Mars Today, February 2002

Greetings and Salutations!

MarsCon 2002: The Magic of Fantasy will take place in less than two weeks-- the weekend of March 1-3, 2002, at the Hilton Mpls / St. Paul Airport Hotel, Bloomington, Minnesota. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions prior to that time. Here are the latest developments and some helpful information. See you soon!

GAMING NEWS

The creators of Dragon Ball Z Collectible Card Game will be hosting a Regional Dragon Ball Z Character Championship at MarsCon on Saturday, March 2nd. This is a Premiere Event featuring the character Krillin, and it is likely to run for 8 hours. There will be a $15 fee for entry into the actual Dragon Ball Z Premiere event, over and above the MarsCon registration fee. (Persons not already registered for MarsCon will be able to purchase day passes. See Registration note below.) You may register for the Dragon Ball Z Character Championship from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. inside Gaming Room B, and the Championship will begin there at 10:00 a.m. Please check out the Dragon Ball Z Collectible Card Game web site for rules and other information: http://www.dbzcardgame.com/premier_events.cfm.

The Source: Comics and Games will be sponsoring regular gaming events at MarsCon which will include RPGA tournaments, other roleplaying games and miniature gaming. So keep an eye on the MarsCon web site. A schedule with specific games and times will be posted there soon. For more info about The Source, check out their site at http://www.sourcecandg.com and visit their store.

The theme of LAN gaming at MARSCON will be Retro LAN gaming, with Warcraft, DOOM, and the like! Why not rediscover the older side of gaming and rediscover the fun in Warcraft, Wolfenstien, Doom 1&2, and who knows what people will bring!!!!! We're still looking for a few more volunteers to make it so.' If you're interested in helping out with the LAN Party, please drop us a line. Huge "thanks" to Kevin McColl for his work in pulling this together.

Dungeons & Dragons for Kids has been re-scheduled for Saturday, March 2nd, from 7:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. inside Phobos Filk Annex (Room 1101) next door to the Con Suite. Depending upon player interest, the event may move to another room and run even later. We deeply appreciate the efforts of Michael Kauper in bringing us this special child-friendly event each year. Michael is a licensed day care provider, and he will be assisting the Dungeon Master Woody Olson throughout the event. The game is designed specifically for girls and boys, ages 6-12, who are able to read some. No prior D&D experience is necessary, and advanced players are welcome. Characters are provided. A parent must be present to register each child into the game, and there's no extra fee to play.

MOVIE NIGHTS

MarsCon will again be hosting movies at the Plaza Maplewood Theatre, so join us and bring your friends too! (FFI: http://www.plazamaplewood.com or 651-770-7969) Here are the shows and show times:

Show: Blade, starring Wesley Snipes
When: Fri., Feb. 22nd & Sat., Feb. 23rd at 11:30 p.m.
Where: Plaza Maplewood Theatre, 1847 E. Larpenteur Ave., Maplewood, MN
Cost: $4.00

Shows: Terminator I & Terminator II, double feature starring Arnold Schwarzenegger
When: Fri., March 22nd & Sat., March 23rd (T-1 will start at 9:00 p.m. and T-2 at 11:00 p.m.)
Where: Plaza Maplewood Theatre, 1847 E. Larpenteur Ave., Maplewood, MN
Cost: $4.00 per person per movie or $6.00 for both.

***Ticket profits go to MarsCon; Concessions profits keep the theatre happy; Eat! Drink! Get re-fills!**

MARSCON FORGET-ME-NOT LIST

To aid in your journey to MarsCon...

1. Getting There: Please don't forget that we switched hotels for MarsCon 2002. Same town and state, Bloomington, Minnesota... Same dates, March 1-3, 2002... just a different hotel. Our new home is the Hilton Minneapolis / St. Paul Airport Hotel.
   
   Driving EAST from Bloomington, etc: Take I-494 to the 34th Ave exit. Turn south -- away from the airport -- and drive to 80th Street, the first light. Turn east -- left -- and drive all the way past the "Park 'N Fly" ramp. The Hilton driveway will be on your left and the MN Valley National Wildlife Refuge driveway will be on your right.
   
