Rumpus Room
Rumpus Room Schedule has been posted below!
At Minicon 59 we will have a room stocked with toys, games, and art/craft materials suitable for younger and all “young-at-heart” fans. Confirmed activities include:
- Decorating the Rumpus Room
- Open Play and/or Crafting time
- Tool Time (Take stuff apart, learn how it works)
- Faux Stained Glass
- Balloon Sculpting (Animals, etc.)
- Fancy/Renaissance Hair Braiding
- Lock picking
- Cosplay workshop: Build your own lightsaber and frugal cosplay tips
- Star Wars: The Escape Room
Rumpus Room Activities for MiniCON 59 [2026]
Activities generally last about 1 hour (unless noted) with 15 minutes cleanup and 15 minutes setup for the next activity
| Day | Start Time | Activity | Who | Notes / Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | All | Open Crafting / Open Play | Anyone | We offer a HUGE assortment of toys, games, and crafting supplies. Come make something or just have fun hanging out. |
| THURSDAY | ||||
| Thur | 5:30 PM | Decorate the Rumpus Room | Nora | Do you like decorating? Well we've got the perfect thing for you! We are inviting people of all ages to come have fun and spruce up the Rumpus Room for this hour or anytime as "open crafting"! |
| Thur | 7:00 PM | Opening Ceremonies | Rumpus Room is closed during Opening Ceremonies. | |
| Thur | 8:30 PM | Escape Room play-testing | Randy, Thorin, and lots more | This is when ConCom (maybe others) can test and help tune the puzzles used for the escape room across the weekend. |
| FRIDAY | ||||
| Fri | 10:00 AM | Decorate the Rumpus Room | Nora | Do you like decorating? Well we've got the perfect thing for you! We are inviting people of all ages to come have fun and spruce up the Rumpus Room for this hour or anytime as "open crafting"! |
| Fri | 11:30 AM | Blinky your Badge [Field Trip] | Blinkies | |
| Fri | 11:30 AM | Pick your own event | Nora & John | The Rumpus Room will help you with any *SMALL PROJECT* from our schedule if have schedule conflicts [Time Permitting] |
| Fri | 1:00 PM | Balloon Sculpting | John W. | John W. will demonstrate making dragons, mermaids, aliens, motorcycles, hats, and other creations using balloons. Participants will have the opportunity to learn how to make their own balloon dog. |
| Fri | 2:30 PM | Young Fan Concert | Graham & Becca Leathers | An acoustic concert using songs that work for all ages, heavy on sing-along elements. Customization (requests?) likely. |
| Fri | 4:00 PM | Tee Shirt (clothing) decorating | John & Nora | Embellish or create anything; BYO Bag or any garment, or grab one of our tee shirts [Youth XS to Youth XL], or see merch for shirts to embellish. Use colored and/or glittery hot glue, paint-pens and optionally other crafty items to create your own wearable garment. We also have coloring sheets to be used as stencils. |
| Fri | 5:30 PM | Japanese foam sword rock-paper-scissors | Michael Hagerman | "Rock paper scissors with combat." Basically you do rock paper scissors then the winner of that has to pick up the foam swords before the loser can pick up the shield to actually "win" the round. Best 2 of 3 round takes the game. Winner gets 2 lollipops loser gets 1. It's fun! |
| Fri | 7, 8, 9:00 PM | Escape Room (1, 2, 3 of 7) | Randy | Lights out; NO arts & crafts Can rebel spies stop the Empire’s latest genocidal plan? If you like puzzles, ciphers, and ticking doomsday clocks, come tackle this pop-up escape room inspired by Star Wars and the Pandemic board game (knowledge of either isn’t required, nor is cosplay). Please sign up as a group or individual beforehand in the Rumpus Room, but walk-ups and standbys are welcome! Later time slots will be added if there’s demand. All ages welcome, but ages 12 and under should be with an adult. The password when you arrive is, “I have friends everywhere.” |
| SATURDAY | ||||
| Sat | 10:00 AM | Lightsabers & cosplay tips | Tyler Bloom or his friends | Build your own lightsaber and maybe some frugal cosplay tips; see Bozo Bus Tribune for final details |
| Sat | 11:30 AM | 80s Card Games with Thorin | Thorin N. Tatge | In the 1980s (mostly 1983), Parker Brothers, Ideal and some other companies produced a slew of custom card games in tiny boxes--colorful, eye-catching, and quick, if a bit unbalanced by today's standards. Come play some of these odd gems like Luck Plus, Shake 'Em & Take 'Em, Dott-O, ONO 99, and licensed games based on properties like Q*bert and Krull. |
| Sat | 1:00 PM | Hair Braiding | John W. | Braid or be braided! John W. demonstrates a variety of techniques: classic French & Dutch braids, round (Crown) braids, ... 3, 4, 5 & 7 strands, and other styles like hearts, spirals and a pull-up-weave. |
| Sat | 2:30 PM | Faux Stained Glass | Nora S. | Use Laser Cut frames (MANY SF related items!), markers, tissue paper, and glue to make window decorations that look very similar to stained glass. |
| Sat | 4:30 PM | Kathryn Sullivan Reading | Kathryn Sullivan | Kathryn Sullivan will do a reading from one of her YA/children's fantasy books |
| Sat | 5:30 PM | Lock Picking | John W. and others | Learn how key-locks work, and how vulnerable they are. |
| Sat | 7, 8, 9, 10:00 PM | Escape Room (4, 5, 6, 7 of 7) | Randy | Lights out; NO arts & crafts Can rebel spies stop the Empire’s latest genocidal plan? If you like puzzles, ciphers, and ticking doomsday clocks, come tackle this pop-up escape room inspired by Star Wars and the Pandemic board game (knowledge of either isn’t required, nor is cosplay). Please sign up as a group or individual beforehand in the Rumpus Room, but walk-ups and standbys are welcome! Later time slots will be added if there’s demand. All ages welcome, but ages 12 and under should be with an adult. The password when you arrive is, “I have friends everywhere.” |
| SUNDAY | ||||
| Sun | 10:00 AM | Simon's Revenge | Thorin N. Tatge | Are you good at following directions? This is a tricky verbal game in which you will hold up colored cards. Your host Thorin will take you thru one or more 'katas', each of which will have its own theme. Will you hold up the right card more than anybody else and win a prize? Note: this game was originally developed for inner city teenagers at a library program. |
| Sun | 11:30 AM | Mini Medallion Hunt | J Spitzer | Like the 4-day version, but condensed into the RR, finished in 1.5 hours, and intended for younger fans. |
| Sun | 1:00 PM | Tool Time | John W. and others | Disassemble old electronics and other devices. Learn safe and correct use of hand tools. Bring in junk electronics for disassembly...NOT necessarily re-assembly. Supervision and assistants for Tool Time are ALWAYS encouraged and appreciated! [slot 1 of 2] |
| Sun | 2:30 PM | Tool Time Continues | John W. and others | Disassemble old electronics and other devices. Learn safe and correct use of hand tools. Bring in junk electronics for disassembly...NOT necessarily re-assembly. Supervision and assistants for Tool Time are ALWAYS encouraged and appreciated! [slot 2 of 2] |
| Sun | 4:00 PM | Closing Ceremonies | Rumpus Room will close 15 to 30 minutes BEFORE Closing Ceremonies! | |
Rumpus Room activities depend on volunteers! Contact rumpus@minicon59.mnstf.org if you would like to join or lead/provide or help run a scheduled Rumpus Room Activity or if you are interested in volunteering in the Rumpus Room or can help in any other ways.