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              ADVENTURE PROBE CONVENTION 1997

                   As told by Peter Clark

The eighth annual Adventure Probe Convention was held at the Royal
Angus Thistle Hotel in Birmingham over the weekend 10th - 12th
October. Many of those attending the convention arrived at the
hotel during the Friday afternoon and spent some time relaxing and
chatting about things connected with adventures.  One of the main
topics of conversation was where to satisfy our appetites that
evening. Several of those present had visited an Italian eating
house last year and suggested that we all give it another visit.
It was later then that several taxis made a chaotic dash across
Birmingham and its roadworks to the suggested place. The staff
looked somewhat horrified as around fifteen people arrived without
booking. This was unavoidable as nobody could remember the name of
the restaurant. Anyway, extra tables were soon made available and
the assembled throng were shortly sitting back with their
appetites fully satisfied. On return to the hotel, what was left
of the evening was spent in the bar with a few drinks and good
company.

As soon as breakfast was over the next morning many people could
be seen carrying vast amounts of monitors, keyboards and cables
into the Ariel Suite where the convention proper was to be held.
Many computers were set up varying from the humble Spectrum and
Amstrads through Atari STs to the PCs. Soon screens were
flickering around the room with a selection of favourite games.
One of the most popular parts of the convention is the Megapoints
Competition. One of those present had written a game during the
year and anyone who wished to is able, for a small fee, to play
the game for twenty minutes. Whoever gets the highest score takes
the kitty. Most people had brought with them all the software that
they had finished with for sale or exchange for something else. It
is rather like a car boot sale for computer equipment. The
convention was due to run from 9:00am to 5:00pm which seems on the
face of it quite a long time but it is strange just how soon the
time went and computers were being packed away in their boxes.

The hotel had arranged a Murder Evening for the weekend that we
were staying and many of us had decided to take part. It included
an evening meal so there was no need to worry about where to go
for food. The Murder side of things was a bit disjointed in my
opinion and could have been organised better but there were enough
of us adventurers there to make sure that there was no lack of
humour (In Joke - Just how did sheep abuse get into the
proceedings?) We managed to identify the murderer and were duly
awarded with certificates to prove it. The Murder and evening meal
were followed by a disco which some of the more agile of our group
made the most of but I, being a little older in the tooth and
being able to remember when pop music was real pop music and not
the old rubbish turned out today, made a bee line for the bar
where the remainder of the evening was spent in alcoholic
conversation until the early hours of Sunday.

Sunday morning came round all too soon and goodbyes were said as
soon as breakfast was finished and the cases re-packed.  Just
where did the time go? Why does it always go too soon?

It is difficult to get across the atmosphere that exists when the
Probers are gathered but in the eight years that we have been
meeting for such a weekend, long standing friendships have been
forged in a way that could not have happened if we had just kept
to letters and telephone calls. If you have been to one of the
conventions, you will know what I mean. We are already talking
about the arrangements for next year so ... watch this space.











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