For most people, SimuCon started Thursday July 16th, the day before registration.  As attendees were arriving in airports and making plans to meet their friends for pre-SimuCon celebrations, the GameMasters and OnSite staff were gathering at Simutronics headquarters for a get together of their own.

The Simutronics Staff gathering was marked most notably by an exploding CPU, a fire in the back of the building caused when a bag of fertilizer spontaneously combusted, and an electrical outage that lasted over 3 hours.  While GameMasters worried that their hamburger meat would spoil with no refrigeration, the SimuCon coordinators preyed that fate would be merciful and allow their last major chore (the printing of 500 name tags) to be completed.

Meanwhile, at around midnight in a fairly reputable restaurant in St. Louis, fifty DragonRealms players found themselves forcibly removed from the building and invited to "never return again."

However, fate was generous that night.  We all pulled through and had a great time despite the little roadblocks placed in our path.  If nothing else, we call all say that the night before SimuCon was nothing but memorable.