After the opening ceremony there was a gap in events, which was a perfect opportunity to check out the con bag.  Everyone received this upon arrival and it contained all the necessary information to get through the weekend.  The attractive cloth bag consisted of a con book (containing articles and information on Auchinawa), an event planner, promotional leaflets and an Auchinawa pen.  Although we were initially let down by the lack of a keyring or badges (like Amecon and Alcon), the quality of the con book itself made up for it.  It was the most entertaining con book we have read, with tongue-in-cheek articles and brilliant illustrations.  Highlights included contributions by Keith Copping and Claire Weir of Team Giblets, who submitted an excellent article on fansubs and a hilarious comic strip based on Bleach.  There was also funny guide to con survival (including the rule getting stabbed does not equal experiencing Scottish culture), a wickedly funny look on cosplay and a hugely informative article on the anime industry by Andrew Partridge of Beez Entertainment.  In-between events the con book was excellent entertainment and has been re-read since Auchinawa. 
 

The first day continued with a trip to the games room, which featured a variety of video gaming.  As well as anime-based games, such as Naruto on the XBox 360 and Fate/Stay Night on the Playstation 2, there was Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Soul Calibur 4 and Dance Dance Revolution (courtesy of DDR:UK).  There was also DDR:UK merchandise available and a tombola, were you could win a variety of anime prizes.  It was a great place to chill out and have fun in-between events.  Aside from the games room, there was also some impressive anime being screened.  Gurren Langann, Gunbuster 2, Haibane Renmei and more were showing until 2am on the Friday. 

Then the first day of Auchinawa moved onto the first night of partying and on offer was a pub quiz, karaoke and a disco.  The pub quiz was a good prelude to the disco, allowing con goers to flex their brainpower and forge friendships before partying.  The karaoke ran side-by-side the disco and had an impressive array of anime tunes to choose from, both retro (such as Macross) and new (such as Bleach).  The disco itself was great fun, showing AMVs made to western music, so a lot of classic cheese was played.  It drew criticism from some, as the AMVs shown were apparently the same ones from Amecon 2006,  but that was no bad thing as the disco was still great fun a second timearound.  All in all the Friday was great way to kick things off! 
 

    Saturday was the main day of the con, so was suitably packed with events.  It was on this day that the dealers room opened, with dealers such as Beez Entertainment, Otaku UK and United Publications in attendance.  There were stalls outside the dealers room as well, including Terratag, various artists and the excellent official con t-shirts all for sale.  Overall the range of merchandise was impressive, with anime DVDs, manga, clothing and figures all catered for.  The only thing that was missing was Pocky and other Japanese snacks, which was a great shame.  Still, there was plenty to take one's mind off the lack of snacks and is detailed on the next page. 

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