SwanCon 17 – Valhalla & M A R S

The SwanCon 17 July 1991 progress report has two unnumbered pages between pages 12 and 13. The first of these is a full page advert for Doug Thorp’s Valhalla Games and Hobbies, while the second is a full page advert for M A R S*

While as ever, we the transcribers are committed to faithfully transcribing all the typos we can bring ourselves to duplicate, there is no such dedication to replicating idiosyncratic layouts from before the dawn of HTML formatting. Ditto replicating out of date phone numbers and opening hours.


The top quarter or so of the Valhalla advert has a partial grid of tessellated hexagons, with ‘Doug Thorp’s’ in one section of white space and ‘Valhalla Games and Hobbies’ in the other. Immediately below that is ‘(brought to you by the founder of the original Simulations 1976-85)’. Other than a teeny tiny mud-map squeezed into a barely large enough space, the rest of the page contains text, text, and more text. To whit:

Yes, it’s Doug Thorp back again!!
We’re rebuilding Perth’s best Games and Hobbies Shop, and we invite all interested to join us. We’re a little hard to find at the moment (being Phase 1), but we should soon be in bigger and better premises. Games Days are already held on Saturdays (soon Sundays too), and Games Weekends are coming up!!

Come and see Perth’s largest range of games!!

Wellington Buildings (second floor)
158 William St. (cnr Wellington St.) Perth
(entry from William St. diagonally opposite the bus station)**

Ed: phone numbers and opening hours are detailed here

Wargames   Fantasy-SF   RPGs   Figures   Kits   Books
Paints   Kites   Jigsaws   Software   Secondhand

DISCOUNTS
Subscribers to our monthly newsletter “Thundergod Previews”
get discount on everything, Christmas bonus and a monthly bonus!!

School holidays hours
Our shop is open earlier during school holidays

Photography and Video Services
We can provide photography and video services for weddings, parties, balls, anything!!


The MARS advert has a nice double line border around the whole page, and a watermark so carefully faded to not obscure the text that we are only mostly sure that it is the MARS logo of the time. It should not be surprising that the advert for a university geek club is even more wordy than that for a shop catering to their more wealthy friends and acquaintances.

M A R S
MARS stands for “Murdoch Alternative Reality Society”. We are an affliliate society to the Murdoch University Guild of Students and our main objective is the promotion of the genre (science fiction, horror and fantasy) through a variety of media.

The club was formed in February 1988 and is currently one of the most active clubs of its kind in WA. Some of our past and present activities include:

  • The holding of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons tournaments
  • Cheap Video Nights with movies ranging from “Danger Mouse” to “Star Trek: The Next Generation”
  • The production of “Phantasmagoria”, the club’s fanzine/annual
  • Discount group movie bookings to such movies as “Batman” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”
  • Subsidised membership to Swancon (we knew that would catch your attention!)
  • Compilation of surveys on the popularity of various RPGs in Perth’s gaming community
  • The holding of thrice-weekly gaming nights

In addition, the club has probably the most substantial games library in WA, with a wide variety of RPGs, boardgames, wargames and magazines. Club members also receive a 10% discount at Tactics, Simulations, Valhalla Games, A Touch of Strange (games only) and Quality Comics (for purchases over $20.00).

Althought the club is a Guild affiliated society, membership is not restricted to Murdoch students. Annual Membership is $5.00 for Murdoch Guild Members and $10.00 for non-Guild Members. Interested?

Then Contact
Anthony Anderson (1991 Club Secretary ) on xxx xxxx
or Write to MARS
c\- Guild of Students Murdoch University, South St, Murdoch 6150

* Ed: yes, it probably says ‘MARS’, but the spacing is so dramatic that it just looks better this way
** Ed:The one they keep moving.

This entry was posted in Progress reports and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *