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Games played at VorpalCon 2007
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During the little time I spent at Vorpalcon, we had a reasonably good turnout of ABGGers. I also played with some other people I hadn't met before, so hopefully we're developing our "brand" around Adelaide. Here's a list of games that we played at VorpalCon. Please add to the list. P.S. Thanks to the VorplCon organisers (including Jim and David) for their time and efforts in organising the ABGG section.
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Posted Sat Sep 15, 2007 12:42 pm
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I'm not a fan of abstracts generally, but I do like Ingenious occassionally. Its like dominoes but smarter.
It doesn't seem to create a lot of interactions among players but it does require some interesting choices, especially if everyone plays aggressively.
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I played this with Alvin (Tyndal), Robert (flobbit) and two other VorpalCon attendees who I hadn't met before. Everyone seemed to enjoy the game's theme.
Hollywood Blockbuster is a relatively simple and quick game with some tough choices, and the theme usually appeals to most non-gamers. Its only negative that I can see is the moderately long and fiddly setup of the production chips and the numbered chips.
I'm surprised that this game doesn't rate more highly as the geeks' gateway game of choice. Most people I know don't usually knock back this game.
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I played this with Robert (flobbit), Ben (mr_lunch - I just worked that one out!) and Alvin (Tyndal) before I had to leave.
I think Colossal Arena is a great game. The rules take a bit of getting used to, and the tactics aren't apparent in the first few games, but it plays quickly despite having some really tough choices.
I think it plays best with 3-5 players so that there is a greater chance of the creature's special abilities being used.
The cards need to be shuffled very thoroughly before starting a session.
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Mmmm... Voodoo Zombie Dice!
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Brendan gave me a game of this mid morning. I think the deck was improbably against him 
Quite an enjoyable filler, despite being aimed at a younger audience. I'll have to keep my eye out on eBay.
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5.
Board Game: Diamant
[Average Rating:6.81 Overall Rank:327]
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Mmmm... Voodoo Zombie Dice!
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I got to play several new games that I've had my eye on. This was one of them. It's going on the shopping list, too.
I got away with the most loot... mainly by running, screaming like a little girl at the first sign of danger 
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Mmmm... Voodoo Zombie Dice!
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First play of Alvin's new copy, so it took a bit to get the rules down. We managed to get it sorted by the end of the first or second round.
I got completely pants-ed here. I think Brendan won by a respectable lead of 40-odd.
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Mmmm... Voodoo Zombie Dice!
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I was definately looking forward to playing this and I wasn't disappointed. Just got a new copy in courtesy of ndru and I've barely had time to peel off the shrink wrap... let alone con a bunch of people into playing it with me!
We had the full compliment of six players here: Brendan, Jim, Alvin, Adrian, Matt & myself. Matt and Jim did most of the 'splaining and did it well.
Good game with plenty of scope for strategy (which I mostly failed to apply  )
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8.
Board Game: Hive
[Average Rating:7.41 Overall Rank:82]
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I started off the day with a quick game of Hive with Robert when I probably should have been helping set up demos or something.
It's a great, reasonably light abstract game, but I don't think it was Robert's cup of tea.
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9.
Board Game: Taluva
[Average Rating:7.19 Overall Rank:174]
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Had a quick three player game of Taluva, although I think at least two games of this was played, as Jim's 30-45min game of choice. I won with some settlement splitting for some quick temples.
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To recover from Power Grid, a few of us had a quick round of the easy to play Transamerica. I can't recall who won, only that the "wizard" lost.
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Trying to fill in time before dinner, we had a quick one of this abstract. I got slightly blocked in, but didn't do too badly. Matthew won with about 10 triangles remaining.
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We still had ten minutes to kill before dinner, so David roped Shell in with Brendan and I for a quick game. I think everyone had dinner on the mind and bid quickly and a little haphazardly.
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I've been keen to try this for a while, so it was good to get a chance to play it. I started off a little slow, not buying many tiles, but I soon started buying huge lumps of tiles, but Brendan still won.
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14.
Board Game: Set
[Average Rating:6.50 Overall Rank:676]
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This supposed light game made my head hurt at this point of the night. Brendan won with 8 sets.
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Brendan, David and I had a game of Notre Dame, since he's been wanting to try it. Unfortunately, we were all a bit tired. I managed to put a huge amount of influence cubes on the victory point sector, scoring large amounts of points, but only managed to squeak a win by one point over Brendan.
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I managed to play this with two new gamers. We spent a quite a bit of time discussing interpretations of the rules. This was only the second time I have played this game and it was clear I had a few misunderstandings of the rules. There are subtle differences in rules between this game and Carcasonne. Next time I will play the correct way. They said that they enjoyed it so it couldn't have that bad an experience.
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This was a big hit amongst passers-by, being the only demo game that actually got played. At least 2 or 3 people demanded to know where they could get a copy.
I almost didn't bring it, too.
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Ben had a copy of this and David was keen to give it a try, so Chris and I joined them. It's surprising fastpaced and quite busy, with the clues book flying back and forth between people. It was quite fun, especially for a roll and move game.
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I played this with Julia, Brendan and Ben (all three new to the game), and I won with an embarassing large lead. 
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20.
Board Game: Bang!
[Average Rating:6.85 Overall Rank:311]
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David, Ben and I managed to rope three others into a couple games, and threw in the fistful of cards expansion for the second game. As always, a lot of fun. I may have picked on David a little too much though, but hey, he was sitting next to me.
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When I walked in on Sunday, I found a huge RoboRally board. I didn't play, but Jim ran two games that took most of the day.
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Another I didn't play, but at least a couple games got played.
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According to my list, My Word! was played on the Saturday. I am not sure by whom. It was borrowed by Jessica, one of the Con organisers, to play a few games in the kitchen area.
After packing up most of the hall, on Sunday evening Gus (the new English bloke), his son Joe and myself were standing around waiting for the closing ceremony. I couldn't resist teaching another game.
In the first game we played, Gus and I drew on the same amount of cards. There is no tie-breaker in this game. Gus tried to claim that being a migrant meant he won but conceded it was a draw. Joe wanted another game. In the second game, Gus won.
Joe kept making up words with odd combinations of cards. Both of them tried claiming English coloqial words I had never heard of. This is a fun game and introducing it to enthusiastic new gamers made it extra fun. They have added this game to their shopping list.
We have them now!
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Laelia Phillips and a few others played this in the game sign up area.
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I recall seeing Brendan, Jim and Matthew playing this on the Saturday and someone asking how it worked.
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Posted Sat Sep 15, 2007 12:28 pm
This was a very fun game. I think the modern actors and screenplays would be better are the old stuff in Traumfabrik (not that I'm played it). More fun when you know who's in your film.