New London’s Carnage Con Is A Holiday Of A Different Kind

NEW LONDON (WJON News) --What started as a small gathering of friends in New London has become a large holiday tradition. Carnage Con first began in 1995 as a way for 12 friends to get back together, visit, and play board games.

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28 years later the event pulls in gamers from all over the area and will have as many as 60 people. Organizer Pete Mortenosn says the con has grown mostly through word of mouth:

"People tell their friends and they show up and some years some people can't make it because of family commitments or work commitments but then there's other people that can show up and I like expanding that circle of friends. I've met a lot of people this way which is a great thing."

Mortenson says they get gamers of all ages at the event. He says he never envisioned the event would grow so big and still be going on:

"It's a good way to connect with people and the world of online gaming is so important and so big but I think you gotta meet people face to face and play on tables and play all sorts of games, board games, and role-playing games and war games and whatever you want to play."

New London's Mayor John Dahl attends every year and says it is a fun time for people of all ages:

"Everyone can have fun and it's about everyone getting together to do stuff so that's kind of the way New London is."

Dahl says Carnage Con is the type of small-town event that makes New London special:

"And it gets people to come from outside of the community to see what's going on even in the middle of wintertime and it's just a special day for a lot of people that just want to get together and have fun."

Mortenson says Carnage Con is named after the comic book character whose picture he used on the invitations for the first year. The convention is held the Saturday after Thanksgiving in the New London Senior/Community Center.

Mortenson says they have a permanent reservation for the date at the community center and he mails out invitations every year to keep that personal touch. Everyone brings food for potluck meals and they have a raffle for prizes. The end of the day is capped by an original role-playing style game that will have 15 or more people take part.

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