Boardgames To-Go

Gencon SoCal

As you may have read elsewhere, Gencon SoCal was a disappointment to some that made the effort to attend. I've never been to the original Gencon in the midwest, but it's been the big kahuna of American game conventions forever. Still, the writing was on the wall that this first venture to the West Coast might struggle. Right off the bat, you look at the schedule--two weeks before Christmas. Next year I understand it'll be one week before the holiday. It probably plays even greater havok with Hannukah.

I don't know what the organizers were thinking. On the one hand, heading to sunny Southern California has got to sound good to lots of gamers living in snowy parts of the country. The venue for the convention, the Anaheim Convention Center, is literally across the street from Disneyland, making for a nice combo-vacation, or else a great place for the nongamers in your family to have fun. But still, it's such a busy and even stressful time of the year for most folks, it's no wonder the turnout was light.

It certainly was. I heard some accounts that it peaked around 4000 on Saturday, and was considerably less on the other days. I don't know what the other Gencon (or Origins, or WBC) draws, but from the acres of open tables I'd have to say the organizers were hoping for a bigger turnout. This photo shows the CCG play tables, mostly empty.

I wasn't originally planning to attend, but the opportunity arose to help out Überplay by putting together a team to represent them at the show. They were a bit late in organizing all of this, so we missed out on being in an actual Exhibitor's booth. Instead, we were there just on Saturday to "demonstrate" several games, something that missed the official program but made it into the program errata sheet.

(The Gencon folks were really strict about the terminology. In their mind, demos are something very specific--free events put on by the exhibitors or something. Ours were supposed to just be scheduled games, which meant the players needed to have a $1.50 event ticket to play. They could've pre-registered for us, too, but that system didn't work well for Überplay or anyone else, from what I've heard. In any case, we didn't turn anyone away.)

Even Stormtroopers...

One more shot, just for the humor of it. Greg Pettit saw some other good moments, like when Darth Vader was peering into the screen of someone's digital camera to see how well his picture turned out...

Boardgame area

Enough about those other guys. Suffice it to say that there were CCGs, there was roleplaying, and there was even a little wargaming going on. Must've been some miniatures, too, I just missed it. I wish I had more info to share about the exhibitor/dealer area, but I only had time to race through there, looking for booths that sold Überplay games (we couldn't sell any ourselves). Of course Wizards of the Coast had a big booth, as did Fantasy Flight. I saw a more regular sized booth for Steve Jackson Games. There were others, undoubtedly, but none stand out. No Rio Grande booth, and I don't recall one for Mayfair, either. (I may be wrong.) Hmm, I think there was probably a booth for Days of Wonder. No European publishers, and of course Überplay was represented only on the gaming tables, not in an actual booth. (Not this year, anyway.) In this photo you can see what about two-thirds of the boardgaming area looked like (the remaining third is a mostly empty set of additional tables off to the left of this photo). We "set up shop" for Überplay in the middle, occupying that long table all day.

Überplay's area

Here's a closer shot of Überplay's area, with my buddies setting up. That's Ryan Wheeler on the left, Greg Pettit on the right. All of us play with the Santa Clarita Boardgamers group, as well as SoCal Games Day, etc. Ryan is also on spielfrieks. This is at the beginning of our day. Ryan is setting up a couple games of New England, and Greg is double-checking the rules.

New England

Although you mostly see Wildlife in this picture, I'm calling your attention to New England, which I didn't otherwise get a photo of in-action. It's there on the bottom-right, see it? The game went a little long (4-players, basic setup) since a couple players wanted to make the most of it as a learning game, but I understand everyone had fun. It went a little over schedule, but that was no big deal for us. It's all good at the Überplay "booth." :-)

Bridges of Shangri-La

Here's Bridges of Shangri-La. Had this been scheduled earlier, I think we might have had more interest in the game, rather like Wildlife enjoyed. It was our last slot of the evening, though, from 8-10pm, and that probably limited the number of folks around. (I'm not sure why--though the Exhibitor area closed at a ridiculously early 6pm, don't most convention attendees plan on staying late?) Anyway, before this game we had times for Ark and High Society (the latter played several times, and everyone liked it), I just missed photos.
What's especially worth pointing out here are the people. It's a table of spielfrieks! That's Greg Parker on the left in front, and going round the table there's Doug Garrett, Shelly Garrett, and Richard Irving. Behind them Greg Pettit is speaking with Alan Stroud, who's a spielfriek lurker.

As expected

I always enjoyed Mike Siggins' little editorial jabs at the "rubber sword" crowd that show up at major cons. I suppose I shouldn't be so petty. These folks really enjoy the whole costume thing, whether they're real Live Action Roleplayers or not. And who am I to gripe about it? Just the same, I can't help chuckling about it.

Wildlife

This is the third game of Wildlife played that day. This happens to be my favorite game in Überplay's lineup (so far!), so I paid more attention to this one all day. Also, I think there was a bit more interest in this because of the convention setting. As long as you've got all day to play games, why not try a slightly longer (2-hour) game that you probably haven't seen elsewhere, and may be on the fence about buying? New England may have already been tried by more people, and Ark of the Covenant and High Society are easier to buy sight-unseen, since you know what you're getting. Anyway, the bearded man on the right is designer Tom Jolly, the designer of such titles as Wiz-War, Cave Troll, Drakon, and more. Will we see something from him under an Überplay label someday? Hmmm...

