Upcoming Test Sessions - Including A Major One

We have two tests coming up in the chapter. On January 28, at 10am sharp, we will start testing at the Centreville United Methodist Church. This is a very large venue where we will be able to handle many dozens of test candidates simultaneously. Spread the word to your friends and family who are interested in testing that this is definitely a great day to come join us; it's hard to believe that we would fill up to capacity. Registration for the test will start at 9:30am, possibly earlier if we've set up enough of the venue to accommodate the influx.

The other test session is February 19 at 9:30am sharp (registration starting at 9am). This session will see us returning to Marbles: The Brain Store, located on the lower level of the Montgomery Mall by Nordstrom. Given the size of the venue, this session is limited to a maximum of 6 test candidates.

For additional information on either of these tests or to RSVP, please contact our Testing Coordinator, Bob Pugh, at testing@mwm.us.mensa.org.

Mind Games (r) 2012 Hotel Info

We already have 75 rooms booked at the hotel on Thursday night (wow!), and we're well on our way to our 300-person ceiling of Mind Games registrations (226 as of yesterday); surely many of the extra people soon to register want to arrive early as well. The problem, as noted by several people already, is that our hotel will not provide any additional rooms for us on Thursday night. So, here's what we are going to work out with them:

The nearby Hyatt Place hotel (several blocks away, and unrelated, despite the common name) has rooms available. Yes, they are less expensive than the Mind Games venue. (Varying price, depending on what deal you take and whether you pay in full in advance, etc.) The Hyatt Dulles, understanding that we're putting on a pre-event on Thursday night and that we have a large number of people who are already slated to be in town by then, is willing to run their shuttle bus between the two hotels (which is something they would not ordinarily do). Similarly, they are willing to have their shuttle bus bring people from the Hyatt Place over on Friday morning with the understanding that these people are actually coming over both for the event AND to check in for a likely 2-night stay. They will NOT run the shuttle between the two hotels past that Friday morning.

We recommend that anyone who does not yet have a hotel room and wants one makes a reservation for Friday and Saturday night at the event venue -- the Hyatt Dulles. If you are looking to arrive in town Thursday (or earlier), make a reservation for those few additional nights at the Hyatt Place hotel located in Herndon. (Yeah, switching hotels mid-stay is annoying, but it's the best we can get.) We'll work something out a little closer to the actual event in terms of either scheduling a regular shuttle timing between the hotels on Thursday afternoon/night or at least making sure that the proper phone number to call is distributed so you can request a pick-up.

(Note: Availability of Double rooms at our event venue Hyatt Dulles is sporadic. Those currently with kings looking for doubles instead should periodically check back to see if they can change. That's the best we can do on that score, too, since there are so few Double rooms in the Hyatt Dulles.)

While we recognize the temptation of saving the difference in the room rate between the hotels, we think you would be best off staying Friday and Saturday nights in the event venue of the Hyatt Dulles for the most obvious reasons: you can stay up as late as you want playing games and be able to merely stumble upstairs to collapse in bed rather than have to wait however long to catch a cab between hotels; and in the morning, you can quickly rush downstairs to start playing again without need to wait for a cab or walk on Saturday or Sunday morning.

Looking forward to getting Mind Games 2012 started already. We hope you're as excited about it as we are.

Mind Games (r) registration going strong!

Registration for the upcoming Mind Games 2012 being held at the Hyatt Dulles hotel in Herndon, VA from April 20-22, 2012 is going fast. As of today, we have 215 people already registered, and registrations are capped at a maximum of 300 - which we'll surely hit before the closing date of March 25, 2012. (We'll have a waitlist to get additional members registered as people cancel registrations - there are always a few who cancel, for various reasons.)

We're even in negotiations with the hotel to expand our room block and figure out something for overflow space on Thursday night, as we already have 75 rooms on Thursday and, given their regular business, they're sold out for that night.

And with how well everything is going, we've secured a program room so people can bring games to play on Thursday night in a decent-sized program room. I'll bring many of my games (several past Mind Games winners), some MWM chapter games, and hopefully we'll have people driving in who are willing to bring down some of their own collections to play Thursday.

Go to mindgames.us.mensa.org to register and find additional information, and the link to reserving a sleeping room at the hotel, too.

Testing at Marbles: The Brain Store

We have just gotten the green light to conduct a Mensa Admission test session at Marbles: The Brain Store in Montgomery Mall, Bethesda, MD.

As of now, it looks like we will be conducting this test session on Sunday, November 20, 2011 from 9-11am.

If someone you know would like to take the test at this session, contact our Testing Coordinator at testing@mwm.us.mensa.org