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 May 8, 2008
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Convention Reports
Reports from game conventions and industry trade fairs, with coverage of games played, celebrities spotted, and displays photographed. Typically, the reports are completed daily, directly from the conventions themselves. This section includes coverage of the following events:
Convention Report: GAMECON-1
Convention Report: New York Toy Fair 2006
Convention Report: GAMA Trade Show 2006
Convention Report: The Gathering of Friends 2006
Convention Report: Origins 2006
Convention Report: Gencon 2006
Convention Report: FallCon 19
Convention Report: Essen 2006
Convention Report: New York Toy Fair 2007
Convention Report: The Gathering of Friends 2007
Convention Report: GAMA Trade Show 2007
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Articles
Convention Report: The Gathering of Friends 2008: Covert Action, Metropolys & Big Points
By W. Eric Martin
April 19, 2008
One great thing about conventions is that you will often play games that you would never play in other circumstances. Someone will ask you to play a game with their group, and you’ve enjoyed playing with the person in the past, or you don’t own the game, or you own the game but have never unwrapped it, or you have just the right amount of time before dinner (assuming you eat at conventions), or you’re trying to avoid someone else who has asked to play something, or you’re competing in a contest to play with as many different people as possible. Whatever the reason, you decide to play this game at this time.
One awful thing about conventions is that you will often play games that you would never play in other circumstances for all the same reasons listed above. If nothing else, you get a column out of the experience.
Posted by W. Eric Martin on April 19, 2008 at 02:00 AM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: The Gathering of Friends 2008
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Convention Report: The Gathering of Friends 2008: Change Horses & Other Reports
By W. Eric Martin
April 17, 2008
Naturally I’m not the only one writing about games discovered and played at the Gathering. In addition to columns by a number of fine folks on BGN, you can read additional reports from:
Posted by W. Eric Martin on April 17, 2008 at 10:00 AM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: The Gathering of Friends 2008
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Convention Report: The Gathering of Friends 2008: Ghost Stories & Hanging Gardens
By W. Eric Martin
April 14, 2008
The tables at the Gathering are awash in prototypes from morning until midnight, with designers looking for feedback and publishers trying to decide what to publish next or how to tweak a game that’s already in the line-up. Mum’s the word on these designs unless the designer or publisher says otherwise, and thankfully I’ve been cleared to talk about one of three prototypes that impressed me. Now I can share the goodness with you, followed by talk of a title that should be hitting the U.S. any day now.
Posted by W. Eric Martin on April 14, 2008 at 02:00 AM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: The Gathering of Friends 2008
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Convention Report: The Gathering of Friends 2008: Stone Age, Ticket to Ride Card Game & X
By W. Eric Martin
April 12, 2008
So, the Gathering. That’s what I’m supposed to be writing about, right? Well, Ted Alspach thinks so anyway.
My plan before attending this largely industry-related event was to play as many prototypes as possible so that I can write about these games in depth as they appear. While I largely stuck to this plan – despite what Scott Tepper might say – this leaves me with little to say now, especially since my three favorite games of the show were all prototypes!
Posted by W. Eric Martin on April 12, 2008 at 01:00 AM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: The Gathering of Friends 2008
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Convention Report: The Gathering of Friends 2008: Pre-Gathering Gaming
By W. Eric Martin
April 4, 2008
Alan Moon’s Gathering of Friends, a small convention that attracts dozens of game designers and publishers, takes place early each April in Columbus, Ohio – so what am I doing in Dayton? Did Mapquest give me bum directions? Is Ohio too big for its own good?!
In fact, I’m in Dayton to speak at the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop, an annual event meant to educate humor writers, perfect their craft and find markets for their work. I do little humor writing in the traditional sense (essays, personal columns), but the conference organizers invited my wife Linda and me to speak on generating ideas and writing query letters, and that topic is easy-peasy for pros like us. Since the timing meshed with the Gathering, we agreed to do the talk.
Then Linda fell sick, so I’m here on my own. We’ve spoken together previously in Sante Fe, Tucson, Austin, Washington DC, and other locations, and I’m used to playing off Linda and making her the fall guy for my silly remarks. This time, I had to do both sides of the talk, but the crowd of 50-60 aspiring and burgeoning writers seemed to like it. I’m still alive, in any case.
