CORRECTION:In the April 11 issue of The Spectrum, in the article"A fantasy play place: SARPA to host 25th annual UBCon," the first quote should have been attributed to SARPA Vice President Timothy Cerny rather than SARPA President Tyler Linn. The Spectrum regrets this error.
You might see all types of Nerf balls flying through the Student Union this weekend.
Don't be alarmed. The Strategists and Role-Players Association (SARPA) is hosting its 25th annual UBCon event from Friday to Sunday.
"The Nerf war is something that every year someone is asking about," said SARPA Vice President Timothy Cerny. "Someone came by our office yesterday asking where they could sign up for the Nerf war. It's something that I always look forward to ever since I've heard about it."
For $25 for the weekend, comic book lovers, role players, video game enthusiasts and Anime fans from around the country can come together at UB to perform and enjoy the varying art forms. Participants can purchase single-day tickets Friday ($10), Saturday ($15) or Sunday ($10).
About 100 tickets were sold during the presale period, according to Linn.
Linn said he is confident this weekend is going to be one of the biggest conventions yet. Last year, about 1,600 tickets were sold on the first day.
"We, as a club, are about every form of gaming," Linn said. "This year, we've acquired some more video games for our library, some more table-top games and we just really like getting more people to come around and enjoying games in general."
The event will also host popular figures of the role-playing community, including: Sarah Wilkinson, a nationally known entertainment illustrator; Jess Hartley, who has written content for more than 30 role-playing game products as a writer for White Wolf Publishing; and Nigel Sade, an abstract artist from Ohio.
The speakers will be available for a question-and-answer session.
"We didn't have to do a lot of fundraising," Linn said. "Generally, our fund for UBCon is from the previous year's rollover. We've been able to properly utilize all of our budget for this year."
SARPA also made sure to bring back its R.A.V.E. event that is included within UBCon. It will be the 11th installment of R.A.V.E. and the fifth year of dance events held at UBCon.
Buffalo DJs DJHJ, DJ Ru and DJ Chris Slomba will perform at R.A.V.E. The DJs have set lists that include video game tunes and electro-house songs.
The R.A.V.E. will take place in Baldy Hall.
Video gamers can play each other in a variety of games located in SU 220. There will be a demo of the ARTEMIS Spaceship Bridge Simulator. The multiplayer, multi-computer network game simulates a spaceship. But it won't be the only system in the game room.
"After a lot of communication, we were able to rent 'the octopus,'" Linn said.
An "octopus" is a gaming network of four Xbox consoles and TVs.
The UB Cosplay club, a temporary Student Association club, will host a costume play event. It's a murder mystery, live-action, role-playing game.
Participants will have the opportunity to dress and act out their role-playing characters to solve the plot.
Well-known Cosplayers Rikala, Alanaleilani and Duplicitous Dichotomy from Rochester will be on hand to help show fellow role players how to structure the event.
UBCon kicks off Friday at 9 p.m.
email: arts@ubspectrum.com
