Despite the fact that the con was one day longer this year, and we got there a day early, the week seemed to blaze by and there were lots more games I wanted to play that I didn’t get to. Upon retrospect I played quite a lot of games.

The following list is not chronological, but grouped mostly into styles and my thoughts of them before and after the con.  There is a large industry convention in Essen, Germany a month before the BGG.Con.  It creates a lot of buzz about new games, and I usually arrive with a list, whether mental or physical, of things I’d like to try.  Even so, for the most part, I go with the flow and let games find me.

I did manage to find some of those on my list and get them on the table.  Others I didn’t for one reason or another.

Game of the Convention: Tichu

Tichu is actually a card game, and one I play quite often.  I have the opportunity to play most Sundays at our friendly gathering at the local watering hole.  We’ve infected about a dozen people with the game, and often will have 4 there to play.  I also recently infected one of my weekly game attendees (who already liked Tichu) to come to our week end gathering.

I originally was tipped off to Tichu at the con, but haven’t started playing it whole heartedly until the past year.  This year was the first year for them to have a Tichu tournament, and interest was so high the 32 2-person team brackets filled up instantly.  They doubled the size of the tournament.

I teamed with TG and we won our two first games and lost our third, which allowed us to make it into the 14 team, single elimination bracket.  We lost out first game there (to the team that ended up winning the tournament).  Every game we played was fun.  And I played before and after the tournament as well, with and without TG.

A 4-player partnership game that’s really a lot of fun!  I learned that I have been getting better at playing it, and that there’s a lot further to go on that road.

On My Radar, On The Table

I got a reasonable number of the games I was interested in on the table and played.

Rattus (2010, Henrik & Åse Berg) was one particular game on my list that I really wanted to try.  A new Essen release, it was on a lot of people’s list, and was in and out of the library quite frequently.  I got it once, read the rules, and was tugged into another game.  To be polite I checked it back in while I was playing.  I didn’t even get it back to the shelf before someone took it out of my hand to check it out again.  I managed to get it again later in the week and teach it to some others.

The Plague is overtaking Europe.  This is a 30-45 min. game and you are trying to get the most people to survive the plague.  It’s quite fun, a great filler (what we gamers call the mid-length ones), simple to play, with some reasonably challenging strategic options.

Antics! (2010, Gordon & Fraser Lamont) is one of the games I wouldn’t have been aware of from casual coverage of Essen, but I did run across when I was scouring the lists of new games.  I liked the theme and design, relative length (60-90 minutes), and after playing it I really liked the action selection mechanism.

In the game each of up to four players is an ant hill, hatching new ants, running out to grab bugs and leaves, and return them to their hills.  All the time building up their ant hills, which defines the other actions you can take in the game.  And beware of the anteaters.

i9n (2010, Dirk Strothmann) Pronounced eye-nine, the name is a shortening of information and it is a deduction game.  I have a love/hate with deduction games (Clue (1948) being the best known) and Code 777 (1985) being my most recently played.  I’m pretty good at them, but they often come down to being a stiff numbers game.  Is there actual strategy, or does your opponent just have better information? Is there theme, or just a unique way to “crunch the numbers”.

Code 777 is definitely in the “crunch the numbers” side, and i9n does a really good job of putting you in the theme of the game.  It also has a quite unique punchcard system, calling itself a “paperback computer board game”.  I’m very happy I played it (twice), but I can’t imagine wanting to play it a lot except to introduce such a unique game to others.

There are 6 traits of the ultimately valid oil well, and you start out the game knowing 2 of them.  But not exactly the same 2 others may know.  This is the biggest “what he knows v. what I know” of the game and can certainly make a difference as each of the other traits is or isn’t possibly revealed to everyone.

7 Wonders – (2010, Antoine Bauza) This game was screaming loud and clear from Essen.  There was a lot of buzz about it.  The version I played at the con was actually a pre-production version (though still pretty good).  There were two tables of this one in the “hot room”, and they were always full.  One good thing: it plays rather quickly; one downfall: it makes you want to play “one more time”.  Thus, it was hard to get a play of this one.  Late in the week I finally did.  Get 1 play.  Only to have 7 people take the table from us afterward.

