Join us for a relaxing weekend of games and hospitality. Bigger than a
house party, smaller than an RG; just hundreds of
Chicago Area Mensa's
games*,
plenty of tables, and well over a hundred
friendly, albeit competitive, players. At AGoG, you can play all your
favorite board and card games, including Euro/German games as well as party games
and classics, or bring your own to share with friends. Food and
non-alcoholic beverages are provided throughout the weekend.
Free with Parental Supervision
(Please note that baby-sitting will not be offered)
Non-members: add $5 to the rates above.
†
Payment must be received by deadline to qualify for discount
Age as of Friday, Feb. 17, 2023 Includes admission to the
Monthly Gathering
on Saturday evening.
Unaccompanied youth 12-17
must have a parent/guardian
present at registration to sign the appropriate form.
Preregistration is now closed. However, you can still register at the door for AGoG — cash or check only.
So please come join us.
Refunds –
Cancellation and refund requests must
have been received by Friday, February 3rd (an 8% service fee will be subtracted).
Cancellation and refund requests received after that date will be reviewed on a
case-by-case basis, based on circumstance and event viability.
Report Your Better Deal
If you do find a lower rate for the Westin hotel via some travel
websites or memberships which you may have such as AAA, please let the
AGoG team know by contacting our
Hotel Liaison .
When events result in more rooms being booked, it helps
keep AGoG prices down by allowing us to negotiate space at a better
rate, which benefits all the attendees at future events.
The Hotel Rates:
Rooms at the
Westin North Shore Hotelwere available for a discounted rate of
$122 per night through
January 16th.
Call 1.847.777.6500 and ask the hotel to book a room for the “Chicago
Area Mensa A Gathering of Gamers (AGoG)” group rate (Warning: The hotel has been known to change the cutoff date with little or no notice)
However, if you’re calling after January 16th, don’t expect them to give you a discount.
If you have any issues, please contact our
Hotel Liaison .
Speaker Presentation for February
Trivia Contest
run by Tim Schifle
It’s AGoG weekend and, as usual, the Monthly Gathering theme is games-related.
Our special treat will be the Trivia Contest run once again by trivia guru Tim Schifle, just after the announcements at 7:30 PM.
Prizes are expected to be fabulous, or
maybe they’ll look a lot like M&Ms.
Bring your knowledge of the obscure and find out.
If you played last year, you might remember Tim Schifle as our virtual
trivia host. An M since 2001 and a veteran of over 1,500 trivia games
in Cleveland, Tim recently took his talents to the Motor City, where he
now lives with wife Vanessa. He is excited for the unique challenge of
trying to stump the best of the best—in 3D this time!
The Saturday Program:
Trivia Contest run by Tim Schifle. The Monthly Gathering is being held in conjuction with AGoG so expect additional people to show up Saturday evening.
The fee for the MG is included as part of the AGoG registration fee.
The MG program is, of course, games-related—this year a trivia contest.
Tap/Click on the blue button on the right for all the details.
The Volunteer Opportunities:
To schedule and host a game or tournament of your choice,
sign up now!
AGoG E-Mail
Mensa members can also sign up for the
CHICAGO AREA MENSA AGOG-NOTIFY
community (aka e‑mail list) to get e‑mail updates (no more than one a month,
except during the 30 days prior to AGoG).
CHICAGO AREA MENSA AGOG-NOTIFY is a community in Mensa Connect.
If you haven't used Mensa Connect, visit our
Group E-Mails webpage
to learn more about using it.
To join, visit
Mensa Connect My Communities
which gives you access to the Communities in Mensa Connect. Use the
search input field at the top of
Mensa Connect My Communities page
and enter "AGOG" followed by tapping/clicking on the button.
If you are a member, you'll see member to the left under CHICAGO AREA MENSA AGOG-NOTIFY.
Otherwise you’ll see a Join button on the right that enables you to do that.
If you are a member,
to remove yourself from the community or to change your e-mail address/frequency
just for this community,
tap/click on the CHICAGO AREA MENSA AGOG-NOTIFY community name, and
then tap/click on the Settings
button to the right of CHICAGO AREA MENSA AGOG-NOTIFY.
You’ll see the options shown in the image to the right where your e-mail
address for this community will be displayed in the grayed-out area.
Note: This list is limited to Mensa members only due to American Mensa’s restrictions
— CAM is investigating options for an e‑mail list that would
work for everyone.
The Contacts:
Questions?
Post them on Facebook or
e‑mail the AGoG Chairs Hieu N. and John B.
The AGoG Details:
The AGoG Discord Channels:
CAM Discord Access and More
Already a CAM Discord member?
Simply open up the Discord app, look for the
CAM
icon on the very left, and tap/click on it. You’ll often find fellow gamers online
even when no official CAM event is taking place.
New?
A few days before the event, check out the Introductory Guide to Discord
as well as our CAM Discord FAQ for instructions about downloading the Discord app
on the device you’ll be using, and registering yourself.
Read the doc and/or peruse the various questions and answers to familiarize
yourself with our customized version.
The Invitation Link is needed only by new CAM Discord users. All Mensa members can access the CAM Discord Invitation Link via our Contacts webpage
using their American Mensa login credentials.
The CAM Discord Invitation Link is also included in your AGoG
Registration Confirmation e-mail (contact our
Chairs if it wasn’t) and it is posted on the AGoG Facebook Event page . It will also be available here as of Tuesday, February 14th.
After tapping/clicking on the Invitation Link, the Discord app you installed will open. You must
acknowledge the displayed Code of Conduct to see all the rooms (aka
channels). Do this by tapping/clicking on the emoji symbol at the bottom that best describes
Your membership category.
Once you’ve done that, you’re in and won’t need an
Invitation Link again.
When you join a Discord event you won’t automatically
see all the participants like in Zoom when the host lets you in or you join a meeting
in progress. Instead you’ll scroll down and find the channel
specified as part of the event info, in this case, in one of the many
AGOG channels.
You get to see the list of names indicating who is in
the channel before you tap/click on it to join. And if there is someone
presenting, you’ll need to tap/click on the presenter’s
feed or double-click the Live button next to the
presenter’s name to enlarge the feed.
It may feel weird at first but the learning curve is pretty short and
chances are you’ll like it better than Zoom and choose to use it
to video call a fellow Mensa member/group who is part of the CAM Discord community
and definitely to play online games while chatting with everyone participating.
After you register, come join the chat in first of the AGoG channels listed on the Chicago Area Mensa Discord server and plan for gaming with attendees in advance of the in-person event!
If you haven’t used Discord or haven't used our CAM Discord Server, tap/click on the Discord button on the left for more information.
The Directions:
AGoG and the February Monthly Gathering
will be held at the Westin-Chicago North Shore Hotel at
601 North Milwaukee Avenue in Wheeling.
The hotel is located on the east side of Milwaukee and the main entrance is at the
intersection of Milwaukee Avenue and Wolf Road (just south of Lake-Cook and
north of Dundee Road).
The rooms facing east enjoy a great view of the Forest Preserves.
The hotel is located just west of the Des Plaines River and is steps away from the
Des Plaines River Trail leading into the Potawatomi Woods Forest Preserve.
There’s also a pool and workout equipment.
There’s plenty of free parking both on the north and the south side
of the hotel. The south lot is closer to the meeting rooms.
The hotel offers a shuttle service from the nearby
METRA stations .
Please call them well in advance to arrange a pickup given staff shortages have increased wait times.
Otherwise use one of the ridesharing services like
or Uber .