Indoor amusement thingy with loads of video games. At least that's the Dave and Busters up here. As far as I know, it's a chain to compete with the likes of Sega's Playdiums. There's only a single one in the Toronto area that I know of and it's stuck right in the same complex as a big AMC.

Of course if you guys want to keep it to about 50 people, since you're thinking about Northern California anyway, you can all come by my new house. It's only a slight skip to the East and a bit further North to Toronto.

Bruno

I'd be down with Dave & Busters - always a fun place to go to. They should have no problems accomodating a large group (their website says that they accomodate groups from 10 to 2,000), but prices could be another issue altogether. If anyone in the area would contact them, that would be awesome.

The one here is in Milpitas in a big mall which I assume would have ample parking, but I've never even gotten off the freeway so I don't know. I'd offer to call and check it out, but I'm in the middle of mid terms and papers, and won't have any free time for two and a half weeks. It is between me and the nearest Frys, so I'll probably go by within the next month to check it out if more interest develops.

Another issue would be age - you've got to be 21 to get in, or be with someone over 25 who will take responsibility for you. Being 20 (and occasionaly over 20 if need be), it probably wouldn't cause me too many problems, but it might cause others of us Young'uns problems.

Matthew

I've taken my team from work to D&B's a few times; its a lot of fine. Basically its a huge gaming complex. I've never reserved one of the rooms for a large group, but I would imagine its fairly expensive judging by the prices when ordering individual items at the bar. Its in a large mall but my expereince has been that inside and outside its always jam packed with people. I can't really imagine how we can have out meet here.
--Andrew

I really wouldn't suggest D&B's if people had enough problem paying $50-70 for a full meal and unlimited beers.

Get a few beers, a meal, and some games, and you're talking at least $50, if not more.

D&B's is expensive. I can piss away $20 in less than 20 minutes.

Calvin

I finally had an opportunity to get some more details on the SF Boat House. They can definitely accommodate a large group (50+) people for our meet. If fact the manager penciled us in for Sat, May 25th and has "reserved" the outside patio and 2nd bar room which is adjacent to the game room. There's plenty of room to spread out too, out of the dock, out on the lawn, etc. Get this, we don't have to give him a deposit; he wants me to call him about 1 week ahead of time and give him an estimate of attendees so he can line up extra staff. Everyone orders and pays for their own food and drinks. I ate there last weekend and $20 definitely went a long way. Their menu has a variety of burgers, fries, and club sandwiches and about 9 beers on tap. Prices were reasonable, between $6-$9. So, $20 bucks goes a long way, with change left over for the pool tables.

As far as parking goes, there's a huge lot just a short walk from the Boat House where we can do some drag racing, and parTAY!!!

So this place is nothing fancy, but seems to meet all the criteria, and is really no-hassle in terms of accomodating a large group. So what-da-ya-say???

--Andrew

PS: If the cops show up, remember, my name is Rob Voisey

No cover charge? We just buy our own food? Can handle a large group? Manager has us penciled in already?

I'm there. Let's do this thing.

How about starting a new thread giving us the address and any link information. Call it Saturday, May 25th. Tell us what time to show up (I recommend early in the day, as early as Noon or even 11am).

Dude, you're out of the loop. We already had the meet. You'll have to wait till next year.











Just kidding.

Not too early please, I'm making the drive from LA that morning to attend.

Not too early please, I'm making the drive from LA that morning to attend.

But I have to be back in San Jose by the late afternoon/early evening. Can we compromise?

By the way, is this the Lake Merced to which you refer?



That's, like, in San Francisco proper, out on the west coast. About how long does it take to get there from the San Jose/Santa Clara area?

Where is the Boat House in relation to that map?

By the way Loren talked about your driving, and Doug, you should make that trip in what, a few minutes? I on the other hand have only driven up I-5 (i think thats it) once before, and prefer to not have out of state speeding tickets

E3 does end early on the last day, so I shouldn't be too tired to try and wake up early that morning.