Posted by W. Eric Martin on April 4, 2008 at 05:00 PM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: The Gathering of Friends 2008
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Convention Report: New York Toy Fair 2008 – February 18 (Part Three)
By W. Eric Martin
March 19, 2008
The Toy Fair 2008 coverage finally comes to an end with a few oddball designs from newcomers, a few designs that aren’t as oddball as they claim to be, Ravensburger, Winning Moves, and assorted other items.
Posted by W. Eric Martin on March 19, 2008 at 02:00 AM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: New York Toy Fair 2008
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Convention Report: New York Toy Fair 2008 – February 18 (Part Two)
By W. Eric Martin
March 14, 2008
Okay, with multiple writing projects out of the way, I’m clearing the dust off my 2008 Toy Fair notes and wrapping up the games seen there in this article and one more to appear early next week.
Posted by W. Eric Martin on March 14, 2008 at 12:00 PM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: New York Toy Fair 2008
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Convention Report: New York Toy Fair 2008 – February 18 (News Scoop!)
By W. Eric Martin
February 19, 2008
I’ll continue with the general Toy Fair coverage in a later post or two, but I wanted to call out two announcements of note involving Z-Man Games and ElfinWerks.
Posted by W. Eric Martin on February 19, 2008 at 02:30 AM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: New York Toy Fair 2008
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Convention Report: New York Toy Fair 2008 – February 18 (Part One)
By W. Eric Martin
February 18, 2008
The rain has cleared from the skies and streets, creating a nice cool environment for a walk to the Javits Center and a second day at NY Toy Fair. Unfortunately, I’m running late, so I have to take a cab instead, a cab that carries a television screen implanted in the back of the front seat, featuring something called “Taxi TV” – the purpose of which seems to be to keep riders occupied during slow traffic so as not to grow murderous. Mission accomplished!
Posted by W. Eric Martin on February 18, 2008 at 10:00 PM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: New York Toy Fair 2008
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Convention Report: New York Toy Fair 2008 – February 17 (Part Three)
By W. Eric Martin
February 18, 2008
It’s midnight in Manhattan, and a cool breeze is blowing through the open window in my friend’s apartment. The temperature might be near freezing outside, but funky radiators and the collected heat that comes from living on the top floor keeps her apartment warm no matter what the weather. The sound of traffic on Broadway, half a block away, rises and falls like a pulse. While New York is pictured as an always bustling and noisy metropolis, I haven’t heard a car horn in hours. Life carries on quietly in thousands of nearby apartments.
And I’m awake, writing (as always) about games – the good and the bad, the promising and the compromised. Most important of all, at least for this report, I’m showing off the new Risk from Hasbro, but not yet.
Posted by W. Eric Martin on February 18, 2008 at 08:30 AM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: New York Toy Fair 2008
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Convention Report: New York Toy Fair 2008 – February 17 (Part Two)
By W. Eric Martin
February 17, 2008
Playroom filled the morning post, but plenty of other game companies are on hand at Toy Fair, both known and unknown. I’ll start with one of the known, then dance through a few others…
Posted by W. Eric Martin on February 17, 2008 at 11:00 PM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: New York Toy Fair 2008
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Convention Report: New York Toy Fair 2008 – February 17 (Part One)
By W. Eric Martin
February 17, 2008
You know you’re in Manhattan when you can’t walk two blocks without passing a Starbucks. While walking from Grand Central Station to the Jacob Javits Center for Toy Fair 2008, I saw four (or perhaps five) of the green-and-white logo beckoning with the promise of sweet drinks and free wi-fi. I resisted the siren call for now, pleased just to be able to walk the city streets, unlike in my hometown of Concord, NH, where more than 70” of snow has fallen this winter, and ice and slush cover every sidewalk.
Enough weather talk, let’s get to the games…
Posted by W. Eric Martin on February 17, 2008 at 08:30 PM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: New York Toy Fair 2008
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Convention Report: FallCon 20
By Brent Lloyd
December 12, 2007
FallCon 20, an annual boardgame and miniatures convention, was held September 21-23, 2007 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and attendance this year was the largest to date, passing the 260 mark. That fact doesn’t come as a surprise thanks to the growing interest in our quaint hobby. We have seen an increase in families and couples attending, and more balanced (but not yet balanced) gender parity. This is our fourth straight year of increases, and we expect the trend to continue, as more folks become familiar with FallCon.
