Surprise Visitor/Guest at GenCon 2023!

Friday night I was showing off Shadowgate board game to people in the Event Hall, which was in a non-optimal spot, but 1/2 way into the game, a guy approached me and looked befuddled at the banner and the back of the box. I took notice of him and asked if he remembered Shadowgate, and he said, "I'll do you one better. I'm the son of one of the creators."

Now, I was pretty sure he wasn't Karle Roelofs or Dave Marsh's son, so I looked a little befuddled, and he clarified that he was the son of the VP of the company that produced it, and it hit me that he was talking about ICOM Simulations. He confirmed that, and told me his father was AT GenCon, and was going to freak out when he saw it. So he went and got his dad, (he wouldn't tell him what he was about to see; he wanted to make it a surprise) and it was David Feldman, and his son Daniel.

I was really floored by this absolute chance encounter, and he in turn was indeed surprised that Shadowgate was a board game, but we got into a great conversation about the creation of the board game, his time at ICOM and all about a lot of the creation/production process that went into making the original. He said it was his favorite game, and that he was happy us and Dave were working on building upon it in different ways. I told him about SG VR, the board game and the new Beyond Shadowgate.

We talked about all kinds of things and I was grateful for the chance to meet and talk to him. He seems like a great guy. He and his son both. Apparently they both come to GenCon every year, and they use that time to build together.

Not only did I get to meet and get to know Dave Feldman, but we also sold out of Shadowgate by Saturday afternoon! Shadowgate was VERY popular this year at GenCon, and I just wanted to share this amazing story.

The odds of us meeting were so slim; the fact that we happen to run into each other among tens of thousands of people on this particular Friday night, it really blew my mind and again makes me appreciate my friendship with Dave, Karl and all those close to Zojoi.