Tama Crisovan said it is crunch time again for PopiCon. “I always get anxious. It is like a party. Never sure if everything is ready to go.”
However, she has good feelings that it will all work out. Friends, family and volunteers are ready. Bring on the players and mild weather.
PopiCon is a game convention Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 at Century Center, 120 S. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., South Bend. The hours are 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $25 per person for both days. Ages 14 and younger are free with adult ticket purchase.
For more information, there are various sites, such as a Facebook page, Instagram, a Visit South Bend Mishawaka page and a TableTop Events page. Purchasing a ticket in advance will move the line along quicker.
It is more than a convention and a chance to play a board game in a non-digital fun world. It is a tribute to her father, Tom Crisovan. He was known as Popi.
“He had a passion for games, cards and D&D (Dungeons & Dragons),” Tama said. “He would teach anyone how to play. His way to show love was teaching and then crushing you.”
He taught family members to play D&D in the 1980s.
Tama said he was the perfect grandfather who attended all the grandchildren’s plays and sporting competitions. “He was a former Marine and worked security. He was actually a teddy bear of a man.”
He and his wife, Pam, moved from Michigan to South Bend to be closer to family. Pam died in 2008.
He died in 2020 of COVID-19. There were no services at the time. The family turned to what they knew best — games. They wanted to do something special in his memory. In his honor, the family had a game day. It was a hit and it led to more discussions of continuing to remember Popi in their special way. The family decided to crank it up a bit.
Now this will be the fourth year for the game weekend and the third at Century Center. “We plan it close to his birthday (Feb. 7) and before the Super Bowl,” Tama said.
The first one was at Stockroom East, on Jefferson Boulevard. “It is a nice space. We expected 200 and we had 350. And we didn’t advertise,” she said. “Century Center gives us more space and versatility. I’m planning for 1,000.”
It is winter in Indiana. That makes it an automatic toss-up.
Costumes are welcome and there is a costume contest at 6 p.m. Saturday.
Tama said there is a library of board games that can be played from new ones to old favorites.
“It can be overwhelming for beginners,” she said. “But we are beginner-friendly. We have volunteers that will help and instruct.”
There will be corners of the room to play card games, dice, role playing and miniatures.
Another aspect of the fun is the merch. Tama spends the summer going to festivals and community events looking for artists, crafts people and gamers. She found 40 people who will be selling items such as dice, t-shirts and games. The basic pop-culture things.
“The tarot card reader was popular last year,” she said. “I’m always looking for local crafts, people who have ties to the community.”
Tama said there will be a quiet space for people who may need a break from the noise.
“If you have a child on the spectrum, the area is perfect,” she said. “Last year, I heard about one mother and child who were very thankful for the space.”
With the event just a week away, Tama said she questions her sanity. She gets knee-deep in arrangements and promotions.
“I get a lot of questions at work on what this is all about. It is a game convention,” she said. “I wonder why we keep coming back to this. I realize that there is joy in the room, in Century Center. There are laughs and interaction. There are no screens in the room. No digital components to the games.”
It is fun, she said.
She finds there is a strong need to interact and to be social. Here is a chance to sit across from another person and pretend you are a wizard, elf or zombie.
Contact Kathy at [email protected].
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.southbendtribune.com ’
