Expo Day 1 – The Journey to Madison Begins

Okay, so… the day before the flight? It was a lot.

We spent it making sure the kids were packed and ready to go to the grandparents’ house, the dog had all his stuff, and the house was nice and tidy—so we could come home to something that didn’t feel like a disaster zone (at least until the kids got back the day after we returned).

After cleaning, packing, and dropping everyone off, it was about midnight. My insomnia, as usual, had impeccable timing—keeping my brain wide awake until around 3 a.m. And just when I finally dozed off? The alarm went off a whole 30 minutes later.

There’s nothing quite like waking up to the delightful tones of a phone alarm that feels more like a personal attack. Classic me—hyperfocused on every single detail I might’ve missed. But hey, we got up, got out the door, and hit the road.

Traffic to Ontario International Airport (KONT) was blissfully light, but then we hit our next boss battle: finding the parking lot.

Lots 2–4 and 6 had bold, easy-to-spot signage. Lot 5? A tiny sign tucked away after the turnoff, like it was trying not to be found. After 5–10 minutes of spiraling minor anxiety, we found it, parked, and made our way to the terminal.

We saw a massive line stretching through the building and up the stairs. My first thought? “Man, that’s a long line. Good thing it’s not for American Airlines.”

Luckily, since we were carry-on only, we were told to skip the counter. Come to find out it was the TSA line which we had to join. Gotta love the TSA gates—aka the gates of security purgatory.

After being judged by the mighty metalrous detectous (yes, I made that up), we strapped our belts back on, double-checked that our Nintendos survived, and sauntered on through. Thirty minutes later, we were boarding the first leg of our trip to Texas.

We landed early in Dallas and made our way to Terminal A via the airport’s mini-train—which felt more like a rollercoaster being piloted by a retired Indy 500 driver. If the kids had been with us, we definitely would’ve missed the connection. Still, 10/10 would recommend starting a vacation with a surprise thrill ride.

Eventually, we arrived at our gate and waited (as my grandfather would say welcome to the hurry up and wait program ) for about two and a half hours, (an hour longer than booking stated) for the final flight to Madison, Wisconsin.

Cookies and soda in hand, we soared off to the Midwest.

Once we landed, we hopped in a Lyft, got checked in at the hotel, and headed straight to the ACD Expo. We were only about 45 minutes late and just missed the first round of shopping and the welcome reception—not too bad all things considered!

We grabbed our badges, snagged some swag (sweet), and like two little ducklings looking for mama, we waddled off to our first game demo of the night.

Game #1: Star Explorer (Queen Games)

A unique, eye-catching game where you draw constellations on a rotating wheel board. The design was elegant and very polished—top-tier box art and layout. But for someone with color recognition issues (hi, me), trying to connect tiny stars into matching patterns from the cards was… rough.

Once you get the rules down, the gameplay becomes pretty intuitive, and I can see the appeal for folks who enjoy a no-pressure, creative experience. That said, I personally found it kind of lackluster and was a bit bored halfway through. Still, I somehow managed to come in second (out of three) with 75 points.

Azura, of course, crushed it—taking first place and winning us a free copy of the game. That got added to our ever-growing library of demo games for the shop. After a few gleeful gremlin giggles from her, we were ushered out and on to the next game.

Game #2: Zenith (Flat River Group)

Beautiful art, cartoonish sci-fi vibes, and solid mechanics. You play as a ship’s captain deploying crew in a tug-of-war battle over color tokens. It’s a 2–4 player strategy game, and while it took a bit to understand (especially with the demo video being in French), once we got the hang of it, it really clicked.

Great for folks who enjoy a bit of back-and-forth strategy with teams dynamics. We liked it enough to place a small order for the shop.

At the end of the demo, we were asked to grab a colored token from the board, anyone with the color drawn from a hat was  eliminated one by one as tiles were drawn. And guess who was the last one standing? Yep—Azura again. Free game number two for the night.

(Am I jealous? Maybe. But also proud.)

Game #3: CookieRun: Braverse (Devsisters)

I had never heard of the mobile game this TCG is based on, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. It features cute, gingerbread-like heroes battling one-on-one in classic TCG fashion. Each card has an elemental type and can also be used as energy—which I thought was a clever mechanic.

Only two units can be on the field at a time, and the pacing is surprisingly smooth. It’s a charming, easy-to-learn game that I could see being a fun intro for younger players or anyone just getting into trading card games.

We were running on fumes by this point—our social meters completely drained and jet lag creeping in—so we wrapped up our night, grabbed our door prizes (four booster packs each!), and moseyed back to the hotel.

The bed was inviting, the room spacious, and despite the welcoming setup, sleep was once again elusive. My body never quite settles in a new place on the first night. Around 3–4 a.m., I finally drifted off to the familiar sounds of Disney’s Robin Hood, thus ending Day 1 of our Madison adventure.