Hobby X! The ever cycling convention that allows folks to not only spread their existing hobbies to others, but also themselves pick up new ones!
We had the opportunity to wander the half spherical halls of the Coca Cola Dome and examine the exhibits back on the 7th of March 2015, so we decided to give you a little feedback on some of the things to be seen!
A Little Background
Hobby X is a long running expo that slowly crawls around the country every few months, using various venues to collect together groups of folks who want to show off the latest in hobby innovations and ideas, hold workshops to help you perfect your use of wood working tools and launch new products that haven’t quite made it into your main stream shopping centers yet (Unless you count Glomail stores…) From boardgaming, to mosaics, DIY gear to biking it’s a large collection of different pursuits, so you get a chance to view a large spectrum of South African hobbies.
The patience and dedication of the Bonsai Society came across in their work
Workshops and societies
The one side of the dome was dedicated to several constantly changing workshops, as well as several hobby societies also set up and eager to entice new recruits into their ranks. Some of the workshops were as simple as the correct techniques one should use when using power tools to prevent stripping your skin off your hand in the process, whilst others were a bit more complex and dedicated to singular tasks like making your own stained glass mural. Each workshop had an applicable fee to cover any raw materials and possibly the teachers time, but generally they were fairly priced from between R100 – R500, depending on the art in question.
There is always what I call the clockwork of doom machine, which whirrs and clicks and hums essentially to do nothing…
The societies themselves were eager to inform and as always the Mecchano enthusiasts had built massive constructions of whirring and buzzing cranes, mining equipment and clockwork trains. Such creations are always interesting to observe up close, although I confess it seems that every year they cart out the same old creations… One day I want to see a true Mechanno innovator, willing to take of the challenge of something completely new or different!
Skycastles towers of games! (now all they need is a little game moat)
The Faces We Knew
Of course, what made the convention for us was catching up with our good friends at Board Game SA and SkyCastle Games, who had flown all the way up from Cape Town in order to sell the latest hotness to eager convention attendants. As always, they came in force and the moutain of games they had on offer was astounding, including the latest Scum and Villany Wave Release from Star Wars: X-Wing and a locally published boardgame called Max Money, which aims to teach folks a more accurate model of wealth creation then more traditional games like Monopoly. They set up an amazing display area and ran demos for several boardgames over the course of the weekend, my favourite being the new Fantasy Flight X-Com boardgame, which uses a phone app to track mission progress.
We also spotted the Folks from The Dark Carnival (who are running Geek Fest later this year) Their booth was packed full of geeky paraphernalia. From cool plushy hats to Tardis Lunch boxes, Their shelves were packed full with enough loot to make any geek happy!
3D Printing made easy. This one runs off open source software even!
The Strange and the wonderful
Of course, as we moved from section to section, we were able to pick up on some interesting trends, perhaps indicative of what direction innovation is choosing to follow. For one thing, the amount of 3D printer vendors. Every row had at least some kind of vendor attempting to sell such devices, from the High tech, self contained models that come as a complete unit, to the small “kits”, provided by PrintRBot, that require a bit of assembly but soon after are churning out anything you can model in 3D. Some of the more sophisticated devices could even “deconstruct” existing prints and transfer the data to a printer across the booth, essentially allowing all your fellow printer owners to print any creation you already have. Overall, the price of the devices is slowly dropping, so I wont be surprised if we soon spot these nifty gadgets in every home, fabricating everyday objects as needed.
3Doodling may take a bit of practice…
A spin off of this was of course the 3Doodler pen, which is essentially the manual version of the technology, as it allows you to hand “Draw” 3D objects into existence. Now, just as with drawing in two dimensions this is of course limited by your actual ability to draw… But the concept is still a fun one and I can see a lot of creative projects coming out of the device (although I doubt it will ever see any major productive use.)
Seriously, Helicopter blades will do you little good in Space, Mr Space Fighter
Of course, Helicopter technology’s recent upsurge meant there was the obligatory “mini-drone” booth peddling off the tiny toys. The rather inaccurately named “Space Fighter” could be seen zooming around the convention hall under the expert guidance of it’s retailer, who took a great deal of pleasure in flinging the device into the air, only for it to self correct. What I’d like to see in the future is someone actually selling programmable mini-drones, even it was just a small “modification” of the existing “Space Fighter” technology.
Also.. Neon lighting
Another gem was the modern vintage folks at Gramophili Juke Boxes who have nifty sets of juke boxes and gramaphones, all modernised to match current technologies (so fully able to plug into your favourite Mp3 player) but all the while not only keeping the nifty retro vibe the pieces of tech provide. As a bonus, the devices have been designed to also play old LP records and convert them if you desire, so you are able to back up that old collection you have stuffed in the back of your cupboard as well as play them once again in a nifty retro manner.
Conclusion
Overall, Hobby X had hundreds of stalls to explore and tons of activities to take part in. Even if you aren’t involved in any of the activities it was still a great way to spend a Saturday Morning. The energy of the event is great, with the vibe possessing a “meeting of the minds” atmosphere. The Dome was busy, but it’s ample venue space meant I never felt like I was drowning in crowds. If you’re keen to catch the Expo the next time it rolls around near you, the best method is to keep an eye on the Hobby-X website, where they list all upcoming expos. (The next one finding it’s way to the Durban Expo center at the End of August.)
PS: Don’t Forget!
Geek of all Trades and DeeTwenty are going to be hosting an international Boardgames day on Saturday, April 11, 2015 from 9:00 AM. Register here, or join the Facebook Event Here Come join us and give the game a go!
