For the past few years, the Boston IF gang has hosted community get-togethers in association with various local game-related shindigs. (First PAX East, then NoShowConf.)
What with one thing and another, that’s not happening in Boston this summer. (Although we will be in attendance at BostonFIG in September.)
However! Jim Munroe is running his second annual WordPlay festival in Toronto on November 8th. (Free admission.) This seems like a great associate-with event, so we would like to invite the IF world to show up and hang out that weekend.
I am seriously thinking of going. I live about 500 kilometres east of Toronto, but I have family and friends I can stay with there. It would be great to meet people on this forum who I know in-username-only.
I’ll get my passport updated. I can’t say definitively right now, but I will say I would love to drive up to Toronto. If anyone else from Chicago through Detroit wants to carpool, we might make it fun.
We’ve talked about this, of course, but I figured I should make my intent public. So yes, I am very much hoping to be there.
Even more now that it might be one of my few chances to meet Emerald, because she is literally on the OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD. (Is that creepy? Sorry, not sorry.)
Yay! Glad to hear there’s a few folks considering it. If it makes a difference, I can try and arrange crashpads with local game enthusiasts for a night or two – just get in touch with me at jim@handeyesociety.com. And it being late fall and not winter Toronto is still an enjoyable place to explore – happy to point folks in interesting directions.
I should be able to go to this, and hopefully I’ll get more reminders closer to the date so I don’t forget. I just hope my meagre budget and general lack of energy won’t interfere.
Hi guys! Am gathering volunteers to see what our billeting (aka couch crashing) capacity is, so feel free to email me at jim@handeyesociety.com if you’d like to be kept in the loop on that.
For those considering hotels, here’s some tips for places near the WordPlay venue:
The Marriott Bloor Yorkville is reportedly “lovely”: can do 4 people in a room, $170-200 a night advance.
A 15-20 minute walk south at Bloor and Carlton, there’s a Holiday Inn and a Marriott Courtyard, which both go for $120-$140 a night in advance. It’s on the Yonge subway line too, so it’s easy to hop on the subway 2 stops for people that don’t want to walk.
There’s also the Comfort Inn at Yonge and Charles, which is reportedly “pretty ‘meh’” but can be your closest, cheapest option.
If people find cheaper options feel free to post to the thread – as a local I have never stayed in a Toronto hotel/hostel, but I can speak to the neighbourhood etc!
I’ve enjoyed staying at the Alexandra Hotel at the south edge of Alexandra Park, which has rooms at the ~$100 level. It’s about a 40 minute walk to the venue (through what I would consider the fun parts of TO, like Kensington Market and Chinatown) or a couple of streetcars. Note that Toronto transit day passes ($11) are good for two adults on the weekends, so if you plan on making a round trip with a friend, get a day pass from a drugstore. (Single ride fare is $3, and transfers are free but only for continuous routes.)
I’ve been looking into hostels in Toronto (super casually, so I haven’t really mapped anything out or checked reviews). Depending on how many people are interested in sharing a room, we could easily get a 4-8 person room to ourselves, and it would cost under $30 per person per night. Ping me privately if you think you might be interested. (genericgeekgirl at gmail dot com)