I’ve been waiting for it’s return, and now it’s official. NoBrandCon is back at the Chula Vista Resort in Wisconsin Dells from April 22 to April 24, 2022. If you’ve never heard of NoBrandCon, I wouldn’t be surprised. It’s a small venue convention, but also Wisconsin’s longest running Anime Convention. The convention was founded by members of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Anime Appreciation Society. First held in 2002 in The UW-Eau Claire Davies Center, attendance has grown significantly and today it is held in the Chula Vista Resort on the north end of Wisconsin Dells.

The convention is fan run and sponsored and showcases many local vendors and artists from the Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois areas. While they feature, of course, anime, some of the other noteable attractions include Table Top Gaming, Video Gaming, Cosplay Contests, The No Brand Con Dance Puzzle Hunts, Lip Sync Battle and The No Mercy Room.

You can check out more about NoBrandCon HERE, and registration for the 2022 dates is still open HERE.

But best of all, I’m going to be there! This will be my third year attending and second year presenting, and I’m hoping to make NoBrandCon one of my regular conventions. So let me tell you what I’m going to be doing at No Brand Con this year.

PRESS YOUR LUCK

Friday, April 22, 2022 at 1pm

If you know your game shows, then this one should be well known. Originally aired from 1983 to 1986, the concept of the game was to earn spins by correctly answering random trivia questions. Once the trivia round was complete, the contestants would use their spins on the show’s signature Big Board. Littered with prizes and cash, the contestants would have to avoid The Whammies – a brood a greedy little gremlins that would completely wipe out everything that you had earned up to that point. Whomever had the largest total at the end of two rounds of trivia and two rounds of the big board was the winner.

It took me a LONG time to develop this bad boy. Growing up, PRESS YOUR LUCK was one of my favorite game shows, so took my time when building this to bring to conventions.

The game features most of the same game mechanics that the original show had, all the way down to a collection of original Whammy animations. Of course, in this version, no cash can be won, but the contestant with the highest total will be winning the Con-Exclusive WHP’s PRESS YOUR LUCK T-Shirt. All contestants who participate will be taking home a deck of WellHey Playing cards.

THE JOKER’S WILD

Saturday, April 23, 2022 at 9pm

Another classic game show, that originally ran from 1972 to 1991 (partially syndicated), and was brought back to life by Snoop Dogg for a single season in 2017. The concept of this game was to spin a giant slot machine that held categories of trivia and depending on your spin, you could earn up to three times the points. Plus The Joker is always Wild! After two rounds, consisting of three spins by each of the two contestants, the one with the higher score would go to the bonus round, called Beat The Devil.

In the Beat The Devil bonus round, The winning contestant would have an unlimited amount of spins to attempt to accrue a specific point or dollar value. But if they spin the reels and ended up with a Devil, the bonus round would be over, and all earned prize money from the bonus level would be lost.

This game has always been near and dear to my heart. Not only did I enjoy watching the original, but I was able to integrate my Black Jester character into the artwork. The first version of this build only held trivia categories and the bonus round. The latest version added fun mini-games that were inspired by Snoop Dogg’s version to break the monotony of being a fixed trivia game.

Currently, there are over 30 different trivia categories, of which only 6 load per round. As with PRESS YOUR LUCK, no cash can be won, but the contestant that makes it to the bonus round of Beat The Devil and successfully earns 10,000 points without spinning the Devil wins the Con-Exclusive WHP’s THE JOKER’S WILD T-Shirt. All contestants who participate will be taking home a deck of WellHey Playing cards.

I am looking forward to hopefully continue my stay at No Brand Con as a regular presenter. And with that hope in mind, I am currently developing the following game shows to bring with me in future visits: HOLLYWOOD SQUARES, FAMILY FEUD and PYRAMID.

If you follow me on TikTok, you know that I have had HOLLYWOOD SQUARES built for a while now. The trick with bringing this game show to No Brand Con would be cooperation from the convention itself to help me populate the celebrities in the squares. My initial proposal was to have Convention Guests in the squares, but the problem with that is No Brand Con cannot add that line item to their contracts (you HAVE to be part of a game show). So, this year, I will be proposing the idea again, but opening up the squares to Panelists, vendors and artists who would like to participate. Hopefully for 2023, we can get at least 9 individuals to join the fun, and then unleash the fun for all to enjoy.

If any of you are familiar with Mr. Creepypasta, you know that he brings a game called Horror Feud to SanJapan in San Antonio, TX. Guess who built it for him? So changing the graphics and interface to suit my own needs would make for an easy addition of FAMILY FEUD to No Brand Con.

Finally, I am currently building my own version of PYRAMID. Now you may know it at The $25,000 or $100,000 Pyramid – same thing, but without the obvious monetary value to it. The game contists of two portions – The Matching Round and The Winner’s Circle. In the Matching round, pairs of contestants give each other clues to words they need to say in order to earn a point. There are 3 sessions of these and the pair with the most points at the end goes to The Winner’s Circle. In that portion, they do the opposite, One contestant says words or phrases to get the other contestant to say the clue or category. If the pair can successfully guess all 6 categories before time runs out, they win.

PYRAMID is still in early development, so don’t expect to see it in 2023. But I do have some added incentive. Some technological advances have been made to HorrorCon VR’s streaming capabilities. Last year, there was a significant delay when using the video streaming functionality: roughly anywhere from 30 seconds to 1 minute. For 2022, I have been told that the delay is down to 1-5 seconds. With that in mind, if you are not able to attend No Brand Con in April, you still have another chance to see THE JOKER’S WILD, PRESS YOUR LUCK, HORROR FEUD and possibly HOLLYWOOD SQUARES.

Stay Tuned for details on how to register for HorrorCon VR.