Virtually lighting a candle

Over Labor Day weekend, a group of us got together virtually because we couldn’t do it any other way. 

As I have mentioned before, a couple of my friends like to rent out a meeting room at a hotel that is in the crossroads of enough of their friends and game all weekend. Obviously, that is not possible right now or at least not a good idea. So they combined Discord with Yucata and got as many folks as possible to game for five or six hours.

(As many have discussed, one element of a virtual convention or game night is that you simply can’t put the rest of your life on hold because it’s right there all around you. A few hours worked for this. Trying to virtually game for days wouldn’t have worked for anyone)

I only got in a couple hours myself (enough for one game of Hacienda which I lost horribly at) and the total number of participants may have been around ten, which is far smaller than any of the in-person gatherings.

But we made it happen. It is over-the-top and dramatic to say but it did feel like lighting a candle rather than cursing the darkness. And we might make it happen again.

Memories of convention first impressions

 Time for more con memories...

I have found that, with board games, first impressions can be completely wrong. It often takes multiple plays to figure out the hidden depths and flaws of a game. I think you can generally get a sense of those aspects but it takes some actual play time to make sure.

And conventions? Oh, they can make for the worst first impressions :P

To be fair, that’s kind of the idea. You are in a strange place that is designed for sensory overload. It’s an overwhelming experience. If someone handed you a brick and told you that throwing bricks through windows was the awesome new game of the year, you’d believe it for a moment. Hopefully a moment that doesn’t involve property damage.

Demos in the exhibit hall are probably the most extreme example. There’s a time limit since more potential customers need to see the game and the salesfolks just want to show you the highlights. Lots of pressure and as many awkward bits filed off as possible. I don’t blame the folks selling you stuff. That’s their job.

But two games that I now actively dislike were really amazing experiences for me the first time I played them. Grave Robbers from Outer Space (which I now dislike more Munchkin which is saying something) and Zombies!!! were games I played at some of my first conventions and they thrilled and chilled me.

In someone’s living, though, they fell apart.

Fortunately, somehow, despite being a game bigger who had a tendency to buy everything in sight, I never actually got a copy of either of those games. I did end up with a lot of bologna that wasn’t that great during my first few cons, though. 

I do wonder how game sales are doing this year with no live conventions. I have a feeling that Kickstarter is helping make upheaval difference.

My first virtual convention of the year turns out to be for Pokémon Go :D

The one virtual convention that I have actually attended so far in 2020 wasn’t for either board games or role playing games but for a casual video game, Pokémon Go. Pokémon GoFest 2020. Mind you, part of the reason it worked for me was because it was a casual game that I didn’t need to set aside a designated time to participate. I could also do it with my wife, which was a big plus.

Lockdown parenthood doesn’t allow for extended downtime, which is why I have yet to play a game of Scythe online despite meaning to for months. (Plus trying time remember how to play and use the interface :P) But a casual video game that is designed to be played in tiny bursts, that’s a lot easier to do.

That said, it was really the fact that I could do it with my wife and it was a family activity that really made it work for us.

While we had fun finding shiny Pokémon and fighting Team Rocket as they flew around in balloons (Niantic has worked hard on making a game based on geo caching still work when you can’t go anywhere), the real highlight was using the invite function of remote raid passes so we could play with folks we haven’t seen in months.

The last message of the event was about playing under the same sky. Virtual conventions are a shadow of in-person conventions but they are all about community.

Another gathering that won’t happen this year :’(

Eight years ago, a friend of ours started having their own private convention. They’d rent a large meeting room at a hotel and set up a block of rooms so everyone would have a place to sleep when they weren’t playing games. And between the thirty-odd friends that would show up, the game library was always huge. There was even  a weekend long tournament of different games for bragging rights.

I haven’t gone in years, seeing as how we moved to the other side of the country. However, I have stayed on the mailing list and I’ve even visited through the power or video conferencing/

And, yes, it has been postponed and finally canceled in 2020.

In the grand scheme of everything that COVID-19 has done to the world, I admit that this is pretty small potatoes. I mean, this isn’t even the end of the event. Unlike events that folks have to pay for and turn a profit that are probably facing bankruptcy right now, all this needs is one person’s persistence and determination and, trust me, it has that.

Still, it’s kind of sad.

My first two reactions to online conventions

From what I can tell, in-person conventions across the board have been canceled for the year. Some, like GenCon and Pax are going to be free, online experiences instead.

While I fully support this, I don’t know how interested I am in attending a virtual convention. I already play games online, shop for games online and watch videos and vlogs about gaming online. I’m not sure how an online convention would be really different than what I already do on a regular basis.

