How Nerdly Beach Party Works

Nerdly Beach Party is a communal effort that requires everyone going to get involved. A few brave souls help guide the group, but it relies on every attendee.

Before the Party

First off, you need to register. Once you've done that, we'll get you on the mailing list and access to the planning wiki.
Then we find out who is interested in running games. Games are proposed, requested, and collected up. We do a back-and-forth process here, to make sure everyone's got something fun to do during the event.
Between two and three weeks before the event, the group votes on what games they're interested in. Then we use crazy math to figure out which games are accepted and go into which slots.
At the same time, we make sure all the Kitchen Patrol slots are filled up.
Once the games are figured out, we take signups. Signups are always due the Friday before the event, and the results are posted up that Monday or Tuesday.
During this, we figure out who will bring various camping & cooking supplies for the group, and who will do food shopping. (Go to the Registration page for more information.)

On the way to the Party

Some people make a trip to the various wineries near Paso Robles, since that's on Highway 46, connecting 1 and 101. Others grab lunch and rendezvous in Paso Robles. Any plans for that will be talked about on the mailing list, which you'll have access to once you've registered.

Whoever will show up first will need to talk with the group about grabbing campsites. While we'll have reservations, the specific sites themselves are first-come, first-serve. We prefer the sites around the upper loop, 1-35, with a preference for being either at the top of the hill or otherwise in the shade.

During the Party

For what happens during the party, go over the schedule. For the rules of conduct, go over the rules.

Cleanup & Taking Off

Those around Sunday after camp breaks up should spend a few minutes cleaning their site up. Throw away all the obvious pieces of trash, and then spend a few minutes looking for three unobvious pieces of trash — half-buried food wrappers, papers, things like that. Once you've done that, we wish you a safe journey home!

Note for people traveling on Highway 1: While it's a scenic route, it's also a much slower drive (especially if you get behind a slow-moving RV for a few dozen miles). It's also a particularly windy road, especially coming from the Bay Area. While trip planning is up to you, we recommend against taking Highway 1 back on Sunday (unless, of course, you're from the Santa Barbara tribe). You'll be tired after the event, and the extra hour or so will feel much longer and more draining.