm.org to verify your status. We are working within our system to send out an email to everyone, but this has not been as easy as we had hoped.
Game Day
That’s right! We are going to squeeze in one more Game Day! This Will be January 22nd from 9AM-9PM at the hotel. As with all Game Days, these are free to attend and bring your friends. Come check out some new games or bring one of your favorites to show off.
For this Game Day, Masks will be required at all times while in the event space. If you have a drink, you may quickly remove it to take a drink, but please replace mask quickly between drinks. If you wish to eat, we encourage you to step out of the event space to have a bite to eat then return.
Our last Game Day was nicely spaced out with plenty of room between tables and we expect the same for this one.
Thank you all for your continued patience and support of GameStorm. We are just a group of volunteers getting together to have a good time with our friends doing something we enjoy. The past 2 years have been a rough one, but it is getting better and all of you help keep us going.
-Jason
-GameStorm 22 Chair.
- 7/20/21
- 7/2/21
- 5/19/21
- 2/11/21
- 3/22/20
- 3/18/20
- 3/12/20
- 3/6/20
- 3/3/20
- 2/22/20