That said, I still remember when I first found out about BSW (a site where you could play mostly European board games. It’s still around but I’m pretty sure it’s not nearly as big as it was back when dinosaurs roamed the earth when I first discovered it. Virtual gaming has come a long, long way.) I felt like I was at a convention while sitting in front of my computer and that was _amazing_

And in 2017, I discovered GenCan’t, the virtual convention for those who couldn’t make it to GenCon. It was a scrappy little event that felt like more like a movement than an event. The 2017 design contest alone forever changed how I look at Roll and Write games and dragged me even deeper into the world Print and Play. 

Both BSW and GenCan’t changed gaming for me. Both were fantastic experiences for me.

There is definitely a real effect of being part of something that isn’t just me and three other people playing Carcassonne online but something that involves a community that stretches around the world. My first, gut reaction forgot that.

I don’t know how much or if at all I’ll participate in online conventions but I have realized that I shouldn’t rule them out.

My RinCon of 2019 report

The first weekend in October was also RinCon, Tucson’s own gaming convention. I went for Saturday and it was a pretty amazing time. When I wasn’t gaming, I was kibitzing with a lot of fun folks.

I signed up for Bang the Dice Game at the start of the day since I’ve never played it and I’d heard it was better than the original card game. And my initial impression after two games is that is quite true. More streamlined and, despite the dice, seemingly less random. I think five dice levels out the luck more than a deck of so many different cards. It seems to cut through many of the issues the original game has for me.

After that, I ended up in a pickup game of Titan Dice after that. We may have gotten the rules wrong but I was far from impressed by it. Unclear rules and drawn out rounds.

I stumbled over a tournament for an abstract called ShoBu. Then I got to sub in because someone had to leave. I have to say that it was the highlight of the con for me. ShoBu, on first blush, seems like a really solid abstract. A few years ago, I learned and was very impressed by Tak at RinCon and this was a similar experience.

I got to try Ice Cool 2, a game about flicking bottom heavy penguins through a maze. It was delightful and I was happy to catch all the other penguins when it was my turn to be hall monitor. Dexterity games aren’t my cup of tea but it was fun.

I ended the con with a five-player game of Tzolk’In so I did get in a heavier game while I was there.

So, a very good convention.

My September RinCon time

Saturday was the last RinCon fundraiser. I’d missed the ones in July and August so I wanted to make sure that I got this one in. I was there for four, five hours and every game I played was new to me.

I started off with Wingspan, which I’ve been wanting to try because I quite like Tussie Mussie. And the promise of Elizabeth Hargrave’s earlier design did not disappoint. Wingspan is the better game of her so-far two and there’s a lot more game. You build up a tableau of birds but you get fewer actions every round,

While Wingspan wasn’t billed to me as an engine builder, that’s what it really made me think of. There are enough random elements, particularly the bird food dice tower, that made me wonder if the random elements could be too swingy but I really enjoyed the game. I definitely want to play it again.

The heaviest game I played was Heaven & Ale, which is a game about Medieval beer brewing. It was almost insistently counter-intuitive. You don’t build up points but various supplies that get crunched into a simple formula to create points at the end of the game. It was a very interesting process but I’m not sure if the game was fun or if trying to parse the system was fun. Heaven & Ale is a game where I know it’s clever but clever can fool you into thinking clever is good.

The last and simplest game I learned was Reef, which has absolutely nothing to do Reef Encounter. It is really an abstract themed around building a coral reef with chunky, stackable pieces. You either draw a card or play a cards. Cards let you place two of those chunky pieces and score points if you match a pattern on the card. It was jolly good fun and I can see it as a game my family would enjoy.

Sometimes, I end up playing lots of little games. This was more playing a few middle-sized games and it worked out well.

A quiet convention experience

This last weekend was the first fundraiser for RinCon, Tucson’s own gaming convention. Since the fundraiser consists of two rooms, one for board games and one for RPGs, and twelve hours of non-stop gaming, every fundraiser counts as a micro convention in my book.

Some folks go to conventions for the spectacle and experience. Some folks go to find great deals. And some folks just want to game non-stop. One dear friend of ours loved GenCon for being the one time of the year he could get in full games of Advanced Civilization. The RinCon events are great for just sitting down and gaming :)

I have gotten into the habit of picking out one older game that I have a hankering to play and taking it to an event. At this point, my collection has a lot of older games since time keeps on going by :P This time, I took Winner’s Circle.

