Unknown to its attendees at the time, Avaloncon VIII was to be the end of the line. Avalon Hill’s management, unable to stem the flow of red ink, had decided to sell the company outright. They fired the entire R&D staff the day after the conference. Although Avalon Hill was going down for the third time, you’d have never known it at the last Avaloncon. Attendance was higher than ever.

No less than six events drew triple-digit fields including three that shattered the old attendance records (Atlantic Storm 155, Monsters Ravage America 167, and Titan: the Arena 175). Only four defending champs held serve and five doubled. But Kevin Wojtaszczyk was the big winner with a triple for wins in Greed, Pro Golf and Wizard’s Quest. Because of the circumstances in the days following the conference no Sportsmanship Award was presented since it was thought there would be no further conferences.