Returning to Notacon 7 is the gaming room. From consoles games old and new to board games of all types, we hope the gaming lounge will provide a social gathering place where gamers of all stripes can come relax and play together. Board game demos will be occurring in this space, check back for more details, or visit the game room during the con to find a schedule.

Game Workshops

There are some awesome board games out there. You might have seen your friends playing them, but never took the time to learn them. Notacon game workshops highlight some of the best, with explanation of the rules and friendly games afterward to help people get the hang of it.

Dominion Saturday, 12pm

Rule over your dominion! A deck building card game where the game itself is building your deck. Purchase treasures, victory cards, and kingdom cards as you play the game to build the most powerful deck. Dominion won the Purcase Spiel des Jahres in 2009 (Game of the Year).

Robo Rally Saturday, 2pm

Guide your robot around a dangerous factory filled with conveyer belts, lasers, pits, and more. Lay out your program cards to instruct your robot, push your opponnents into harm's way, and be the first to touch all the checkpoint flags. Robo Rally and its expansions have won a total of four Origin Awards for outstanding work in the game industry.

Rock Band 1, Rock Band 2, and 128 downloaded tracks aren't going to play themselves. The Rock Band competition is back again this year! Same rules, bands play 1 song from the list announced at Notacon, awards are given out for the following categories:

Highest Score

Simple enough, just get the highest combined score. Harder difficulties have more notes available, long streaks and combined Overdrives push scores into the stratosphere. **

Rockingest Band

Rockingest Band is in the true spirit of Rock Band - having fun and rocking out! Windmills, freestyle vocals, and drumstick twirling are encouraged. The band that impresses the panel of Notacon judges the most will win this award, and crowd reaction will be considered. Show us your inner rock star!

** The band that wins Highest score will NOT be eligible for Rockingest Band, so come compete and have fun, even if you know you're not the best.

Best Band Name

In addition, we'll be giving a small prize to the band with the name that amuses us the most, subject to the whims of the Notacon judges. All bands are eligible, including winners of the previous two prizes.

Signup sheets will be available in the game room, and players MUST sign up by Saturday at 2pm. You can signup as a full 4-person band, or as a subset/single person, and we'll do our best to do matchups, with no guarantees (it's best to talk to your fellow Notaconers before-hand and get a group together).

Boss Battle

The 4-headed superbeast known as Team Notacon returns to feast upon the souls of the contestants. The top scoring team will go out of the frying pan, inside the fire as Team Notacon challenges them to one more song. Additional prizes will go to the team if they manage to best the beast! Team Notacon will announce the song at the competition, although hints may be given beforehand.

Too many kids, and a fair share of old farts, think the world runs on cat-5. It just ain't so! From the first smoke-signals and drumbeats of prehistory, to modern muti-gigabit optical links, there's a lot more to communication than just Ethernet frames riding twisted pair. This contest aims to celebrate the long and varied history of communication.

For up to date rules and information, see the Notacon Wiki AbE page.

So, you think you're skilled at picking open locks? And you've mastered the art of picking out of handcuffs? Well, what do you say about a contest that pits you against both of those challenges simultaneously? We know what you're thinking... "The Gringo Warrior contest last year did that already!" But, there's a twist...

In the tradition of the classic 1958 film "The Defiant Ones" this contest is played by /paired/ teammates... who must tackle the challenge of a series of locks while they are shackled together. The handcuffs come off... but that's the last thing you remove.

Can you coordinate your efforts smoothly? Can you reach for your own tools without disturbing your partner's movements? Can you escape in under five minutes without killing each other? The contest will be running in the Lockpick Village area (time TBD) and may be limited to a dozen teams, so email Deviant Ollam to sign up now if you're interested! deviant@deviating.net

Picture yourself about to give a presentation in front of hundreds of people... lights shining in your eyes, microphones tuned to amplify your every utterance, video and audio recordings to prove that you in fact did just say that. Imagine that your audience is itching to heckle you or otherwise make your life difficult. Realize you have never before seen the slide show you are about to present on, nor know anything about the topic!

