Weekend

Board Games by the Bay – Hamilton 23 -24 February 2019

What

Board Games By The Bay (BGBTB) is a series of epic tabletop gaming events run each year in New Zealand. Since 2011, these weekend events have brought together the community to learn and play modern board, card and dice games in a friendly, social environment.

These events bring together enthusiasts and players new to the scene in a relaxed, fun environment. Participants enjoy catching up with old friends and making new ones, trying out different games or relaxing with familiar ones, and entering the free competitions. Numbers are growing with each event, and we’re expecting to fill our venues to the brim in 2018. It’s always great to see so many old friends and newcomers, experienced gamers and families showing up, and we’re looking forward to seeing YOU this time around.

There will be a library stocked with all kinds of games for you to try, and many people bring their own games and invite others to join them. You are most welcome to bring your own games along. We have a team of great volunteers (our friendly RedShirts) who are experts at teaching a wide variety of games to new players.

When and Where

10am – 10pm Saturday 23 February 2019
10am – 6pm Sunday 24 February 2019

Hamilton Bridge Club
20 Richmond St
Hamilton

How Much

Pre-Registration Prices

One Day Pass $13
Weekend Pass $24
Annual Pass (all events in 2019) $68

Door Price

One Day Pass $15
Weekend Pass $30

Board Games by The Bay Website
Registration for the February Hamilton Event

Women in Data Science Conference – Wellington – 9 March 2019

What

WiDS Wellington is an independent event organised by Victoria University of Wellington to coincide with the annual Global Women in Data Science (WiDS) Conference held at Stanford University and an estimated 150+ locations worldwide. All genders are invited to attend WiDS regional events, which features outstanding women doing outstanding work.

The Global WiDS Conference aims to inspire and educate data scientists worldwide, regardless of gender, and to support women in the field.

This one-day conference provides an opportunity to hear about the latest data science related research and applications in a number of domains, and connect with others in the field.

Please save the date (all day) for a stimulating day of talks for practicing data scientists (and professionals in related fields) as well as those considering a career in data science.

When and Where

Saturday 9 March 2019
8:30am – 6:16pm

Rutherford House
23 Lambton Quay
Pipitea campus, Victoria University
Wellington

How Much

Free

Women in Data Science Wellington

Global Game Jam 2019 – Christchurch – 25-27 January 2019

What

Innovation – Experimentation – Collaboration

The Global Game Jam® (GGJ) is the world’s largest game jam event (game creation) taking place around the world at physical locations. Think of it as a hackathon focused on game development. It is the growth of an idea that in today’s heavily connected world, we could come together, be creative, share experiences and express ourselves in a multitude of ways using video games – it is very universal. The weekend stirs a global creative buzz in games, while at the same time exploring the process of development, be it programming, iterative design, narrative exploration or artistic expression. It is all condensed into a 48 hour development cycle. The GGJ encourages people with all kinds of backgrounds to participate and contribute to this global spread of game development and creativity.

The structure of a jam is usually that everyone gathers on Friday late afternoon, watches a short video keynote with advice from leading game developers, and then a secret theme is announced. All sites worldwide are then challenged to make games based on that same theme, with games to be completed by Sunday afternoon. In January 2018, we had 803 locations in 108 countries create 8,606 games in one weekend! GGJ 2019 is January 25-27 at a location near you… if not you can make one of your own. The jam is known for helping foster new friendships, increase confidence and opportunities within the community. The jam is always an intellectual challenge. People are invited to explore new technology tools, trying on new roles in development and testing their skills to do something that requires them to design, develop create, test and make a new game in the time span of 48 hours.

The GGJ stimulates collaboration and is not a competition.

Check out some of the games submitted around the world from 2018.

More details and faq found at the meetup event and event’s webpage.

When and Where

Friday, January 25, 2019, 6:00 PM to Sunday, January 27, 2019, 5:00 PM

School of Product Design,
University Of Canterbury,
Len Lye Building,
1 Engineering Road, Christchurch

Doors will Open at 5:30pm on Friday the 25th, the theme will be announced nationwide at about 6pm and ‘Pencils down’ is at 5pm on Sunday the 27th!

How Much

Free but you have to register here.