I got in two different plays with two different groups. The second group really got into the game with plenty of spite. And Winner’s Circle is a game that really improves with spite :D

(So far, I’ve tried this with For Sale, Money, TransAmerica/TransEuropa and now Winner’s Circle. Family style European games work well for this since they tend to be easy to teach. Now I’m wondering what to try next. Modern Art? Hoity Toity?)

I also got in a five-player game of King of Tokyo and a game of Bang with someone’s homebrew deck. I’d only played King with two players and five-players was a lot better. And it was fun to see someone else’s PnP work.

Oh, and I won a copy of the RPG World of Dew in a raffle. It’s story telling game about the Tokugawa Shogunate with a noir feel. Never heard of it but it sounds right up my alley.

All in all, I may not have learned any new games but it was a good event.

My RinCon 2018

In September, I went to what I realized was my fifth RinCon. (I don’t actually know when the convention started) And that’s not counting all the fundraising events I’ve been to, which are basically mini-conventions.

And RinCon keeps on delivering for me. The people who run it are all very friendly and seem to know what they’re doing. There’s plenty of free play area and I’m always able to put together a good schedule of events.

I had thought about trying to actually trying to write my entire experience in detail but, honestly, that’d be boring for everyone but me so I’ll just try and hit the highlights.

The best experience I had was learning Captain Sonar and then playing it four times in a row. I went in knowing it was a real-time game with dry erase markers. I found out it was a game of two submarines trying to blow each up with four players manning each submarine. It was an intense, really fun experience. With the requirement of eight players to really make it work, I’d never buy it but I’d definitely play it again. I might actually never pass up a game :D

I got a chance to play Echidna Shuffle, which I don’t think has actually been formally released. It’s a very simple Pick-Up-and-Deliver game for kids with incredibly cute components while there are a lot of neat design choices. I’m pretty sure adults who focus on blocking plays rather than deliver would stall the game out big time, although I’m not sure that’s a winning strategy unless your opponents rage quit. But I’m seriously thinking about getting the game for our son.

And the last game I played at RinCon was a three-player game of For Sale, a game I take to every event I go to anymore, and it came down to a three-way tie. The winner broke the tie by having one two-bit coin left from the first half. That was a great way to end my RinCon.

I got in eighteen separate plays over the day and a half I was at RinCon and I learned seven different games. I picked up a used copy of Turbo Taxi, which I think our son might have fun with, and won a copy of Dungeon Rush. I had a good time :)

My June RinCon experience

Over last weekend, I went to the first RinCon fundraiser of the year. RinCon is Tuscon’s friendly little gaming convention, small but well-run. And the fund raisers are effectively micro cons. I may not be able to make it Origins or GenCon at the moment but I still have a surprisingly rich convention life.

I got there right as it started and, apart from when the board game cleared out for supper, I had no problems finding games and moving from table to table to play with a wide variety of folks.

Highlights:

I played Reiner Knizia’s Money twice back in 2009, back to back games on the same night. At the time, I was really impressed with it but we just had too many games to try and it never made it back on the table. So I took it along because I had an itch to try and see if it was as good as I remembered.

Money is actually better than I remembered. Simple rules with complex decisions and a tight economy. It’s not quite an auction game or a drafting game but it has elements of both. And you definitely do your best to track the cards as they go from person to person. We had a second game immediately after the first.

I got to try a game I’d never heard of called Island of Eldorado, where you build a map, gather resources, build infrastructure and occasionally get in a fight. The end goal is to build four shrines and find a chalice. I won by the sheer luck of finding the chalice as soon as I entered the separate cave map. Very well produced. I’d play it again.

And I finally got to play Alien Frontiers, even if it wasn’t my own copy which is still gathering dust. That was a lot of fun. At least in the base game, the economy of points was much tighter than I had expected. I can see why Alien Frontiers has gotten all the the love it has. Definitely want to play more.

And I was able to sit in for someone who had to leave in a game of Clank, which was enough for me to learn how to play. While I am never going to stop thinking that the game’s name means it should be about robots, I did think it did a really good job blending dungeon crawling with deck building.

I also got in plays of Burke’s Gambit, Jorvik, my first two-player game of Circle the Wagons and HUE, which seems like a filler I will play at every event. It was really good as a tiny little con experience.

Muddled memories of Mayfair ribbons

I thought long and hard about what else I wanted to write about Mayfair Games closing up shop while that was still fresh and on my mind. I mean, when I started really playing and collecting games, Mayfair and Rio Grande were the two major ways to get European-style games in the US (Boy, has that ever changed) I’ve played a lot of different games that I got from them. 

