I went to my first board game convention!
Apparently this is what happens when I go to a board game convention. Yay for 19 new board games and/or expansions (and promos, besides)?
I went to Origins in Columbus, Ohio with Kevin, Jenny, and their friend David. It ended up being an awesome experience; we basically played board games every waking and non-eating moment from Wednesday afternoon until Saturday evening.
It looks like I played (or sat and watched an entire game of) 47 different games. I think I only played four games more than once: Saboteur, Roll for the Galaxy, Codenames Duet, and Caverna: Cave vs Cave.
Photos of the entire trip are at my photos site.
I don’t want to forget my experiences and game impressions, so here is a brief summary of every game I played on the day I first played it, along with some brief thoughts about each. Also pictures, of course.
Day one (Wednesday):
Hounded – Asymmetric chess-like game where one player tries to corner another’s fox using hounds. Decent, but very easily broken (just block off a corner using your hounds), and not something I’d really replay. Also it’s only two players, and I wouldn’t ever really get a chance to play two-player games. The huge version of it was impressive though.
Codenames Duet (Prototype) – 2-player cooperative version of Codenames, due to be released at Gen Con. Plays really well, and is an interesting twist on Codenames. Would have bought it if it was available.
Glux – Well-made strategy game. Not too memorable (forgot we played it until I went to write this), but fine mechanically, and well-produced.
Captain Silver – Fun shape-feeling game (like sensors in Space Cadets) that is slowed down a lot by the scoring phase. Enjoyable enough, but meh.
Puppet Wars Unstitched – Miniature games for people that don’t want to build miniatures. Not really something I’d enjoy, but decent enough game.
Galaxy Trucker – The classic that I’ve played so many times and love.
Top Secret Spies – Hidden-role game where you move spies around a board with die rolls to maximize your points. Actually a really, really good game until you add in the top secret cards, at which point the game just falls apart. With the cards, this is probably one of the bottom 5 games I played. I’ll probably try making a version of this (basic rules only) with board game people’s faces.
Roll for the Galaxy – Dice-rolling game that fixes everything I dislike about Race for the Galaxy. Amazing game (easily top 5 of the games I played). Bought a copy of the base set plus the first expansion after playing it.
Day two (Thursday):
Radiant: Offline Battle Arena – A customizable card game apparently based on a video game. Decent enough gameplay, although like many customizable card games, it sometimes gets into weird loops or degenerate situations. Enjoyable, but I probably wouldn’t play it again.
Pinball Showdown – Everyone is a pinball and you’re trying to hit targets for points. It sounds weird, but it actually plays really well, and is a lot of fun while remaining really thematic. I bought a copy and got it signed by the designer.
Russian Roulette World Championship – Social bluffing game that is really, really well done and is a lot of fun. I would have bought a copy, except I think the theme (while it fits the game mechanics perfectly) might be a little off-putting to people in my usual gaming group. David picked up a copy, so we can play it, though. Really fun.
New York Slice – Set collection game that is mechanically awesome, and has probably the best production of any game I played. (The box opens like a pizza box, and the score pad is an order receipt). Easily in the top 5 overall, and might be my pick for best game I played there. Picked up a copy plus a sheet of promos.
Werewords – Social deduction game similar to Werewolf, except with a secret word that people are trying to guess by asking yes/no questions. Really good, and a lot of fun. Top 5 of the games I played. David picked up a copy, but it really just needs the phone app to play.
Century: Spice Road – Production game that reminds me a lot of Splendor, except it feels really clunky and was rather off-putting for me. The deck-building aspect of it was interesting, but I felt like I was often way too constrained to be able to do anything useful. Bottom 5 of games I played.
Trickster: Champions of Time – Trick-taking game (ha!) that is actually the best trick-taking game I’ve ever played. Mechanics don’t screw lead players and the abilities give you a lot of “outs”, plus you can collect the most of any given color to negate those cards. Bought a copy, and got some promos with it.
Element – Place elemental tokens on the board to trap other players’ pawns. Interesting mechanically, but wasn’t really memorable in any way.
Deadline – Detective story game that feels like someone wanted to write murder mysteries and slapped some card mechanics on top of it. Decent enough for what it is, but not something I’d want to play again.
Unearth – Dice-rolling and set-collection game that falls flat and doesn’t really feel like you have any control over it. Easily bottom 5 of games I played, and possibly the worst of the bunch? We didn’t finish the game the first time, and walked away from it when playing again on Saturday from frustration and lack of interest.
Portal Heroes – Card game where you collect number cards and use them to collect character cards. Fine, and plays fine, but not really memorable.
