There are actually a pair of Egypt exhibits in Columbus at the moment: this one and a pure artifacts show at an art museum. We figured that Clark would enjoy the kid-friendly angle of COSI more, although I'm sure he would have been entertained by any sizable collection of Egyptian treasures.

Not knowing what to expect from COSI, we were blown away by the expanse of the place. We've certainly been to smallish kids museums, and boringish adult museums, but this one is massive and family-focused.

And reasonably priced as well. It was around $40 for all three of us. They get you with the food, but more about that later.

The red pin wall was in the lobby (or, the free area) and one dad was brave enough to stick his face into it. He also did a few with his mouth open, and that was quite creepy to watch emerge on the other side.

Upon arrival we immediately scrambled for the Lost Egypt wing. Although it began with some clear mockups and interactive stations (drag the block to the pyramid! here's a simulated dig site!), we were happy to note that the back half of the exhibit was packed with genuine Egyptian mummies and treasures.

There was a camel.

Here's Clark looking at some fake animal bones. Not far away from this was a giant wall of skeletal mummy x-rays. When Clark noticed that, he dashed over to get a good look.

I had a picture of the x-rays, and also of a cat mummy (because, you know, cat mummy), but the roving security guard made me delete those photos. In my defense, the "No Pictures Past This Point" signs were really small.

This (not my picture) was the star of the show. A true multiple-centuries-old mummy, estimated to be a sixteen year old female. She was mummified, with her own sarcophagus, but her dressings and box contained no name... which, archaeologists say, is very unusual. So they named her Annie, which Clark thought was very unusual as it is our cat's name.

After reading all these King Tut books to him off and on, it was amazing to be able to show him the genuine article. Clark asked several times if the mummy was real. I held him up so he could see the painting on the mask and the delicate wrappings.

Among the many exhibits at COSI is a big walkthrough called Progress... where you begin in a charmingly crafted lifesize 1900s main street. Then you turn a corner and it's the same main street but set in the 1950s. Presumably you would go outside if you wanted to see what American life is like today.

There was also a crazily cool ocean exhibit. One half was all about exploring the ocean with subs and diving gear. The other half - connected via an underwater cave zone - was an Atlantean water fun zone, with water spurting out of the floor. Like, you could actually get wet and stuff. One of the interactive exhibits simply had water flowing out of a rock and you had to connect pipes to get it to a nearby bowl. And this isn't behind glass or safely ensconced within a wall; this is right out there where you could easily goose your grandma with a water enema of she wasn't watching. Very, very cool.

Camera battery died at that point, so I had to switch to the Sidekick.

There's an outside zone. This is Clark running through a typical Ohioan field. This area had one of those centrifugal force rides (at Hersheypark, this long defunct ride was called the Rotor), but why find reasons to vomit.

We braved the menu prices and stayed in for lunch. We got a large pizza for $20. Clark liked that the napkin dispensers were Egyptian.

COSI is huge. There's a big kids play area, with a neat water table toy at the end. There's even one built for babies, where they can sit in the middle and bat at sporadic water jets.

C-3PO peers into the play area. I guess this banner was leftover from an old Star Wars exhibit, and they kept it around to spy on the kids.

Clark's souvenir for the day was a pair of dig-it-yourself sand toys. We bought a coffin-shaped one (with plastic mummy parts inside) and a pyramid (with Egyptian treasure inside).

That mummy has a lot to be proud of.

Clark was very excited to work on these once we got home (we made him wait for Sunday as we got home late Saturday night.) He dug out the mummy parts and I had to hack away at the plaster pyramid. I won't say that was particularly easy.

Vapor's Gambit looms pretty large, doesn't it? Have I mentioned the embarrassingly trite slogan: "Screaming Hoverboard Racing"? Incidentally, during our final epic five-player Vapor's Gambit game of the con, I took the opportunity to investigate some of the backstory. Turns out that the hoverboard track is called the gambit and I believe the city (or country, or planet) is called Vapor. Thus, Vapor's Gambit. Probably more on this one later.

There were two Fluxx promo cards available this year. One was specifically for Monty Python Fluxx called "Sir Not Appearing in this Game." He's a Knight of the Round Table Keeper and that's about it. The second one is a Creeper - "The Traitor," which plugs their new game - for I presume any version of Fluxx, and it lets you win instead when another person wins, which is pretty insane. Even for Fluxx. Fluxx is Looney Labs' cash cow, and I am glad that they keep issuing expandable promo cards to keep it interesting. I mean, they got my money for Fluxx about five years ago and they still keep giving me free cards. That's pretty cool.

Scavenger Hunt card game... I'm pretty enamored of it, although when we played it Mike was supremely disappointed in the balance. Everybody plays as a different predator with different abilities, and Mike's Vulture seemed woefully outmatched compared to the others. Although he damn near won. More on this one later as well.

The big red-and-blue dice came from the kids activity room. At certain points of the day, they called names to win prizes and that was what Clark won. He likes them. In fact, he made a game with them already, which I should outline for you guys when I get a chance.

Clark's huge pile of free Naruto / Dragon Ball / Yu-Gi-Oh cards is right beside the dice. Really. All free. Naruto and DBZ cards are all fairly recent, straight from the Bandai booth. The Yu-Gi-Oh cards all came from an old expansion called Cyberdark Everclear Wingman or whatever. The booth that was clearing out their Vapor's Gambit overstock was handing out these Yu-Gi-Oh packs to any child with arm's reach. They also gave us a couple of free Spanish flag magnets, for which I am still struggling to find a purpose.

There's that $9 Cthulu stuffed animal. I did not notice until after I bought it, but it did not have a tag on it... so is it some kind of Cthulu bootleg? Can the Cthulu aftermarket really be so large as to encourage ripoff plushie manufacturing? Legit or not, it was identical to the $20 Cthulus over at one of the most overpriced booths of the con. So, win for us. The overpriced booth was also selling Cthulus that were a quarter of the size of ours for $10. And also these handmade jobbies:

Clark really liked this little hand-crocheted beanie Cthulu. Rhonda was going to get him one until she heard the price: $12. Not that they weren't cute, and not that crocheting doesn't take a ton of time... but $12 is right out. Maybe if I was super into Cthulu and intended to keep this li'l Elder God on a shelf, frozen in time. Maybe. But as something that Clark would probably unintentionally unravel during some madcap Lovecraftian playtime? No way.

Seeing that $12 guy completely cinched our purchase of the $9 mega-monster.

So farewell to Origins 2009! We posed by the Zombies!!! booth again for you.

One more thing. Here's the Clark Room:

The Columbus Convention Center has a labyrinth of meeting rooms all named after famous explorers and such. Columbus, get it?

We found out that next year, Gen Con is August 5-8. This year, it is a bit later, which would not work for Mike's back-to-school teaching schedule. Gen Con is in Indianapolis, which would mean about a nine to ten hour drive. Our early estimates suggest that Rhonda and Clark would not go, so then Mike and I could carpool... but we'll see. Already I like Gen Con better because it has a hearty, beefy exhibitor/sponsor list.

I'd also like to get to PAX Boston next year, which is in March.

But all that aside, even if Origins 2009 is the last time we head out there, it will always be fondly remembered as "That Time We All Got Vapor's Gambit."