L5R Iloilo: How it all began

It was the nineties. Every gamer in Iloilo was playing Magic the Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons. We would gather in a place called Rotary Park by the Iloilo City coast. Our gaming needs were supplied from a store in Marymart Mall owned by Mrs. Huang.

Mrs. Huang decides to sell L5R. Out of curiosity, some gamers (including Joden Guiche) buy a few cards. They form decks but no one actually plays. MTG is still the main CCG.

In Manila, roommates Bong Belardo and Alros Belloga buy the first L5R starters and boosters and decide to play. Alros later goes home to Iloilo for a vacation in 1997.

Alros goes to Rotary Park and meets Joden and the rest of the guys. The two become fast friends. One evening at Joden's house they both discover that they both have L5R decks. They decide to play regularly. More gamers see them and decide they want a piece of the action. A semi-bandwagon occurs as gamers discover a new Collectible Card Game. The first few starters and boosters are sold out.

The demand for L5R is increased. Joden successfully convinces Mrs. Huang to restock. Even more gamers then decide to play the new game. Some decide to permanently quit Magic the Gathering as their main CCG and switch to L5R (and they never turn back up to this very day).

Today some original players are no longer here but our numbers have grown significantly. Mrs. Huang no longer sells L5R and we have new sources. Rotary Park is no more but we still play the same game.

The first Iloilo L5R players:
Alros Belloga
The Guiche brothers
JB Mascunana
Jaymark Martines
Brendan Pijuan
Norman Posecion
Eustace "Ating" Trifalgar
Archie "Kabayo" Flores

I was the last person to join the game in 1997. I only returned from Manila in November. Joden Guitche introduced me to the game. By then everyone already had full working decks and clans of their choice. I ended up getting Lion since it the was last starter available and it was the least popular clan at the time. I was attempting to emulate a Chris Hagstrom deck and I sucked at it. I played Lion for mostly ten years before switching to spider.