But when I started looking through the lengthy list of games Mayfair has published or distributed over the decades, I realized it was too wide a range to really pin down. I’ve already written about Catan and I’ve never cared for the crayon train games (For me, they've always been hours of tiny, incremental moves) Too many games to generalize.

However, what has been uniquely Mayfair for me has been my experiences with the company at Origins and GenCon.

Yeah, I’m talking about the ribbons.

I’m not sure when Mayfair started the ribbon program. I want to say that it was around 2005 or 2006 but I am convinced I went to a few years before the ribbons came along. If I’m wrong, I’m sure someone will correct me.

Here’s how it worked. You could earn different ribbons named for the different resources in Catan by demoing various Mayfair games. When you had a set of the five resources, Mayfair marked the ribbons (since you got to keep them) Then you got some tchotchke, a raffle ticket and (most importantly) a 50% off almost anything Mayfair coupon.

You could trade ribbons with other folks or trade in three of a kind for another. Since, at least initially, train games were the only way to get Ore, that encouraged a lot trading of one kind or another. Almost all the train games took place in the Puffin Billy room and were longer than the other games.

Now, I might be completely wrong about these next two memories and I’m sure someone will call me out about it if I am. But I believe Mayfair didn’t add the resources from Cities and Knights until a least a year later, those let you get a Knight of Catan ribbon, along with another raffle ticket and another tchotchke.

And, I would swear that GenCon didn’t have a lot of Essen style demo tables when I first started going in 1999. (I’d also swear it was mostly war games and RPGs) I _think_ Mayfair was one of the first companies to do that at GenCon. The last time I went to GenCon in 2014, companies had demo tables everywhere.

There are two games that I got to really enjoy, entirely due to the ribbon program. Station Master, because it was the shortest game to get Ore so we played it every year, and Patrician, which was one of the handful of games at the Knight level. I had previously tried out both games at minimal player levels and not liked them. Thanks to the ribbons, I played them in larger player counts and found they were really good then.

The ribbon program was a big part of our convention experiences. Me and my friends, we’d look forward to playing those games and getting rewarded for it :D It changed the way we experienced the exhibit hall.

My RinCon 2017

RinCon is Tucson’s friendly local gaming convention. In fact, it might be the largest gaming convention in Arizona. It’s definitely powered by the local community and I’ve always had fun at it. RinCon 2017 was no exception. I was there for a good chunk of Saturday and came back for one event on Sunday. While I was there, I got to play a nice mixture of scheduled events and pick up games.

I started out on Saturday with a scheduled game of Imhotep. I’ve played it in Yucatá but I wanted to play it face-to-face so I could get a better understanding of it. It was well worth the experience. One play with the game really helped me grok it better. It has a nice Ticket-to-Ride philosophy, three simple actions but tough choices. My Yucata experiences did help me decide to collect a ton of statues for the win.

I then ran into a couple who I had played Scythe and HUE with at a RinCon fundraiser last year and they remembered me. I had For Sale in my bag and we sat down for a quick game. I don’t get to play For Sale much but I often pack it for events. And getting to play it again reminded me of what a good game it is and why it ends up in my bag.

My second scheduled event was Button Men with James Ernst, who was a guest of honor. And I was the only one who signed up, although he had had a full table for Button Men on Friday. We still found another player and got in several rounds.

It was also a lot of fun to talk to James Ernst. As I grow older, I feel like he really knows how to design games for the casual gamer. And I have played a LOT of Button Men and it was cool to talk with him about it. We discussed stinger dice, which was a type he had been disappointed by, the new Button Men site and how we used the same plastic photo cases to carry games.

After a quick lunch, I ended up in a pick up game of Circus Flohcati with a group that included someone else I met at a fundraiser. I’ve owned the game for years but I have never actually played it. (Stayed in the collection due to its small size and it’s a Knizia) Nice to finally play it. And it’s going to definitely stay in the collection now.

Coincidentally, my third scheduled event was another Knizia, Samurai. Haven’t played it in years but it’s still brilliant and I am still TERRIBLE at it. I really think the new edition is a serious improvement, particularly the thicker board that comes in more pieces, allowing for a square box.

Wandering around after that, I got invited to a pick up game of Sagrada, a game of building stain glass windows through dice drafting. I’ve been curious about it since it sounds right up my wheelhouse. It was a lot of fun. I understand it’s hard to get a copy but I’d pick it up if I have the chance.

My last scheduled game on Saturday was Codename - Pictures. I have never played any of the games in the Codename series but I know that they have consistently gotten rave reviews. I’m not that into party games but I knew I had to take it advantage of the chance of playing one.

