August 2005, Michigan
This year's OMP was held just a few hundred yards from
the Detroit Metro airport which allowed for easy transport.
The conference room was a good size for our group and we had
little difficulty in having plenty of room for multiple games
and mudding sessions. Yes people still fly thousands of miles
to play 3k from OMP, luckily wireless internet was freely
available from the hotel!
Thursday was a very slow day in the conference room, several
people went to Cedar Point just a few hours away for a day
of thrill seeking. There was enough left to get in a game
of Risk 2210 (Original Risk was not even brought out this
year, 2210 has taken over!). At another table a game of
Texas Hold'em also sprung up to entice the gamers.
Friday saw a great deal of gaming activity as more people
arrived and those from Cedar Point returned. Euchre, Risk 2210,
Axis & Allies, Shogun (wow what a long game!), and Articulate
dominated the conference room. There were groups of people
just chatting away, and of course the ever present mudders
and OMP camera capturing it all for those poor souls who could
not attend in person.
Friday night saw a fearsly competitive Euchre tournament with
Rastafan coordinating the event and somehow not killing anyone
with the 5000 "where do I go now??" questions.
Finally the main event was upon us, Saturday ! OMP !!
Saturday got off to a start with yet another game of Risk 2210,
which was quickly interrupted as it was time for Dog Punting !!
What an event, we had shoes flying, whiffs, and expert soccer
trained punts. This was a very fun event and well coordinated!
Upon the conclusion everyone shuffled back inside to get a quick
bite to eat before the UNO tournament began.
UNO was a fairly drama free event, most everyone knew how to play
and there was a shocking lack of (noticeable) cheating. A good time
was had by all with the losers slowly filtering out to Axis & Allies
and other strategy games which dominated the OMP free time.
Oops ! It's 4pm, everyone out for setup time! Everyone was kicked
out of the conference room so the hosts could prepare for a fun
filled evening. When everyone was let back in there were a lot
of "ooh" and "ahh" and "MINE!" as eyes fell over the truly
extraordinary door prizes to be won this year. There was a well
organized line to submit your VAF and get your yellow (low end)
and red (high end) prize tickets. You could also choose to enter
the drawing for the 3k Marbles but you had to swear in blood that
you would return next year with them. There were guild posters on
the walls for everyone to sign in and show their guild patronage.
There was some time for chit chat as people put faces to names
and forged friendships. There was more then enough food various
pizza and sub offerings to suit anyone's taste, and unlike last year
the subs were actually sliced! Shortly, it was time for the Scavenger
Hunt! Teams were quickly formed and off they went, a bunch of
half drunk mudders scavenging across a strange city for obscure
items and pictures. Those not participating talked about going
to a strip club, played Shogun and other strategic games, you
might think it odd that discussion would occur or that the games
would win out, but not if you knew mudders.
After the conclusion of the Scavenger judging (with some very odd
scenes and pictures resulting!) it was time for the door prize
drawings! The way it worked this year was everyone paid $10 and
get one strip of red tickets, for $20 you got 2 strips. Everyone
had one yellow ticket. You took your red tickets, writing your name
on them and placed them into styrofoam buckets which you could not
touch or see how many tickets were inside. The drawings were
conducted with much ooh'ing and aahing, some people winning multiple
grand prizes, some not winning any. However everyone was guaranteed
a prize and those were the yellow ticket items, many movies, books
and other odds and ends prizes were up for grabs! Everyone was a
winner except for the now famous '558' ticket holder. The winner
of the 3k marbles was Riekl (and yes he brought them back in 2006!).
A very successful OMP both in fun had and in lack of police being
called on us! See you all next year !
Pictures:
Special thanks to all of the players and wizards who worked hard to make this a success. Some people have continued to contribute even after the event by posting their party pictures for online viewing:
If you have any pics or stories that you would like to submit, please mud mail Bilbo.