   Driving WEST from St. Paul, Wisconsin, etc: Take either Highway 5 (St. Paul) or I494 (Wisconsin) to the 34th Ave exit. In either case turn south -- away from the airport -- and drive to 80th Street, the first light. Turn east -- left -- and drive all the way past the "Park 'N Fly" ramp. The Hilton driveway will be on your left and the MN Valley National Wildlife Refuge driveway will be on your right.
   
   
2. Registration & Getting Your Membership Badge: Whether you are registered already or planning to register at the convention, here's what you need to know... The Registration desks are located on the Second Floor, also known as the Mezzanine ("M" in the elevators). That is the place to go to get your badge. MarsCon Registration will be open continuously from 2:30 p.m. on Friday, March 1, until 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 3. Whenever the Registration desks are closed, you may register in Ops... just across from the Registration desks. At-the-door registration rates are $25 for children (6-12 years) and $50 for adults for the full weekend. Day passes will also be available for the following rates: $20 for Friday-only; $25 for Saturday-only; $20 for Sunday-only.
   
   
3. Check-in & Check-out Times for Hotel: You should be able to check into your hotel room at 3:00 p.m. Check-out time is Noon.
   
   
4. Try to See Some Programming: When you pick up your badge, you can also pick up a Program Book. It lists just about everything that will be going on throughout the weekend, and it makes a great coffee table centerpiece or stocking stuffer. Read it, revel in it...marvel at its many wonders.
   
   
5. Eat Sometimes: Okay, this seems easy enough to remember... but a lot of us forget this simple task while in the throes of convention revelry. If you're at a loss for how to accomplish this feat, the hotel can help you. They have two restaurants - Cafe Carabella which offers American cuisine and a daily breakfast buffet, and Biscayne Bay which specializes in fresh seafood, lamb chops, pastas, homemade soups, chili, and wonderful desserts - as well as a Lobby Bar (which also serves real food) situated amidst tropical plants and a waterfall. Patronize the hotel restaurants if you can. They will love you.
   
   
6. Volunteer: Subliminal messages have been continuously broadcast directly (volunteer) into your subconscious since last May, and now you feel overcome (volunteer) by a powerful, certain, all-consuming urge to check badges, to replenish water, to help plaster signs and posters hither and yon (volunteer), to walk around the convention with a hand-held radio looking very important, to hold up auction items in a (volunteer) tantalizing manner, to rearrange chairs, to empty bags-o-chippies into (volunteer) a bowl, and to otherwise... VOLUNTEER! You know you want to (volunteer), and the perks this year for volunteering are too great to pass up... discounts on memberships, (volunteer) discounts on t-shirts, cool alien stuff, and your very own (volunteer) lounge. Give in to the (volunteer) urge.

OTHER NEWS - A list of Dealers has been added to our web site and may be found here. Information about other Guests of Distinction has been added and may be found there. Musical offerings are described everywhere.

CONCOM MEETING SCHEDULE

MarsCon ConCom meetings are open to all interested parties. If you want to find out what we're planning, show up. If you want to volunteer, please show up. The schedule:

• Sunday, Feb. 24th, 1pm, Hilton Mpls / St. Paul Airport Hotel (2nd floor)
• March 1st-3rd MARSCON HAPPENS!!!

MarsCon 2002:The Magic of Fantasy
Hilton Minneapolis / St. Paul Airport
Bloomington, Minnesota
March 1-3, 2002

HOW TO CONTACT MARSCON
E-Mail Address: 2002info@marscon.org
Snail Mail: MarsCon, P.O. Box 21213, Eagan, MN 55121
Web Site Address: http://www.marscon.org
Phone: 612-724-0687 (no collect calls, please)

See you there!

January #2 Mars Today
January #1 Mars Today
October Mars Today

(c) 2002 FenSF, Inc. All rights reserved.

This page last revised January 12, 2006 at 01:46 PM