The Great Arqade Meetup - Part 3

Question

Meetup Index

Part 1 - Decide how to do our meetup. Several little ones, or one big one?
Part 2 - Where?
Part 3 - When, and how long?
Part 4 - Activities
Part 5 - Hosting Arrangements
Part 6 - Travel Arrangements

Google map for pinning your location.

---

Part 2 Summary

Ok, so it's been a couple months since Part 2, and since most of us are on the central to eastern side of the continent, we got three locations in North America, and one in England.

Locations

• Toronto and Philadelphia are tied with the most upvotes.
• Boston comes in close behind, and is a viable alternative to those of you living further south.
• London was suggested for those of you who reside in Europe.

Volunteers

• @AshleyNunn volunteered to help plan for Toronto
• For the other locations, we still need volunteers. Having someone nearby who knows how to get around, and better yet, can go talk to hotels about group discounts or such, would be good.

Other notes

• Locations are not locked in. You can still make suggestions. Just be aware of the stipulations made in Part 2.
• We have some members who are on the west coast, and no locations have been suggested.
• If you haven't pinned yourself on the map yet, feel free! It's no longer critical, but can still help figure out whens and wheres.

---

Part 3

Now. Bookkeeping is out of the way. It's time to decide what dates works best for us. We also have to decide how long we want to stay there. Personally, if I'm flying anywhere, going for a single day doesn't make any sense. I'd recommend we go for at least a weekend.

If we're timing location and dates to coincide with an event such as PAX East, make a note of it, as if others want to go to things like that, there will be additional costs involved.

We also need to decide if we're synchronizing these meetups worldwide, or if each location will have their own dates. Each one has it's advantages (together in spirit!), and disadvantages (PAX? We're not going to that!). Personally, I'd recommend we give each location it's own time, and those that are going to that location can decide if that time works for them.

A few side notes:

• Personally, almost any time, even in winter, would work for me. But I suspect most of you would find Canada sort of cold during our winter months. Something to keep in mind.
• I'd recommending banning the days around Christmas altogether. That's family time, people! Spending it with people you met online is sad and depressing.
• That sort of puts New Years out, but perhaps that might be viable.

---

Instructions for suggesting a date

1. When suggesting a time frame, make sure you include the length of the meetup. This will affect activity planning greatly.
2. Don't forget to include whether this suggestion is global (ie. synchronized meetups), or only for your location.
3. If it's a suggestion for only a single location, include the location.
4. Add in any extra details that might be relevant.
5. Try to lead it out by a couple months, at least. It will take some time to arrange everything for us responsible adults. Plus, I have to dump the framework for later parts. Less lead time = less chance I can get pull it all together.

---

Instructions for voters

• Upvote if you can make it.
• Leave a comment (or upvote someone else's comment) if it's your preferred date range. (Especially if we get multiple time frames for the same location)
• Downvote a suggestion if you can't make it. This includes synchronized date ranges.

---

Closing

Remember, this whole thing is to get all of us into the same location(s) so we can put faces to these crazy internet handles of ours. This is going to be pretty fluid, so no guarantees on when Part 4 goes live. The date ranges selected will dictate how much time we have to figure things out.

Answer 1

Philadelphia Meetup

If anyone is interested in a Philadelphia meetup, I can help out to scout out locations, as I'm located in the suburbs near Philadelphia.

Transportation:

• For those in the neighboring states such as NY, NJ, DE, or MD, I would recommend the buses (Greyhound [drops off near Chinatown], Bolt [drops off outside of 30th street Station, Philadelphia's closest equivalent to NYC's Grand Central Station]) over Amtrak (very pricey). From NJ you can take NJ Transit in, but their high speed rail line.

• For those flying in Philadelphia's SEPTA transportation system offers regional rail transportation to and from Philadelphia International Airport.

For places of interest:

• University Pinball located near UPenn's campus in West Philadelphia

• Barcade located in NE Philly, near Fishtown. It's within walking distance of The Girard St. Subway Station

• North Bowl located in Northern Liberties, north of Spring Garden St.

• (New!) Boardwalk Bar A new outdoor/indoor arcade bar in Northern Liberties that just open in September.

Some places to eat, relax, and have fun:

• National Mechanics This place is one of my personal favorites. They hold regular events monthly and quizzo on Wednesdays.

• Nodding Head Good food and great beer (some they brew themselves!).

• The Standard Tap This is the place to sample local brews and great food. It is said that it was them that started the gastropub movement in Philadelphia back in 1994.

• Monk's Belgian Cafe Come in for some good mussels of their special duck salad sandwich, or perhaps sit down and sample from their great selection of brews (perhaps the largest in the city?).

Meeting places:

Depending on how large the crowd is, some good places to meet are:

• 30th Street Station, convenient access to SEPTA transportion (subways, rail lines, and buses) and AMTRAK trains.

• Suburban Station, located near the center of the city, quick access to the Avenue of the Arts, if you in enjoy music and theater and a variety of great restaurants.

• Market East Station, located neat the Greyhound/Peter Pan bus terminal, convenient to the subways, and it's very close to Philadelphia's Chinatown, and it's famous Reading Terminal Market. It's access is also available to the PA Convention Center.

• Washington Square, it's a great outside location to gather and hangout.

There's also many other touristy spots to visit while in the city. If anyone is interested, I'll add a guide to the various spots in and around the city (including the location of ALL the Philly Phanatic statues).

On cheese steaks

Personally, I think Pat's and Geno's are very overrated. Their steaks are not particularly good compared to the better places, especially the quality of the meat. It's more of a cultural experience than anything else.

You can try:

• Tony Luke's on Oregon Ave.

• Chink's on Torresdale Ave in the Northeast.

• Delassandro's on Wendover St.

All of the above will provide a superior steak expereince.

• I hear that John's Roast Pork on Snyder Ave has some quality steaks as well, but I haven't been there personally.

On ramen

Believe it or not, Philadelphia as some pretty decent ramen places.

• Hiro Ramen: 1102 Chestnut St.

• Terakawa Ramen*: 204 N. Ninth St.

• Nom Nom Ramen*: 20 S. 18th St.

• Green Wasabi: 20 S. 18th St.

• Ramen Bar: 4040 Locust St.

* I like these places.

Date of meetup:

• A Saturday would work best, giving people some time to recover and head back Sunday.

• Perhaps a Friday evening or Saturday morning icebreaker for those that can make it.

• As for the day and month, I'm open to suggestions.

Inquires

If you are looking to go sight-seeing around Philadelphia, I can give you suggestions and tips on how to get there, what to do, and what you want to steer clear of.

Answer 2

Toronto Meetup

I am pretty flexible on date range, but I know that I at least can't really make anything before the new year due to classes and exams and the like.

I figure a Saturday day/evening deal would work best - people can arrive Friday/early Saturday, we can meet, still gives people Sunday for travel home, that sort of deal.

As for what to do - what are people interested in? Just chilling in like a pub or something? (I can see about renting a bigger room somewhere similar to what we do locally for Nerd Nite meetups).

Once I get an idea of date and what people feel up for, then the joyous plotting can begin!

Answer 3

London Meetup

I'm (@fredley) happy to volunteer here, though help would be appreciated.

Thoughts about how to go about this:

• Meet on a Saturday afternoon/evening. Those travelling into the country can then choose to spend the weekend here, or nearby.

• How about meeting up in Summer? How's July/August looking for people?

• Meet somewhere reasonably central. I'll try and research places that won't break the bank.

• Are people happy to just go to a pub, or do we want to do something more elaborate? London has many fine pubs, and many fine other things to do. Any suggestions listed here would be welcome.

Need to find a new date if this is going to happen.