Age Restrictions: 18+.
Inclusiveness Policy and Code of Conduct.

Registration and meetup event. Christchurch Game Jam webpage.
Note: There are other NZ sites. This is the info and meetup event page is for the Christchurch site.

Global Game Jam and Event FAQ. #GGJ19

Christchurch Game Developers: web, meetup, @CHCHGameDev on facebook and twitter.

Larp Event: Tesla’s Wedding – Auckland – 26 January 2019

What

Tesla’s Wedding is a a three hour steampunk LARP for 20-30 players by Stephanie and Catherine Pegg, designed in a spirit of celebration and to evoke a feeling of joy. It is rules-light, has a range of characters from the intense to simple and light-hearted, and is suitable for introducing new players to larping, while giving ‘old hands’ room to plot, scheme, and chew the scenery

In the late 19th century Mad Science and Wonders of Nature abound in Europe. There are two powerful families, the de l’Eclaires in Paris, and the Drakenwyrms of Middle Europe, who have feuded for generations. It was inevitable, really, that a de l’Eclaire and a Drakenwyrm would fall in love and trouble, just as inevitably, ensued. This is not that story.

This is the story of how Tesla von und zu Drakenwyrm and Pierre de l’Eclaire, having Conquered the forces Arrayed against them and Founded a little town of their own in the Black Forest, are about to get married good and proper. They have invited friends from their adventures and old enemies, the terrible trials of family, and the myriad peculiar townsfolk nearby. There are even a few travellers staying for the night. Absolutely nothing can go wrong…

When and Where

Auckland Unitarian Church
1 Ponsonby Road
Grey Lynn

3pm – ~6pm
Saturday 26 January 2019

How Much

Free

Facebook page for the event

Browse the basement – Auckland – 13 January – 10 March 2019

What

Here is a rare opportunity to explore the enormous stack collection, located in our vast, multi-level basement facility at Central City Library.

Discover strange curiosities, browse for your favourite authors or simply marvel at the wealth of material acquired over more than a century of collecting. This is a chance to see and borrow some of the incredible books that aren’t on display on our public floors, and to experience the mysterious and magical qualities of the Central City Library basement.

There are limited spaces available for each session and RSP is essential. Don’t miss out!

When and Where

Central City Library
44-46 Lorne Street
CBD
Auckland

4pm – 5pm
Every Sunday from 13 January to 10 March 2019

How Much

Free

Eventbrite page to register

SQLSaturday 809 – Wellington – 22 – 23 February 2019

What

SQLSaturday is a training event for SQL Server professionals and those wanting to learn about SQL Server. Admittance to this event is free, all costs are covered by donations and sponsorships. Please register soon as seating is limited, and let friends and colleagues know about the event.

SQLSaturday Wellington 2019 Pre-Cons
We are planning to run the following Pre-Cons on Friday, 22nd February 2019, 9:00am – 5:00pm. The Pre-Con venue will be confirmed shortly.

Creating a Database Deployment Pipeline using DevOps Processes by Hamish Watson
SQL Server Performance Tuning for DBAs by Amit Bansal
Data Science with Microsoft Cloud by Leila Etaati

When and Where

Friday 22 February 2019 – Pre-Cons
Saturday 23 February 2019 – Main Event

Whitireia New Zealand,
3 Wi Neera Dr,
Elsdon,
Porirua,
Wellington

How Much

Main Event – Free
Pre Cons: Student – $150
Pre-cons Regular – $250

Website and registration

Kauri Boardgames and Cards: Games evening – Whangarei – 1 December 2018

What

What we’re about

Peter and Suse are keen board and card gamers. We have a collection of mostly “Euro Games”, for example Euphrates & Tigris, Elfenland, Puerto Rico, La Citta, El Grande and many more. We also have some lighter, fun games.

Suggest meetings at our house since it eliminates moving a truckload of games around, we can easily do two tables at a time.
If some members should find it convivial, we could arrange dinners together before an evening’s game(s).

Meet Every 2 weeks on Saturday

When and Where

Saturday, 1 December 2018
7pm – 10pm

Huebner Residence
31 Chesterfield Place
Kauri
Whangarei

How Much

Free

Meetup Page for Event
Kauri Boardgames and Cards – with foodie options – Meetup Group

KapCon 28, role playing convention – Wellington – 19-20 January 2019

What

What is KapCon?