I quite enjoyed it, I appreciate that it will play equally well up to 7, without too much difference.  And it fills the “Civ. building itch” in a relatively short game.  For its extendability to 7 in a realm where 4-5 player games dominate, I think it is useful in a game collection.

51st State (2010, Ignacy Trzewiczek) This post-apocalyptic themed card game had a lot of buzz from Essen as well, though I was not particularly pressed to try it out. It presented itself to me though, and so I did end up playing it.  Friend Greg taught this one (his a wizard at reading rules, and this one is slightly lacking). It was as I expected from my of the (generally raving) reviews.  Reminded me of Race for the Galaxy (2007), but with the addition of a lot of counters that get temporarily used each turn (and some that are kept). I’m not a huge fan of Race and, though I really liked the art and the theme, did not enjoy this game either.

A lot of people compare this game to Glory to Rome (2005) because it uses one similar mechanic of providing cards with different information on difference sides.  When you “tuck” the cards above, below, or on the sides they can indicate different things.  I feel that Glory‘s use is much more elegant and obvious that that in 51st State. And the game play otherwise doesn’t remind me at all.

Beer & Pretzels (2009) I came across this one whilst checking out this year’s releases, and got it to the table late in the week when there was an evening lull and we had people standing around.  It has one of the best descriptions on The Geek (likely from the box) and demanded being played. We procured one of the bar-height tables in the open area and made play.  It had the “purple expansion” in it, so we had 6-players.  (The Purple Expansion rules included “you should constantly make fun of the purple player. they’re purple!”)

I quite enjoyed it, and everyone had fun with it.  Even the ones who said they didn’t like it.  We “gamered” it up, making everyone throw their coasters onto the table from the same location.

After Pablo (2010, Nate Hayden) I ran across this one in my pre-con snooping, and the uncommon theme made me have to try it. Trying to become the strongest drug runner in the power void after Pablo Escobar’s death.  Three sections of the board: Colombia, Mexico, The Border. A variety of things to do.  Upon reading the rules, I thought I would enjoy it.   But somehow the game play just seemed to bog down.  Resource scarcity is common in the games we play, but it seemed overwhelming in this one.  I really would like to play this one again, but I’m not sure I’d put it on my “to buy” list.

Before we got to playing, a friend of the designer’s came over.  I’m sorry I didn’t run into him again, because there are several questions I had for him (most have faded since the play).  We were thinking that particularly we didn’t use enough DEA Favors to balance the game out – the brutal randomness took the balance out of the game when/how we played.  We also played with three players, and I think four would be preferable.

There’s a lot more in my list.  I’ll get to them later.

This year my procrastinating paid off. I ended up splitting a suite with four people, minimizing costs. I managed to never actually meet one of the roommates – the geeks don’t spend many waking moments not playing the games.

Unfortunately, there was no general wi-fi available, and no signal reachable from the main game room. Apparently there was a twitter contingency, but I was unreachable and unaware.

So, here a listing of all the games I played.

Yspahan – I have played this before, and own it. One of the many “Ys” named games from Ystari. It has an interesting dice mechanic. You are creating goods in a small town and trying to ship them out on the caravan.

Agricola – I finally got to play last years trendy game a little bit before the Con, but played it some more here. Certainly a good game with quite a bit of replay-ability. Nice interaction with other players in access to resources. Building your small farm-house, family, fields and livestock.

Destruct 3 – The open-area lobby always has many dexterity games set up. This one was new to us. You set up a tower, jenga-like. You roll a dice to choose one of three tools. You try to knock the tower over but not too far (off the board is minus points). This was a fun one, would be great fun for young boys.

Airships – I met my current regular game group last year at this Con, and I’ve played this game several times with them. I ended up teaching this to several different people at the Con. It’s an easy to learn, and not too long game of building zeppelins.

Hamburgum – My high school friend and college roommate Manuel came from SoCal for the Con. He was only there Thursday and Friday and was brain-fried; he was amazed I could handle two more days. He saw that I had played this game before and had me teach it. I like this game more each time I play – an interesting rondel mechanic and interconnections of actions that force you into a balanced game. And beer is one of the resources – how could that not be good?

4th Corner – Looking to kill some time (not the 2-3 hours many of our game preferences can take) I grabbed this out of the library. A game of trying to build yourself out of a maze. It was widely panned by our players; I think they were overly whiney. It wasn’t a great game, no doubt, but I’d like to play it a few more times to see how the fall out falls out.

