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Memories from my first GenCon
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I went to GenCon for the first time last week and it was great. Here are the games and publishers that seemed the most interesting to me.
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Posted Thu Aug 23, 2007 4:25 pm
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This is a new game from a couple of first time designers. They debuted this game at GenCon, and it was a huge hit. They were sold out by early Sunday afternoon. I think they were even still taking orders after that. I was drawn to their booth by the 50% coupon in the coupon book, as I am sure many others were. Once there, the designers did a great job selling the concept and the mechanics of their game.
These guys also had a very innovative way to demo the game. With only two workers and so many people stopping by the both it would have been impossible for every to sit down and play a couple turns. Instead, the designers took gamers around to four different stations in differnt phases of the game. I personally was able to learn more about this game than I was at many of the Fantasy Flight demos where the FF person told you what to do each turn.
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My first goal at GenCon was to run to the Wizards of the Coast area and pick up Swarm of the Marro and Wave 7. Luckily, I was the second in line after the doors opened to the general public. After picking up these items, I was able to get the exclusive Master Win Chiu Woo.
The Wizards of the Coast area was large and impressive. The Heroscape map looked amazing, and I can't wait for the jungle set to come out.
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I had never heard of Slugfest Games before GenCon. While walking around the exhibit hall I noticed the both and decided to sit down for a demo. I was able to play Kung Foo Fighting and I was certainly impressed with the game. It was not very complex, but it was enjoyable.
The next day, I again stopped by the booth because my friend wanted to demo Fishing for Terrorists. This is another enjoyable little card game. The people at this booth were extremely friendly, and I look forward to visiting the booth at future Cons.
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Mayfair was running an interesting promotion. By demo-ing different games you could collect the five resources from Settlers of Catan. After collecting all five, the Mayfair booth would award you with a "Knight of Catan" banner, a free Catan add-on, and a change to win the 10th Anniversary Chest Set.
Their promotion worked. I tried a number of games that I would have otherwise ignored, and I even purchased one of those games. However, this also contributed to my worst moment of GenCon. I don't remember the name of the game, but at one point I was forced to play on one knee with the other in the air and my chin on the table. The person running the game awarded me an extra resource for being the first person with that particular combination, but it still wasn't worth it.
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Fantasy Flight had a rather large area that was centrally located in the Exhibit Hall. The area looked very nice and had a large number of games to demo with multiple copies of the most popular games.
Starcraft was a big hit at GenCon. After seeing that the game would go on sale at 2:00 with a very limited number, a friend of mine decided to get in line at 11:30. I walked around for about an hour, then came back to find that no one had gotten behind him in line. At that point, I decided to wait around and purchase my own copy of the game. While in line, the president of Fantasy Flight and the designer of Starcraft came around to personally thank those who waited so long for the game.
In the demo area, I tried four or five of the different games Fantasy Flight had out. Their games are generally not the style of game I am interested in, but the quality of their games is certainly impressive. The re-themed Kingdoms that will be released with art from Beowulf is one game that I am interested in.
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I have been interested in Colosseum since I first heard about it shortly before it was released. The theme seemed interesting and a game designed by Wolfgang Kramer with the quality of a Days of Wonder production certainly deserves a demo.
I played two turns of Colosseum and it definitely lived up to my expectations. This is a game that requires some thought and strategy, but is still simple enough that it shouldn't scare off non-gamers. The trading aspect also helps keep the game interesting for everyone.
My favorite part of this demo was the person sitting next to me. He seemed to think he knew more about the game's rules than the person running the game. He kept insisting he was right and eventually took the rule book only to find out he was wrong. It was both somewhat annoying and funny to watch.
I was disappointed with the size of the Days of Wonder area. They only had two games available for demo, Battlelore and Colosseum. Additionally, there were not even selling all of the games they have. Battlelore and Memoir 44 were readily available, but other games either had very limited stock, or they weren't there at all.
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The Spoils CCG had a big presence at GenCon. They had a large bus parked near the back of the hall, and there were probably ten long table where people could demo the game.
I was drawn to the area by the free starter deck and booster pack along with the coupon for two additional booster packs. I have never really played a CCG so I don't how this compares, but for me it was unenjoyable. I found the game difficult to understand at first and then boring once I got going. Many of the cards also contained disturbing images that made me not want to play the game again. I also saw one of The Spoils demoers harassing people at the Slugfest Games booth.
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Reiner Knizia was a guest of honor at GenCon this year, and he was also at the Fantasy Flight booth on Sunday afternoon. I have many Knizia games and I had just purchased one earlier that day so I was interested to meet him. He was very pleasant and signed my new game. He also came up with a very innovative way to sign an autograph on another player's Lost Cities board. After thinking for a few seconds, he wrote most of his signature inside the magnifying glass on the board, then took out a smaller pen to finish the signature outside of the magnifying glass.
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Rio Grande was nowhere to be found at GenCon. Out of the Box games passed out a catalog that included Rio Grande games, but you couldn't actually buy them at the booth. When I asked about buying the games, I was sent to another dealer that had a few Rio Grande games with ridiculous markups. I was interested in purchasing the Puerto Rico expansion, but not for the $15.00 this dealer was asking. I would think a publisher as big as Rio Grande would have a presence at GenCon, but apparently not. Hopefully, this will change for next year.
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A company that developed a computer program that does something with maps was giving away a $300 gift certificate for any booth at GenCon. My friend and I both entered the drawing hoping to go on a crazy spending spree after winning the prize. When we showed up for the drawing, the company announced that 20 names would be pulled, and 20-sided die would be rolled, and the name corresponding to the number rolled would win the prize. Second place would get the 20-sided die. After the first two or three names called were no-shows, someone finally won the grand prize. The next name called, for the 20-sided die, was my friend's name. This die is huge. It is probably about 2 inches in diameter and quite heavy, since it is made of metal. This thing would probably dent any table that it is rolled on, but it was still pretty cool to see.
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Posted Thu Aug 23, 2007 3:16 pm