While I didn’t become a fan, I can definitely appreciate the Codename system now that I have tried it. And I know that Carrie and I should never be on the same team because we would want to kill each other by mid game :D

The last game I played was Broom Service, which I both learned and taught :D Since I already knew Witch’s Brew, Broom Service’s predecessor, it wasn’t that hard or unreasonable. Despite sharing the same core mechanic, they are surprisingly distinct. Broom Service was a good play.

Before I left, I went and looked at the Flea Market. I have been really trying to keep myself from buying games this year but I just couldn't help myself. And when I saw Steve Finn's Butterfly Garden, which I almost backed on Kickstarter, I broke. Having done that, I also got Famous Fairways since I've wanted to look at that series of micro games. I can console myself that my total expenditure for this year on games is still under ten dollars.

The only thing I did on Sunday was participate in a 7 Wonders tournament. I've made a point of playing in at least one tournament since my second RinCon. If nothing else, it's a good way to make sure I get a solid block of gaming in. Despite a rough start in the first round, I managed to squeak onto the final table and get second place. (Okay, someone dropping out had to have helped me out a lot) That was a fun way to wrap up the con for me.

Every year, it seems like every RinCon I go to is the best one I've been to and this year was no different. What made it so good, above all else, was how warm and inviting everyone was. I made sure to have scheduled events so I would get to play games but I got in a lot of pickup games. And at least half were with folks I'd gamed with in past RinCon events. There really is a sense of community in RinCon.

I discover GenCan't, the unconvention

From a couple different sources, including Cheapass Games newsletter, I came across GenCan't, the blog for all the folks who are _not_ going to GenCon. I have heard of Virtual Conventions but this is the first time I've seen an Unconvention.

GenCan't includes different contests and and articles and even a few game days at game stores that aren't in Indianapolis. But what really led me there was this year's Roll and Write contest, which gave me access to over thirty Roll and Write PnP games.

Which, frankly, is quite the bonanza. 

Really, when you think about it, if you are going to have a PnP contest where the games are accessible for the largest audience, this is the way to do it. No construction, just print and add dice and pencils. And it looks like the designers really explored a lot of different ideas and mechanics.

As of my writing this, they are still adding games to their library, presumably as the designers give the site permission. And we haven't even gotten the actual winner yet. Fun!

While the Roll-and-Write library is my biggest interest in GenCan't, the whole idea of it is neat. Let's face it, a lot of us can't go to GenCon. The site creates a fun sense of solidarity, one that is even international.

http://www.gencant.com/

My Rincon 2016 experiences

Every year since we've moved to Tucson, I've attended Rincon, the friendly little gaming convention that is Tucson's own. I think it's actually Arizona's only gaming convention. And every year, it seems to have gotten better, both my personal experiences and in general.

This is the first year at its new location. I'd already attended two fundraisers for Rincon at the new hotel but the actual convention made me like it even more. In particular, the hotel shares its parking lot with two restaurants, which was great.

I won't be surprised if this Rincon had record attendance. My experiences with the volunteers was very positive. They were friendly, always eager to help and, most importantly, seemed to know what they were doing.

The guests included Andrew Looney of Looney Labs and James Ernst of Cheapass Games. Both of those companies were a big part of me getting into board games and I still really appreciate what they do, particularly for casual gamers and family gamers. 

I've gotten into the habit of registering for events instead of looking for pick-up games since we've moved out here and I don't have a posse of friends from nearby states to serve as an automatic gaming group. It doesn't hurt that it's usually free to register for events it's more cons.

In fact, this year, I was afraid that I had signed up for too many events. Instead, it proved to be a great idea. I was able to keep busy and every event was fun.

In addition to learning Isle of Skye right at the start, I attended events hosted by James Ernst and Andy Looney and played in two tournaments. Heck, I placed second in the Carcassonne tournament on Sunday, although lucky draws of cloisters probably had more to do with it then any brilliance on my part. 

In fact, the only pick up games I got in were ones with the giant set of Tak in one of the free play areas. I had kind of followed its development because I get the Cheapass newsletter but it proved to be a much better abstract then I ever expected. Making my own copy is now on the shortlist of games to make.

I have to note that talking with designers at smaller conventions gives you a much bigger chance to have a real conversation with them. I also got to talk with David Short, who designed Automobiles and Skyline and is a Tucson local.

In the past, I've only spend an afternoon at Rincon between the age of our toddler and the further distance of the old location. I was there for most of Saturday and part of Sunday this year and it was bustling and fun the entire time.