Starship Catan – A two-player that looks like it will be light but has more meat to it that it seems. I enjoyed it. It’s not overly short, either. Building up your spaceship and running missions through several different decks of cards representing different areas of space.

North Pole – We played this upcoming release with the designer. Try to navigate a simple grid of cards representing an ice field. The art production was a little inconsistent, but the game was reasonable solid and light.

Pandemic – Another popular game from last year. A great co-operative – which I usually don’t like. This game only lasts 45-60 minutes, too. Four diseases spreading across the globe, can you find the cures before the pandemic?

Dominion – Definitely the big game of this year’s Con. Elements similar to some collectable card games, but a little different. You try to build a deck, and who ever ends up with the most victory points in their deck wins. The trick is they are not useful in your hands during play. Only 10 of the 25 possible cards are used for any particular game.

Sylla – We had someone at one of the vendors booths teach us this new game from Ystari. It was a good enough game, but I don’t feel compelled to play it again. A few interesting mechanics. The art design on this is prob’ly the best part of the game.

Glory to Rome – I finally got a chance to play this card game.  I had only previously seen it.  Each card changes what it represents as it’s used.  The bright coloring and whimsical art work belie the complexity of the actual game.  There are a few cards that are often ridiculed as being Fluxx-like: changing the end game and victory conditions.  But they don’t always influence the game, and when they do, there’s always another play.

Tichu – This trick-taking 4-player partner game is one of my new favorites.  It seems complex at first and will scare off the casual gamer, but it’s reasonably simple in game play: follow the leader.  Yes, there’s a bunch of intricacies, that’s what makes a game interesting.

Samurai – A classic Knizia that I only recently played for the first time.  Nice board and pieces, nice theme, so typically Knizia scoring mechanic.

Zack & Pack – This is new from Essen 2008 (a large industry trade show that happens in Germany in the summer every year.  This game was reasonably light-weight and involves packing up a moving van.  All players start with an initial identical freight, which is basically sticks, sized 1-5.  Everyone flips a truck up in front of them, then you have to take someone else’s truck and try to load it as efficiently as possible.

Caledea: the Epic Strategy Game – The designer of this game had his own spot among the vendors at the convention.  The board has an antique fantasy-ish look to it, but the same is 100% abstract war game.  It seemed reasonably interesting.

Kingsburg – Last year TG thought this game was fabulous.  She suspected it would not have as much luster as it initially did, so we made sure to get in another play.  I already suspected that her impression would be less – there’s actually very little you can do strategically in this game.  There are lots of little tactical decisions, and I think that would be great for younger players.  Don’t throw long-term decision making at them, let them see the short term.

Chicago Express – There were quite a few “hot games” set up on a few tables and always left set up.  This was the only one we managed to play.  It’s reasonably short for a railroad game, but complex enough to keep the gamers interested.  I’d definitely like to play this one some more.

No Thanks – A classic simple, carry-with-you card game that is a game of chicken.  Miguel had it on him.  We played this on the floor outside the room that the game show was to be played in.  We didn’t fare as well as we did last year.  They went complex gamer on us.

Wings of War – Miniatures – As I was going to bed Saturday night I passed a table that had dogfights going on with this game: 4 Germans, 4 Allies.  If you got shot down, you came in with another plane.  Some were casual gamers, two were hard-core war gamers and kept providing airplane arcana as we played.  I played for a quite a while, and it was very fun.  The movements are done with cards, and you have to play three at a time and resolve all the planes at the same time.

R-Eco – A light card game that I bought blind on a recommendation.  It has a short play time and an interesting scoring mechanic.  Lightly themed as recycling.  A nice short game.

Traders of Carthage – The last play and last purchase of the game, I bought this one blind as well, and it was the same designer as R-Eco.  Moving goods through the mediteranean without being pirated.  Driven mostly with cards, which play multiple purposes.  It includes a small board and boats that represent each good.  A fun tricky little game.  I played 2-player with my mom at christmas and she enjoyed it.

So, those were the games I played at the BoardGameGeek Con this year.  I still haven’t managed to get a play of Dune in.  My only (informal) goal of both this year and last year.  It’s a 6-player struggle for domination on the desert planet.  It’s out of print, but the Con has it in their library.