Adventure2001 - Not a Space Odyssey

                        John Ferris

Somewhere near the dawn of civilization, two primitive ape-like
creatures are seen to stop and stare in confusion at the shiny
black obelisk towering above them. To be honest, although it was
black, the obelisk was more rectangular shaped, definitely not
shiny or even smooth and it lay in the dirt on the ground. We'll
call it The Box. One creature picks The Box up in its hands,
hardly noticing its opposable thumb. The creature sniffs The Box,
decides it is not edible and throws it away. The two creatures
continue searching for their first meal of the day.

In their hide, scarcely five meters away, the senior scientist
turns its strange bulbous head to its colleague
"It might be cheaper and easier to carry than an obelisk, but it
just don't work." It gurgled.
"Perhaps we should try the red boots next time."

Somewhere near the late evening of civilisation, two slightly more
advanced ape-like creatures stare in confusion at another small
black box. However, as they were relatively advanced, they could
read the label on the box. It reads "Cambridge Z88." Their
confusion ended, they head off for lunch and a pint.

Being local to the Allelsey Hotel (its pronounced Alls-lee, folks)
I was able to meet the adventurers who arrived on the Friday
evening for an hour or so. It's always good to meet in person the
people who you only read in Probe or Syntax or email occasionally.
Jenny "Tasha" Perry had some fun photos from a recent Star Trek
convention, including the affectionate Klingon (Shudder). I was
also able to observe, for the first time, the redness of her red
boots. Most definitely red, but with a dark pattern which enhanced
them somewhat. Edwina Brown had a collection of photos as well as
a number of 1930s postcards. It seems back then most of Edwina's
family and friends were suffering from every ailment or disease
there was going. We were also able to "swap" baby pictures of
Edwina's great grandchildren and my niece.

General opinion was that the hotel was very good, although some
rooms were too noisy for being close to the road, which was
surprisingly busy. The convention room turned out to be larger
than I remembered it and we had plenty of space, but plug sockets
were at a premium as was expected. A big downer was that
wheelchair access to the convention room was non-existent, despite
the hotel saying a ramp would be provided when I checked the place
out for Larry. This sort of thing won't be happening after 2004,
by law.

This years Convention was billed as "possibly the last" and so we
had probably the largest turnout of the last three years. A number
of new faces were very welcome and a few faces I'd not seen for a
long time. I was also very glad and happy to meet Sue Medley at
long last as she and husband Alan, who spent the afternoon walking
the dog around Allesley, had driven up in the Medleymobile to be
at the convention. I got all tongue-tied in the presence of
royalty.


I was intrigued by a Cambridge Z88 that someone had left on the
software for sale table. I was amused that someone was trying to
sell one, I was half thinking of putting in an offer. The Z88
wasn't for sale but belonged to Gary Lancaster who had written a
programme to play games written with the Graphic Adventure Creator
(GAC) on the Z88, including graphics. He found it very useful on
long train journeys and quicker to use than the average portable
PC with much better battery life as well. I was impressed with the
Gary's programming ability. We had a go with "Runestones of
Zaobob" and I guess that someday I'll get around to reaching the
peek. Or the peak. Whatever. Hope you enjoy the software you
bought, Gary.

Frank Fridd had written the Megapoints game, "The New Location" I
think it was called, with his CAT programme, with help from Jon
Scott. The competition was running on two PC's. When my turn came
around, I found myself sitting next to David "Mr Megapoints"
Hebblethwaite. I got that sinking feeling again. The sort of
feeling you would get when you've scored two points and Dave is
shouting "I've finished, I'm bored, where's part 2?"

After five minutes I'd got no points, which was about par for the
course. I asked David if he'd got "the ton" yet and he replied
he'd failed to score either.  I felt much better then. To be
honest, the game took a little time to get into, but once I'd
scored a few points by the car it seemed to draw me in. In the
end, I was "only" 20 points behind Dave, who ended up as the
winner again this year.  But Dave had only scored ten percent of
the available points for the full game.  I vote we change the name
from "Megapoints" to "The Give Dave First Prize" event.
Seriously, well done Dave.

Games written in ACE were evident. ACE is almost complete, but
needs to be tied into the Windows interface. I don't envy the
programmer that job.

Suddenly it was over, although we could leave the computers in the
convention room and come back to them in the evening.
Twenty-three adventurers went over to the local "Brewers Fayre"
franchise that was very pleasant and well organised. We had
already ordered our meals in advance, thanks to a lady adventurer
whose name has slipped my mind. I can see your face now, my
apologies, I must be getting old. I hope your credit card was
returned safe and well!

After an enjoyable meal we retired to the Hotel bar for liquid
refreshments, chatter and in some cases Trivial Pursuit. One or
two enthusiastic souls even went back to the convention room and
the computers. There's dedication for you.

The Alternative Adventure Awards 2001

I thought this would be the last time I would be doing these
awards, but two new organisers have been found. I know one to be
Jon Scott, I believe I remember the other to be Peter Clark, but
with my memory I may be mistaken. I must also thank Larry
Horsfield for organising this convention on his own. I understand
the last year has been "interesting" for him, but he still managed
to do us all proud. Well done mate!

There are no awards for changing email addresses this year, as I'm
not allowed (my awards, my rules!:-)) to award myself. I'm
currently on my third ISP since last October. Neither can I accept
the award on behalf of a friend who had organised 5-aside football
on Friday night. He organised everything except a football. So I
arrived at the Hotel on Friday evening earlier than I expected!

And so.

The "Nostalgia and Best use of Ancient Hardware" award goes to
Garry Lancaster and his GAC-playing Z88. It's good to see Sir
Clive made them to last. Unlike our next alternative award:

"The most Portables destroyed Before Getting to the Convention"
award goes to Nick Edmonds. This gentleman somehow managed to kill
off two portable computers, the second on the night before the
convention. I wasn't too keen on him being close to my PC, which
was well founded as the "+" key on my monitor malfunctioned and
stuck in the on (increase picture size/brightness etc) setting and
caused the monitor to play up. It was fixed with a screwdriver but
it's never been the same again.  Good job we weren't on a boat,
Nick. And I haven't even mentioned the 286 portable / bath
incident.

The "Best Look-alike Award" goes to Denise Crosby, who had most of
us fooled into thinking she really was Jenny Perry.

The "Longest Journey to the Convention" award goes to Vicky
Lawrence. On the Saturday morning, the convention started at 9
a.m. It took Vicky until 11 a.m. to get from her hotel room to the
convention room. Something to do with a hangover, or being a
paramedic, I believe.

The "Adventure2001 Temperance Award in The Face of Great
Temptation" goes to Jon Scott. On the Saturday night in the Bar,
Jon was innocently sipping his mineral water (which does taste
nice, but not as nice as my lemon and lime, hey Jon?) when he was
accosted by a strange being waving a glass of fine malt whisky.
This being seemed to be made up from 80% Scotsman and 20% malt
whisky and tried his best to tempt Jon from his mineral water by
waving the whisky glass under Jon's nose. I was sitting two feet
away and I found myself WANTING the whisky and I hate the stuff.

All being well and assuming I don't get banned from attending, I
hope to see you all again next year.














                              - o -