Jerry T Fest
Personal Bio:
Born, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1952
Over 35 years working with runaway/homeless youth
Currently self-employed providing training and consultation for youth
services
Lives in Portland, Oregon with his partner Julia
Diplomacy History:
I
was first introduced to Diplomacy in the early 1970’s in Philadelphia through
a group of co-workers. For a few
years I played with that same small group of people, but those games were never
like what I’ve come to know as Diplomacy. In the mid 1970’s I left the east
coast and, as a consequence, my small circle of Diplomacy friends. Without 6
other people to play, Diplomacy fell off of my radar.
I
remembered enjoying the game, though, so when I saw a copy of the Deluxe Edition
of Diplomacy while killing time at Mall of America in Minnesota, I bought it and
began to reacquaint myself with the rules. However, I still had the problem of
needing to meet 6 other people who wanted to play. But time had gone by, and I
now lived in a world made much smaller by the Internet. I did a simple web
search and discovered a thriving international community of players dedicated to
the game (you guys). I also learned that there was an active club right here in
Portland. In August of 2000 I went to play my first game of Diplomacy in 25
years.
After
being stabbed by Matt Shields THREE TIMES in the same game, only to have him get
pissed off when I didn’t believe him the FOURTH time, I began to realize that
this was NOT the game I used to play with my small group of friends many years
ago.
No,
this game was MUCH better ….
My
original goal was to find a group of people I could play a game with every once
in a while. Less than six months later I was traveling over 1200 miles to
compete in a tournament. Did I have the bug? Maybe a little, ‘cause I did well
enough in that tournament to justify another, and another, culminating in
stabbing Spencer Bernard out of the 2001 Grand Prix title by showing up at
Tempest when he wasn’t expecting me.
In
2003 I became the point person for the local Portland club: The Portland
PiggyBack Society. I presided over the creation and adoption of the club’s
first Charter and helped to evolve the club from a Portland-centered group to a
regional Pacific Northwest organization promoting play in Oregon, Washington,
and British Columbia. My term as the club’s first Chartered President ended
after we succeeded in our bid to bring DipCon to Portland in 2004. The annual
tournament in Portland has become Cascade Summit, and the PiggyBack Society for
Pacific Northwest Diplomacy (PSPND) has continued to grow. In 2007, PSPND will
host the 17th World Diplomacy Championship in Vancouver, British
Columbia.
Following my term as PSPND President I have continued to be a dedicated tournament player, traveling as often as work allows and racking up too few wins and my fair share of crap results, but I did bring home the first ever West Coast Swaggle Championship in 2004, and was honored with the title “NADF All Star” in 2005.