I'm getting psyched about Gen Con!
Of course I am. Of the three of us, I'm the one who plays/buys/reviews/thinks about board games the most, and Gen Con is the biggest, most impressivest board game convention in the world. It, or Essen... they go back and forth depending on how you count people. Regardless of the reality of that kind of statistical puzzlery, if you are someone who gets excited about the prospect of new board games, and I am, then Gen Con is one of the most exciting places to be.
I've been to a couple of Gen Cons previously. They were fun: I got to meet some designers and publishers, try out demos for few games that I'd never seen, and make some purchases for stuff that I had been excited about. We also spent some time in different areas playing actual, full-on, not-demo games, getting a chance to meet and interact with some fun people (and, invariably, some not so fun people... it was a convention hall crowded with nerds). We haven't been in several years, though, and my understanding is that in that time, it has gotten much bigger and much more packed with nerds.
That's exciting, in a way. I understand that the local businesses have begun to cater to the crowds of Gen Con attendees, like restaurants creating special menus and food trucks parking right outside the convention center. More people means that it's a bigger draw for game companies and that it's more important than ever to get something out, even from small publishers, so for the people visiting, there is more cool stuff than ever to try out. You can't try everything, you can't buy everything, and you can't see everything, but if you prioritize well, you can hit the important stuff. The trick is that prioritizing; some people just can't figure it out.
This year, I haven't seen previews for much stuff that I'm rabidly drooling over, waiting to pounce on as soon as the doors open. Sometimes it gets that way. There are many publishers who bring a small number of copies of games that haven't been generally released yet, and very rarely do those not sell out entirely. Most of the time, that's not really a big deal, but I know that for many people, being "first" is as much about having a chance to get as much play time in as possible as it is about the pride of saying you were "first." I've never had that problem. But I do like to get my hands on stuff. And that is one place where my advice about prioritizing really helps.
When you go to a convention, especially one as large as Gen Con or Essen, you have to have a picture in your mind of what things you want to do, and what things you can go without doing. Because you can't do it all. It's only four days, and even a light schedule can leave you entirely worn out. This goes for events (which I tend to avoid) and for demos, game time, and purchases. On top of that, if you don't live within a reasonable driving distance from Indianapolis, anything you buy you have to figure out how to get home.
There are a few things that I intend to get on the spot, should I see them, regardless of what I'm carrying, what room I have left in my luggage, and whether I need them or not. (And I don't need them, so I guess that question is already answered.)
The first is the card game Red, by Carl Chudyk and Chris Cieslik. There are seven number cards in each of seven colors, and discarding a card changes the "win" condition of the game to one of seven things (such as needing the highest single card for Red, or the longest run for Blue. The trick to this is that you have to be winning at the end of your turn, or you are out, so you have to plan a winning path with the cards you get dealt (discard this, play this, then discard this...) and deal with the changes the other players are making to the game. It sounds fast, and since you can string together a long series of hands to make a fuller, more strategic game, it went on my wishlist as soon as I read about it. There is (theoretically) going to be a small print run of the game available at Gen Con, so don't buy it. Because I want one.
The next on my "drop everything and buy" list is Pax Porfiriana. I don't expect to see this one, because it has incredibly small, entirely pre-order print runs, so the chances of there being a copy just sitting around is next to nothing. It's a game about a relatively chaotic time in Mexico's history, where different factions and interests were creating lots of changes in the structure of the country and putting their fingers on the scale whenever they could sneak a chance to tilt things in their favor. It sounds great, lots of varieties of strategy and tactics, lots of dealing and backstabbing, so I would love to have a copy... if there is anyone out there with one.
The last of these games is Quantum. It's not nearly as rare as the other two, or as new, but it sounds absolutely great and I just haven't had a chance to get it on order. Everyone plays different factions in space, taking control of planets with dice-spaceships - higher number ships are faster but fragile, lower number are slow, but devastating. Almost everything in the game is highly deterministic; if you can get the right ships in place, you'll know you can take control of a planet, destroy another player's ships, or whatever else you might want to do. And that's what makes it seem keen. If you fail, it's probably not because you missed a combat dice roll. It's more likely that you didn't plan well.
I've talk about a few other things on the podcast that I want, and will probably end up with if I can squeeze them in, but those are the board games I am most excited about at Gen Con. I'm also going to try to meet up with some people, friends and people we've had on the show. If you are around, and you see me, and somehow you recognize me, say hello. And if you have a copy of Red in your hands, be prepared for an epic game of roshambo to see who gets it. I go first.
