Every year the Really Awesome Gaming Expo (known as rAge by close friends and relatives), held at the Coca Cola Dome in Johannesburg, acts as an undeniable and almost irresistible force, drawing in gamers and game developers alike from all over South Africa and some parts of the Rest of the World™. Naturally, this can only mean a weekend of pure pulsating joy, happiness and companion cubes that cannot possibly be expressed in any number of words. We'll do it in pictures instead.

Exhibit A

The Companion Cube

This peculiarly cube-shaped and particularly huggable object has little to nothing to do with game developing at all. Happily it found itself at the Game.Dev stand (seen in the rear of the photo) and, seeing that it was filled with love and hugs, decided to stay.

Exhibit B

San Juan

Card games are inherently fascinating, with chance and strategy being intermingled in a unique manner during each play. This particular game was no exception and had many of the visitors to the stand hooked within minutes. Although not created by anyone in the Game.Dev community, it was a great way to get everyone thinking about gameplay and card game dynamics. It was also a whole bunch of fun.

Exhibit C

Left 4 Dead Card Game

Winner of the Game.Dev Competition 22 and current entrant of the Game.Dev Competition 23, rAge would have been incomplete without an appearance of this legend in its own right. A four player game, with difficulty ranges and hordes of zombies to deal with, the L4D Card Game quickly stole the spotlight and the hearts of many. If you've managed to miss it, you can still download the cards and instructions here.