Octopus Overlords

If it parallels fall, there's usually a dealer room that operates close to banker's hours. Other than that, it's open gaming to your heart's content with very few 'events'.

Night 1

I guess I fail at linking to Imgur on my phone.

Redfive wrote:
Night 1

I guess I fail at linking to Imgur on my phone.

Albums don't link.

Kind of a whirlwind weekend, but many games were played. Isgrimnur you didn't hear from me because we never left the hotel, instead opting for eating the mostly acceptable food they had for sale next to the gaming rooms.

I went into this having never attended one of these before and fairly limited exposure to board games in general. I have Imperial Assault, Armada, Catan, Carcassone, and Scotland Yard..not a huge collection.

Off the top of my head I played:

Sagrada - quirky game of building stained glass windows. Not as dry or non game-like as it sounds but overall it was just okay.

No Thanks! - a card game with somewhat of a betting mechanic where you pay chips to avoid picking up cards and you try to have the lowest score at the end. Was easy to pick up and quick.

Evolution Climate - my friend and his daughter were volunteering at the booth for North Star Games and this was one of their new releases. This one was good, though I only played it once.

Splendor - gem making game. Very easy to pick up and very fun. Played this one several times and would consider picking it up.

Lost Cities - Have known about this game for awhile but never played. Very easy to pick up the rules and the strategies and quite fun.

Mysterium - a little like Clue in as much as you are trying cooperatively to identify a suspect / location / weapon for a murder, but the clues are given by the 'ghost' played by a person. This was fun. Not my top tier for the weekend but the art in the game was outstanding and we had a good time.

Burgle Brothers - cooperative heist game. Was fun. Not my top tier though.

King of New York - you play as a monster and compete against other players also running monsters to see who is the last man standing. This one was good. Not quite on my list of 'I'd buy this' but still a good time.

Wits and Wagers - Another North Star game. This one is a pretty straight forward trivia / betting game. The trivia questions are the kind that no one is likely to get exactly right (i.e. how much did the heaviest Sumo wrestler in the world weigh?) but you can all get in the ball park and then bet on the results.

Gloomhaven - One of the heavy hitters. In hindsight trying to learn this game at 11pm may not be the best idea but we had a good time--at least as much as you can have running a one off adventure for a game that is meant to be played as a campaign. I would never buy this for myself as my local gaming circle is my daughters, only one of which would be interested. This made my top five for the weekend though.

Terraforming Mars - Another heavy hitter and pretty hot right now. I really enjoyed this game and would buy it if I had people other than 1 daughter to play it with.

Above and Below - might have been my favorite game of the weekend and one that I am seriously considering picking up.

We also did a round of Artemis--the 'Star Trek' bridge simulator and I got to be captain. This was fun though I wish the graphics / sound were a little better.


I'm sure there were more but I'm at work and can't remember right now.

Overall I had a great time. I'm glad I was able to attend since the much bigger Fall version is not an option for me with my daughters' dance schedules.

Sounds like you got a lot of good gaming in. I don't know if I will ever get to do Spring as the memorial day holiday is generally a packed schedule for us. I'll just have to look forward to November.

No worries. Sounds like you had a great time.

If I had people I could count on hanging with, I might be persuaded to do Spring at a lower price. The Philly Pax Unplugged might cut next fall's demand, so it might take three+ hours to sell out.

Isgrimnur wrote:No worries. Sounds like you had a great time.

If I had people I could count on hanging with, I might be persuaded to do Spring at a lower price. The Philly Pax Unplugged might cut next fall's demand, so it might take three+ hours to sell out.

If the Spring con becomes a regular thing for us I will certainly let you know. We had an old WoW guildie and friend join us from NH and along with our gaming age kids we had a nice group. There is certainly room for more though.