Ark of the Covenant

One of the last games of the evening was Ark of the Covenant. It had been played in its scheduled timeslot earlier, but now Greg and Ryan were waiting for me to finish one last game of Wildlife. This group played High Society, too. Look! Even Captain Kirk thinks highly of Überplay's games! :-) (He was one of those crazy Guests of Honor at a convention like this. For some reason, Val Kilmer was another.)

After this, we packed up and headed home. It was a fun day, and everyone seemed to have a good time playing our games. I'm sorry the entire Gencon SoCal wasn't a clear success for everyone, but we did out best to hold up our end. For anyone in the area (or passing through) that wants to forget about the all the convention stuff and just have a good time playing boardgames, I encourage them to check out our next SoCal Games Day (number 15!), scheduled for January 31. All the info is at http://www.socalgamesday.com.

November games

Better late than never...

AffenRaffen – I guess I need to stop saying that I don’t really care for speed games, because this is yet another one I like. The outstanding production (graphics, thick tiles) really help the game, too.

Africa – Still a favorite, and I finally got to have my semi-gamer brother try it over Thanksgiving. Just 2-player, but the game works as well with that as any. Even better, he liked the game.

Apples to Apples Jr – My kids’ (esp. daughter’s) new favorite. I know some people don’t care for A2A, while others have OD’d on it, but it’s still tops in my book. The Junior edition works just like the real deal, only using simpler adjectives (funny, creepy), and more kid-centric nouns (My Room, Bugs Bunny). It’s a good game to encourage reading, too.

Attika – Apparently the closest to a big hit from this year’s Essen, but I thought it was just okay. I need to try again, but am in no hurry.

Auf Falscher Fahrte – I love the concept, but in our games it’s so rare that the hand “goes large.” Might try reducing the required number by 2, though it could easily be just a groupthink problem.

Bang! (with High Noon) – I already thought quite a lot of Bang!, and this little expansion is just right, adding even more flavor and fun without burdening the game.

Battleship Card Game – Pretty good considering its mainstream publisher, but hard to recommend over other good 2-player options.

Big City – Another played 2-player with my brother over Thanksgiving, this didn’t go over quite as well. I’d like to play it some more (luckily, my son now counts it as one of his favorites).

Bluff – Played this online at BSW, which worked better than I would’ve guessed. Talking smack is a lot more fun in real life than over the chatline, but it works okay.

Bonobo Beach – First I liked this, then I cooled off. Now I’ve been playing the free downloadable version on my computer, and I’m liking it again.

Carrom – I still like this, but my house (game storage) isn’t big enough for this AND Crokinole, so it’s going to be sold off.

Crokinole – Mostly 2-player with my brother, who just LOVES this game. (I do, too.)

Die Fugger – Kind of reminds me of Meuterer more than Modern Art, in that you’re managing a hand of cards to sell for victory points at opportune times. Good stuff worth more exploration.

Die Ritter von der Haselnuss – Supposed to be one of the better kids games, and I guess it is, but the memory part didn’t wow me. I’ve got Hallo Dachs on the way, which I might like better.

Die Safeknacker – Another where everyone else thinks this is a not-quite-harmless waste of time, while I think it’s fun.

En Garde – I still love this, and wish someone would make an online or email version.

Epic Duels – My son’s favorite game (above even Queen’s Gambit, I believe). We now always play with the bonus draw card rule first suggested by Peter Sarrett.

Kleine Fische – I wish there was a little more game to this kids’ deck of cards, but as-is my daughter loves it. I love the artwork, at least.

Mampf – There’s even less game to this one (pure blind bidding/cancellation mechanic, like Basari Ultra-Light), but the production is really charming and works with the youngest kids.

Mäuse Rallye – We played this to death, now it’s taking a little break. Our games now always end when the cheese runs out, which means mice aren’t falling into the holes fast enough. Need to try with cagey gamers that forego track-running in order to send opponents’ mice into the holes.

Mu – The Santa Clarita Boardgamers have now played this enough that we don’t have to completely relearn it each time. Just the scoring. I think we should explore some of the Mehr games, too.

Puerto Rico – Wow, I continue to make stupid mistakes when I play this time (only my third), but at least now I think I’m learning.

Rüselbande – This looked delightful, but was very underwhelming. I should’ve expected that from Alex Randolph. His games just don’t do much for me (except Wurmeln).

Rosenkönig – What a great surprise! First that it was a gift, and second that the game was so fun!

Sauerbaum – A cooperative abstract game, available in three separate editions (currently a pretty lavish production from Zoch). Not everyone’s cup of tea, but I like it.

Scream Machine – How cool is it when your friend gets his first game published? How much cooler is it when you really like the game?! My own copy just arrived.

Space Walk – Cool bits, quick play, and it’s one of those that use the box itself as a game component (which I find oddly compelling).

Time's Up – That third round with all of the gesturing still makes me feel like self-conscious and awkward, but I can still appreciate this quality game,

Tohuwabohu – A colorful speed-recognition game that’s always a favorite in our house. (Same designer as Affen Raffen, too: Michael Schacht.)

Yellowstone Park – It looks good but is otherwise a complete disappointment. Wanna buy my copy?