The Colonists – Worker-placement game with a moving worker on a hex board. Has the ability to be super complicated and deep (4+ hours), but has ways to reduce complexity for shorter or easier games. I really enjoyed it, and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to use a 50% off coupon on it, reducing its price to $45. Hopefully I’ll be able to convince enough gaming group people to play it.
Chicken Cha Cha Cha – Children’s memory game with chickens. Fine for what it is, but not something I enjoyed.
Dominion: Prosperity – It’s Dominion, the classic deckbuilding game. We played with only Prosperity cards, so the game was ridiculously full of trashing duchies and getting free gold for buying them. Final scores were over 100. Kind of ridiculous, but fun. It’s Dominion. :P
Near and Far – The “sequel” to Above and Below, except it’s only really related to Above and Below as far as the world goes. Story-telling adventure game that is really, really fun, and it has a campaign mode that I’m interested in trying if I can get a group to commit to it. Got my copy signed by the creator!
Day three (Friday):
Saboteur – Hidden-role tile-placement game. I’ve played it before, and it’s always enjoyable enough. Would probably buy it at some point, but didn’t pick it up here.
Costa Rica – Push-your-luck set-collection game. Fun enough, but not really memorable in any way.
Cottage Garden – Really fun game where you try to fill a board with differently-shaped pieces, themed around flowers and planting. Mechanic for piece-selection is what makes this interesting. Top 5 of the games I played, and I would have bought a copy except the asking price didn’t seem worthwhile (I think it was $65?).
Welcome to the Dungeon – I mostly tuned this out, so I don’t know what it’s about other than you finding items and fighting your way through some enemies.
Agricola: Family Edition – A variant of Agricola that strips down the rules and complexities of the game in a way that really works and keeps it interesting. If Cavera fixes Agricola by giving you more choices and complexity, this fixes Agricola by giving you fewer options but making feeding less stressful. Bought a copy (partially due to having another 50% off coupon), and I’m looking forward to playing it again.
Ethnos – Area-control game with card set collection. Decent game, but I feel like the card randomness is too random, with no real way to mitigate it. Would be much better with a couple rules tweaks (like having a constantly-refilling set of cards to select from when drafting). Probably wouldn’t play it again regardless, though.
Alchemists – Logic-puzzle game that “requires” a mobile app to play. Was a really interesting concept, and the puzzle-solving aspect was really interesting, but it felt like there was too much game around it, such that it stopped being interesting for us. We didn’t finish a full game of it, and stopped playing so David could attempt to solitare the puzzle in as few steps as possible, instead. Wouldn’t play it again as-is.
That’s a Question! (Prototype) – Social “would you rather” game that would be good as an icebreaker game, but that feels like it needs to support more than 6 players to be good. Decent enough, and it works well as what it tries to do.
Lyngk – Similar to chess or checkers, where you try to strategically move pieces and stacks to collect more sets than your opponent. Decent enough, but not really the kind of game I enjoy.
Tiffin – Cube-placement game where you collect colored cards and use them to complete routes. Had too much deck screw to really be interesting (both in routes and colored cards). We didn’t finish a game of it.
Piñata – Kids’ game that doesn’t try to pretend to be anything it’s not. Good game for what it is, but not really interesting enough to hold our attention.
Adrenaline – Basically “First Person Shooter: The Board Game”. Really good theme, and it felt like playing an FPS, but I didn’t really enjoy it. The jumbled rules explanation we got before someone else stepped in to correct everything probably didn’t help. I think Kevin, Jenny, and David enjoyed it, but this is not something I would play again. Still, playing with the giant version of the game was nice.
Lemming Mafia – Kids’ game where you race lemmings and/or cause them to drop out by putting their feet in concrete and making them “sleep with the fishes”. Bought it because it was on the $7 discount rack, and it actually ended up being a really fun game. Plays quickly, and is super easy to understand and explain, but still manages to have a lot of depth. Great game.
Johari – Card collection game with action selection that reminds me a little of Puerto Rico or Race for the Galaxy. Mechanically a good game, except the rules were really vague on some important points, and the graphic design was terrible enough that it hindered play a few times. With some small rules clarifications, would be a good game.
Day four (Saturday):
Food Chain (Prototype) – Quick card game where you try to play around what you think your opponents will play. Fun, and easy to learn, and has super cute art. Would play again.
Arena: For the Gods! – Combat game with dice that fails to be interesting and has way too much dice screw. We didn’t finish our game (even after resetting and trying it with the proper draft mechanics). Easily one of the bottom 5 games I played.