Sound like your worst nightmare? NO! This is "Whose Slide is it Anyway?" Borrowed from the Chaos Computer Club's "Powerpoint Karaoke", and loosely from the show of a similar name, where the points don't matter!

Random personalities, presenters, and maybe even YOU (if you are brave enough), will be put on stage and have 5 minutes to successfully present a small random PowerPoint slide show on a randomly chosen topic. Audience members will vote via boos, hisses, claps, shouts and other utterances.

Come for the laughs! Stay for the embarrassment! We have no idea if this is going to work, but it's worth a shot. Hey, if the CCC can do it, why can't we?

Notacon will again be hosting an offical Fark party in the hotel bar, Friday night at 8. Those not attending Notacon are welcome to join us! Please check the Hotel & Travel page for directions.

The Notacon Radio project is back for another year. We hit the airwaves on Friday and we don't stop until the ball drops on Closing Ceremonies.

This is a great chance to have some fun while you mingle and BS with your fellow Notaconners. We are looking for people who are interested in doing a live (or even pre-recorded) show. It can be art or tech themed, or just consist of random thoughts about life and the universe in general--it's entirely up to you! The only caveat is: NO MUSIC. Our goal is 48+ hours of solid Notacon-interest radio.

Questions? Ideas? A burning desire to ramble for an hour about the elegance of the CPU scheduling algorithm for the MULTICS operating system? Please email the the Notacon radio station manager at krnlpanik@notacon.org and he will be happy to help.

Also, check out the website: http://www.notaconradio.org/

Come try your hand at the fun and exciting sport of lockpicking! The Cleveland Locksport Group will be hosting the lockpick village at this year's Notacon. With a little help from our friends at FOOLS and TOOOL we will be providing an assortment of locks, demonstrations, games, and training sessions. The village is open to pickers of all skill levels, we will happily teach lockpick newbies, and pick sets will be available for those without. A schedule of Lockpick Village events will be posted in the village.

The Lockpick Village is sponsored by Secure State.

This event is for demonstration and educational purposes only. FTS Conventures, Notacon, and the Cleveland Locksport group neither condone nor advocate breaking any local, state, or federal law.

Lockpick Connect 4 Tournament - 11PM Saturday Night

Lining up 4 colored plastic disks is way too easy. This is a new twist on the old classic: to claim a spot, you've got to pick the lock! Think you're a better picker than your friends? Pick their lock and steal their spot! We will have this game available in the Lockpick Village all weekend for you to practice on, with the official tournament Saturday night. There will be some nice prizes for the winners, courtesy of Secure State.

Returning again, special event Ham Radio station, N7C. Please see the Notacon Wiki Ham Radio page for more information on the station and how to get involved.

The station will run the entire weekend of Notacon. Anyone interested in Ham Radio or already licensed is invited to participate.

Amateur Radio License Exam Session - Thursday Night & Sunday Morning

Notacon will feature a amateur radio license exam. The exact room is yet to be determined. Walk-ins are welcome. Please register for your FRN the FCC website before coming to the VE exam session, so that you do not have to provide your social security number when registering.

More information is available from arrl.org

How did your Notacon and Blockparty go? This is your chance to give input directly to those running the event! Without it, we really have no idea what it is you want nor how better to run the event so that everyone can get more out of it! We encourage questions and suggestions. What event was the most fun? What presentation made you think the most? Which demo did you think really deserved top honors? Did you learn anything new this year?

This event wrap-up will include a breakdown of Notacon costs and go over some of the numbers that make Notacon happen.

Make your voice heard! There will also be written feedback forms that will help us to plan for next year.

After many intense days of competition, including untold hours spent before Blockparty to compose and develop the various compo submissions, find out who is top dog. Come support the artists, musicians and programmers who put in so much hard work into their entries!

Many awesome prizes will be awarded.

After three tireless days working the event and 362 days of planning, Froggy will clutch the podium for dear life and give Notacon and Blockparty a final farewell for the year

If he is in the mood, he may hand out awards to the remaining Notacon attendees for whatever categories he comes up with at the last minute. Traveled the furthest to get here? Had the funniest hack of Notacon? You name it, he'll likely think of it. If he's still awake and sane. Prizes will be handed out at his discretion.