Hi Reader,

Welcome, please come in. This week, we're meeting a little, sun-baked apartment in Mexico City. A glass tumbler has some purple jacaranda flowers.

I came down to Mexico to visit family, but I also bought a ticket to a great games convention here called MegaXP.

Although I don’t know much Spanish, my phone does get internet, and it was easy enough to take an Uber to the World Trade Center Ciudad de México.

Inside, I had to ask the person at the Registration desk if they spoke English. They looked at me a little skeptically—like, "of course, but why on Earth would you ask that?" But they very kindly pointed me to where to get my wristband.

The view inside the exhibit hall looked surprisingly familiar.

It was massive, almost on the scale of Origins. Con-goers, cosplayers, and vendors. Most of the booths I saw sold board games, but there was also a lot of Pokemon, Magic the Gathering, Warhammer 40K, minis painters, and medieval-style crafts.

I noticed a few Mexican inflections, too. Like the snack vendors (popcorn is big), and a trio of stilt-walkers who included El Santo (with an extra-long cape!).

Plus! A collective of gamer groups, called Rol en tu idioma, organized a full schedule of role-playing games at several tables in the middle of the hall.

I wandered over to that section, and I recognized one group’s name: ReRoll. Their Twitch channel played Raccoon Sky Pirates in 2022. (You have got to see the cartoons of their characters on the overlay.)

So, I went over. "Hi, habla ingles?"

Again the skeptical look. "Yes."

"Hi, my name’s Chris. I made a game called Raccoon Sky Pirates."

Instant excitement.

One of their members, Chok, facilitated the game on Twitch and played Iggy Escupefuego (Spitfire the Pigeon). He gave me a big hug. I signed a copy of the game for him, and we got our picture taken.

As we parted ways, he said, "You made my day!"

It’s really true what they always say: Raccoons are international.

There are lots of great cons happening around the world, and I rarely get a chance to go to one outside the U.S. What are your favorites?

Cheers,
Chris

P.S. It was so great to finally meet Chok and ReRoll! They're doing great things. Check out their Itch page!