This week is Gen Con, and not just any Gen Con, but the 50^th Anniversary of the venerable convention. While we won’t be attending ourselves this year, we wish all those who do a great time and four days of great gaming!

Although we won’t be at a convention this week, it doesn’t mean we don’t have conventions on the mind – far from it. It is this time every year that we turn our attention to planning our 2018 conventions, starting of course with Hoop & Stick!

The sixth annual Hoop & Stick Convention will be held Thursday February 22^nd through Sunday February 25^th, 2018. As I say every year, Hoop & Stick is four days of gaming goodness, in a castle, for charity – it really doesn’t get any better!

We are thrilled to announce that Colby Dauch from Plaid Hat Games will once again join us as our Guest of Honor. Colby will be demoing some of Plaid Hat’s amazing games, as well as sharing a few of the many prototypes that they are working on. Though the details aren’t finalized, there’s even word of a Crystal Clans tournament!

Every year we put on more role playing sessions than the last. And every year we hear that there weren’t enough role playing sessions. We aim to fix that this year, and will be scheduling an even greater lineup or role playing games, including Pathfinder, Dungeons & Dragons, Star Wars Edge of the Empire, Fiasco and many more. Head Game Master of the Malted Meeple and former Ravenwood Castle Innkeeper Karington Hess will be running D&D and Star Wars, and long time favorites Mike and the crew from Ohio Pathfinder Society will be running numerous Pathfinder sessions.

At last year’s Fifth Anniversary Hoop & Stick, we raised over $9,500 for Extra Life and Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. As we do every year, we are setting our sights even higher for the coming convention – this is the year we will finally exceed $10,000! To hit that goal we are going to need your help. If you or someone you know would like to sponsor Hoop & Stick 2018, please visit our sponsorship page, or contact me directly at hoopandstick@ravenwoodcastle.com

Every year Hoop & Stick fills up extremely quickly. Beginning last year we offered convention alumni a brief preregistration window, and we have done so again this year. As a result we have an extremely limited number of rooms left available. If you would like to join us for Hoop & Stick 2018, act fast! You can book online, or give us a call at 740.596.2606, we’d be glad to help.

If you aren’t able to secure a room for Hoop & Stick 2018, please don’t be discouraged! We know there are more people interested in attending Hoop & Stick than we can accommodate, so this year we are working on a new and expanded solution. Stay tuned in the coming months for an exciting announcement on that front!

Thank you again for your continued support, and we look forward to seeing you at the sixth annual Hoop & Stick!

Jim Reed

Jim Reed is a lifelong gamer who started with the original red box Dungeons & Dragons. After spending 20 years in the corporate world, he decided it was high time that work be fun and struck out on his own. Jim now owns and operates Ravenwood Castle, and spends his days ensuring his guests have as much fun as he does.