Lorenzo – Worker-placement game that is really well designed and that also has some of the best graphic design I’ve seen. Iconography is used so well in the game that we corrected the game-demo person a couple of times based on the icons not matching the explanation. Still, for some reason, it didn’t really click with me, and I can’t explain why. Excellent game, but not one that I’d want to buy or play.
7th Sea Miniatures Game (Prototype) – I don’t remember the name of this, but it’s a miniatures game in the 7th Sea world that seems to really accurately simulate ship movement and combat. Jenny played a round of it, and she seemed to enjoy it, but I have no interest in either the mechanics or the theme.
Paradox – Set-collection game where the primary mechanic is playing Bejeweled with colored tokens. Sounds weird, but it actually fits together really well, and was enjoyable to play. Fun, especially because we played it with the creator.
Caverna: Cave vs Cave – 2-player variant of Caverna that is super simple to play and explain, but that has a good amount of depth and strategy. If it wasn’t for my dislike of 2-player games (because I would never really get a chance to play them), I would probably consider buying it.
(No pictures because I only watched other people play.)
Lobo 77 – Quick card game that is a little like 6 Nimmt. Quick and fun and easy, but has player elimination that can be a little rough. Doesn’t try to be anything it’s not.
Bärenpark – Same core mechanic as Cottage Garden, but with the interesting mechanic being around placement order and position instead of piece selection. A lot of fun, and seemingly has more strategic depth than Cottage Garden, and a much better price point ($40). Top 5 games that I played. I bought a copy.
Spirit Island – We didn’t get a chance to play this, but it’s a co-op game where every player is drastically different (different character, different cards and abilities, different core functionality in the game). Looks really good, and is really pretty, but I’m not a fan of co-op games.
Jump Drive – It’s Race for the Galaxy with all the interesting parts of Race taken out in an attempt to simplfy the game. But, if Agricola Family simplifies Agricola well, this is the exact opposite. Mechanically seems interesting until you get to the point where you’re drawing 15 cards a turn (with cards already in hand and a hand size of 10), and you have to study all of those cards to figure out what to keep. Also snowballs in a ridiculous way (50 points ends the game, and I scored 42 points in the final round alone) that just isn’t fun. Easily bottom 5 of the games I played, and would probably be my pick for the worst game I played — it generally feels and plays like a mess and would benefit greatly from mechanical changes (like having separate currency that isn’t cards).
Purchases
Near and Far – Detailed above. I loved Above and Below, and heard good things about this. The ability to get it signed was just gravy. Played once.
Above and Below: Groves – Expansion cards for Above and Below.
Above and Below: Extended game and tokens – Expansion book with new adventures for Above and Below.
Mysterium Promo Pack – Additional suspect, location, and weapon card for the game.
Caverna Water Expansion – Extra Caverna tiles. For Max and Yubin.
Coup Speculator Promo – Extra Coup cards. For Max and Yubin.
Trickster: Champions of Time – Detailed above. Played it, loved it, bought it. (Included promos.)
Pinball Showdown – Detailed above. Played it, loved it, bought it, got it signed.
Johari – Detailed above. Purchased due to it being on sale for $7, but it seems worthwhile. Played once.
Lemming Mafia – Detailed above. Purchased due to it being on sale for $7, but it was actually really good. Played once.
Roll for the Galaxy – Detailed above. Played it, loved it, bought it. (Got some promos for it as well from playing.)
Roll for the Galaxy: Ambition – Expansion for the above that was part of the demo set we played.
New York Slice – Detailed above. Played it, loved it, bought it. (Also bought a sheet of promo “Daily Special” cards.)
Agricola: Family Edition – Detailed above. Played it, loved it, bought it. (50% off helped make that decision easier.)
Bärenpark – Detailed above. Played it, loved it, bought it.
The Colonists – Detailed above. Played it, loved it, bought it, but only because I had a 50% off coupon.
Power Grid: The First Sparks – Had wanted this game a while ago, but it was out of print and unavailable. Saw it at the con as part of a buy-one-get-one-half-off deal, so picked it up with Roll for the Galaxy. Unplayed.
Gold Ahoy! – On sale for $4. Figured it was worthwhile even if we played it just once. Unplayed.
Zombies!!! Roll Them Bones! – On sale for $3. Figured it was worthwhile even if we played it just once. Unplayed.
Rocket Jockey – On sale for $4. Figured it was worthwhile even if we played it just once. Unplayed.
Forever Young – On sale for $7. Figured it was worthwhile even if we played it just once. Unplayed.
Monuments: Wonders of Antiquity – On sale for $7. Figured it was worthwhile even if we played it just once. Unplayed.
Aeroplanes: Aviation Ascendant – On sale for $10. Figured it was worthwhile even if we played it just once. Unplayed.