Oh, what decent hotels are around the area? I'll probably stay there that night before making the 1400 mile trip home.

Oh, what decent hotels are around the area? I'll probably stay there that night before making the 1400 mile trip home.

You're welcome to come down to San Jose afterwards and crash in my room at BayCon. If I don't have a room that's got two beds by default (I often do at these cons), you can buy me dinner to cover the extra 15 bucks for a roll-away bed.

Technically the SF Boat House is in the middle of Harding Park, the address being 1 Harding Rd. So on that overhead picture 2 little things sticking out onto the lake right under the "R" in "Harding Rd" are the docks for the boats. BTW, I plugged the address into Yahoo Maps which gives accurate driving directions from known addresses I picked in both San Jose and Petaluma. Note: CA-35 and Skyline Blvd are synonymous. (Except, experienced commuters know to stay away from 19th Ave on weekends.) Harding Park is all of the light green area with the grey being parking lots. You can see the docks in the picture I took (which I've attached again). all of the enclosed patio area that surrounds the outside of the building would be ours, plus a room inside which is adjacent to the gaming room with 6 pool tables, air hockey, and several video games. If we get around 100 people, as some predict, I guess we basically own the place by default.

In the next week or so I'll start a new thread, as Tony suggested, as soon as I get all the logistics together...

--Andrew

Hmmm, for some reason attachments aren't working for me tonite...?

You can see the docks in the picture I took (which I've attached again).

And which still didn't work this time. It's got to be less than 100k bytes for the BBS to take it.

Oh yeah, hey Tony, so there's a trick to bypass the 19th Ave traffic jam. Basically, from the Boat House you take Skyline Blvd. (CA-35) south for a few miles until you see signs for Rt 280 South, which takes you to your conference. On my way into to work tomorrow (and back) I'll try to remember what the exit signs say. There's a slightly tricky part between Rt 280 and Skyline where you're on Rt 1 for about 1/4 mile. Check out Yahoo Maps; its illustrated fairly clearly.

I think this short cut should help out those coming from the South Bay, so, as soon as I nail down the exact directions, I'll post them on the new thread, TBD.
Laterzzzz,
--Andrew

Cool, thanks for the insider commute tips, those will come in handy.

Here's the spy-photo zoom-in of the boat house area as you've described it. Looks like there's ample parking. Looking forward to the meet.

Did you get those photos free or did you have to pay?

No, free. I work for the CIA, you see, and can use the equipment whenever I want.

Most other people have to be content with the photos on Mapquest.com.

Awesome! And after the meet maybe Rob V. and i can hit Ocean Beach for some kite buggyin'! Oh, and Tony, definitely use that shortcut. 19th st. is a nightmare.

So are the empeg boys coming or what? I'm assuming not.

Kites... oooh good idea. I can bring my monster stunt kite.

Calvin

What is it.. .the kite i mean? Rob Vreeland (CruzThs) and I are gonna carpool (that is to say he was nice enough to offer to drag me along) to the Spring Break Buggy Blast in Primm Nevada in a couple of weeks to do some serious kiting... it'll be my first time on a wide open lakebed. Should be a good time.

It's a large delta wing that generates quite a pull. (!) One time, I used it on a windy day at cape cod, and the kite dragged me for 30 feet down the beach. And this was not a sandy beach, it was a rocky beach. My poor shoes!

I've used this kite at night on Ocean beach. I have a 9V lighting system that makes for UFO lights in the sky.

Calvin

awesome, i've been wanting to do that to one of my deltas. I bet it looks great. I gotta see that.

Probably not, unless any meetings in Santa Clara crop up at the last minute. I'm saving my airmiles for all the great trance festivals that are happening this summer!

Rob

Trance Schmance. You're gonna turn down free beer (which we will gladly provide) for some Trance!? Come now! =]