KapCon is a not-for-profit role-playing game convention run annually in Wellington, New Zealand, every January. Over a hundred people get together for a weekend of role-playing, in a diverse range of styles and systems. Over the weekend, more than 30 individual games are run, with volunteer GMs (or storytellers, narrators or facilitators) running games between one and six times over the course of the convention.

There are seven rounds of gaming – each lasting 3 hours. Most games have pre-generated characters for the players to use, and some even have props, soundtracks, links to other games, or live action elements (where players act out the less dangerous parts of the story). Between rounds there’s time to chat, meet or catch up with people, and get some much needed snack food. There’s usually some snack food available on-site, and there’s always the dairy and fish-and-chip shop nearby.

If you have a favourite game that you want to play in, you can let us know in advance and we’ll try to find someone to run it – if you love Paranoia, Call of Cthulhu, D&D, PbtA, or any other system, send us an email and we’ll see what we can do. Also for the last few years some wonderful people have offered the Games On Demand stream, where players come in, vote for the games they want to play form a selection available, and one of the team runs the game for them. This is a great way to try out some of those games you may have heard of, but never been able to get your group to play.

After the third round on the Saturday, there’s a LARP. A LARP is a Live Action Role-Playing game – one where you wear a costume, and stay in character at all times. The style of LARPs we have at Kapcon tend not to use foam weapons or complicated mechanics – it’s all about being in character, finding out what’s going on, achieving your goals and having fun. In recent years the Saturday night LARP has grown from 50 to 85 players. There is a dedicated team of writers who volunteer each year to put together the LARP, and it is due to their tireless work that it’s so much fun!

When and Where

Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th of January 2019
Note: Monday 21st is a statutory holiday for Wellington workers and can be used for recovery

Wellington High School
249 Taranaki St
Mt Cook
Wellington

How Much

Full Player                      $30
First Time Attendee      $20
Facilitator (GM)            $20
Single Day Attendance $20
Adventure Squad Only $10
Live Game Only             $10

$5 discount for Full Player, First Time Attend, Facilitator or Single Day Attendance if paid prior to 14/01/2019

Information about Kapcon 28 and registration

EVworld South – Christchurch – 23-24 November 2018

What

EVworld is New Zealand’s combined Electric vehicle Industry and Public Expo.

Ride, drive and experience EVs in all their forms

Trade Day Expo – 9am – 5pm, Friday 23, November

Calling business owners! This is your opportunity to get up close and personal with the EV fleet, learning from the experts on purchasing all forms of EVs and how you can drastically reduce your fleet costs. FOR: SME owners, Fleet Managers, Sustainability Managers.

EVworld South features a co-located conference: Net Carbon Neutral Towns conference that highlights the way forward to a zero emissions economy in New Zealand and the role EVs play in this transition.

Public Day Expo – 9am -5pm, Saturday 24 November

A chance for the public to experience, learn and embrace EVs in all their forms. Ride a bike, drive an EV car, hear about the costs and savings to help you become part of the EVolution!

When and Where

Trade Day Expo
9am – 5pm,
Friday 23 November 2018

Public Day Expo
9am – 5pm
Saturday 24 November 2018

Air Force Museum
45 Harvard Ave,
Wigram,
Christchurch

How Much

Free on both days

Information and Registration for Evworld South

Code Camp Christchurch 2018 – Christchurch – 24 November 2018

What

Code Camp Christchurch is back for 2018!

What: Software Development, SharePoint, PowerApps, Business Intelligence, SQL, Azure and more

We are putting together a fantastic line up of presenters for a full day of shared learning.

The Office 365 stream will include our first PowerApp Hackathon and the launch of a new PowerApps User Group.

We will be making more agenda announcements over the next few days.

——————————–

Join us for a full day of learning, sharing and networking.

Code Camp Christchurch Team

Steve, Dave and Hamish

When and Where

Saturday 24 November 2018
8:30 AM – 5:00 PM

Ara (DLECT / K Block)
130 Madras Street, Christchurch.

How Much

Free. Please register here.

Code Camp Christchurch 2018.