Memories of Bohnanza

Bohnanza is the source of one of my favorite Gen Con memories.

The first Gen Con after I discovered Boardgame Geek was a big one for me. I had read about all these games that everyone there knew were classics that I had never even seen. And, while I had a couple friends who owned Catan and Puerto Rico and Carcassonne, I ended up being the first person in my crowd to really get into designer board games.

So I had a list. And a budget, which I blew through. After I reached the point of stopping, I saw a booth that had Bohnanza on sale and I couldn't resist grabbing that too.

Spoiler: out of all the new games I bought at that GenCon, that last minute impulse purchase of Bohnanza was the one that has seen the most play with the greatest variety of groups and it has easily kept its place on the game shelf.

That night, after the gang got back to the hotel, we opened up Bohnanza and got in a three-player game of it. And then another. And then another. At that point, everyone was so exhausted that we crashed. But we all knew Bohnanza was a brilliant game.

Indeed, Bohnanza, a game about planting beans and managing a hand of cards that you can't rearrange except through trading with other players, is a great example of simple mechanics with deep choices. While the designer, Uwe Rosenberg, has gone on to greater fame with heavier games like Agricola, Bohnanza is still one of masterpieces.

I have played a lot of games since that Gen Con, both at Gen Cons and even more outside of Gen Con. But the magic of discovering Bohnanza still shines.

Listening to other folks' Gen Con stories

With another Gen Con gone by, I've been calling on my friends who did go to see how insanely jealous I need to be for not going. 

Eh, it turns out that I don't need to be really jealous.

Now, I did hear plenty of stories about how Gen Con has become too big and too crowded and how buying whatever the super hot game of the day is involved a combination race and brawl as soon as the exhibit hall opens. I heard stories about how hotels on the edge of the city were sold out and rollaway beds could be found for love or money.

And I don't really care about any of that. Frankly, I count all of that as a sign that both Gen Con and the hobby are doing well. Gen Con being an over-the-top, sensory overload kind of seems to be the point to me.

However, over half of the people who I used to go with or meet at Gen Con didn't go this year. During the last few Gen Cons that I did attend, a major component was that it was a reunion with friends. Losing that part of the experience would be a big loss.

But, like me, a lot of folks have other obligations. Work and family has to be your first consideration. 

I do have a feeling that, forty years from now, when the folks who grew up as gamers retire and their kids have all moved out, there will a huge surge of the elderly at Gen Con.

My most significant Gen Con

By far the most important Gen Con that I ever attended was my first one back in 1999. Even if I had never attended another Gen Con, that one Gen Con was enough to permanently change my life.

In a good way! It was a good change!

You see, since I didn't preregister for any events and I didn't know about pickup games, I went through the event guide, made a long list of events to try and get into and then tried to get tickets for them.

A plan that didn't work well, by the way. I ended up getting the last event I tried for, a D&D game that was in the last slot of Saturday night. An hour event that ended up running so late that I ended missing my ride back to the dorms where I was staying but that's another story.

After the game, which wasn't bad but I wouldn't remember it if it was it for this next bit, I found out that the DM and two of the players were part of a campaign in Chicago. And, after some more conversation, I found out that it was about five blocks from where I was living at the time.

I had moved to Chicago less than a year earlier and only knew a couple folks. I got an invitation to join their campaign and spent over ten years playing with those guys. To this day, I stay in touch and even game online with some of them. They ended up becoming a big part of my life and good friends.

As I said earlier, even if I had never gone to another Gen Con, that one convention had a lasting impact on my gaming and my life. Of course, I ended up going to most of the rest with those guys, as well as other friends.

The changing world of Gen Con

Ah, Gen Con is upon us. The largest gaming conventional in the United States and one of the larger conventions in general.

While I did go to every Gen Con from 1999 to 2014, moving across the country and having a small child has made me stop. Quite frankly, I'm not sure if Gen Con will really have anything to offer me until we can go as a family.

And when that time comes, it will be fascinating. When I compare the first Gen Con I went to in Milwaukee to the last one I was at in Indianapolis, the later one was so much more family friendly and diverse. While I know folks who grumble about that change (in particular, the strollers the size of small cars), I think it's an amazing testimony in how the hobby has been growing and changing.

Earlier today, I had a discussion with my wife about how there are people who can drive and vote and drink for whom Dick Grayson has always been Nightwing, even though he is the definitive Robin. (Okay, I like him better as Nughtwing and Tim Drake is my favorite Robin. But Dick Grayson literally defined both the character and the role of kid sidekick) Admittedly, her part of the discussion was to ask why that was a discussion. However, it illustrates time and generations change things.

Dungeons and Dragons has been around since 1974 and computer RPGs are a worldwide cultural phenomenon. Settlers of Catan came out in 1995 and helped inspire a board game revolution. There are people going to Gen Con this year, including adults, who have grown up where this sort of gaming has always been a part of their world.

It's such a different environment than the Gen Con I attended in 1999. And my experiences are nothing compared to some of my friends who whose Gen Con experiences go back to the 80s.

And I bet the Gen Con we eventually take our son to will be different than the one I went to in 2014.