Posted by W. Eric Martin on December 12, 2007 at 04:00 AM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: FallCon
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Convention Report: Essen 2007: Spiel Wrap-Up
By W. Eric Martin
November 10, 2007
I surveyed a few publishers that attended Spiel ‘07 to get their reactions to the show and to see whether they had any news to report. Let’s start with the company and game that everyone is talking about:
Uwe Rosenberg’s Agricola placed second on the Fairplay magazine list of top 10 rated games as voted on by Spiel ‘07 attendees, but the large amounts of German text on the 300+ cards had lots of people asking: When’s the English edition appearing?
The answer: Dunno. Lookout’s Hanno Girke has said that Z-Man Games has the option to do an English edition, and Zev Shlasinger is still deciding whether he wants to do it. Given Agricola’s list price, the English edition would likely have to be at least $60 due to the awful dollar/Euro exchange rate. (The exchange rate hit $1.45 = €1 on November 5.) Girke said that a French version of Agricola is possible, although not definite, and other companies have expressed interest in Dutch, Portugese, Czech and Polish versions, although these are all just possibilities for now.
What could make these other editions happen, though, is the strength of Agricola in both Fairplay standings and in sales. Lookout Games sold through the 900 copies it brought to Essen, and Hanno has said that the company needs to sell at least 60% of the print run in order to make licensing feasible. (Licensing cuts into sales of the German edition.) Lookout is now talking to German wholesale retailers in order to get distribution and reach that level.
Speaking of Z-Man, Zev says, “I have several things in the works but no news as of yet… Essen was great, although saleswise 2006 was better. I need to focus on one or two games only for next year AND make them available only through me.”
Posted by W. Eric Martin on November 10, 2007 at 09:00 AM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: Essen 2007
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Convention Report: Essen 2007: Links to Other Spiel ‘07 Reports
By W. Eric Martin
Updated: October 29, 2007
Scott, Dale and I have reported on our Spiel ‘07 happenings, and so have plenty of others around the gaming community. Check out the following reports for more on the show:
- Trond Meistad has a multi-day Spiel report on Brettspill.no.
- Mike Siggins has posted his standard thorough yet concise report on Spiel ‘07 on Funagain.com.
- Bruno Faidutti has published a juicy Spiel report on his website that includes this awesome paragraph:
Games can be ugly in many ways. Many are ugly in a minimalistic way, as if the publisher simply published the prototype, like Moai or Im Jahre der Drachen. Some, like Kingsburg, or Battue, have simply bad graphics, reminding of the worse RPGs, like Kingsburg or Battue. Others are graphically overloaded, like Cuba or El Capitan, who look luxurious but not elegant. Even Tzaar, Kris Burm’s last opus, doesn’t have the classy look of its predecessors. Some games have really nice looking boxes, like Container or Gipsy King, but the components inside look much blander. And I list here only games which, from all I’ve heard, are really good! There are probably other ones which are both ugly and bad. - Frank Schulte-Kulkmann has once again turned out a fantastic Spiel report on Kulkmann’s G@mebox.
- Game designer Angelo Porazzi has published a photo essay of Spiel on his website.
- Richard van Vugt has included a video report of Spiel ‘07 on the front page of Gamepack.nl. (Quicktime required)
- Andreas Resch has posted a Flash gallery of nearly 400 images on his personal website; make some coffee before you start the slideshow because it’s a long one!
- Fairplay Magazine has posted the top 10 rated games as voted upon by Spiel ‘07 attendees. You can also view the complete Spiel ‘07 game list alphabetically if you want to see how the more obscure titles (i.e. those with few votes) rated.
- William Bussick has posted a summary of his Essen experience on BoardGameGeek.
Posted by W. Eric Martin on October 24, 2007 at 09:00 PM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: Essen 2007
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Convention Report: Essen 2007: October 20, 2007 (Day 3)
By W. Eric Martin
October 23, 2007
Editor’s note: My final report was delayed due to illness. Hope you enjoy it.
My final day at Spiel started later than the 9am press time as I had to pack and check out of the hotel. Luckily I still got to hit a few booths before the hordes crashed in and raised the volume by 40-something decibels.
Designer Harald Enoksson was in a sparsely decorated booth that featured little more than 100 copies of his first two games: Seigo and StreetSmart. Seigo’s subtitle is Conquer the Japanese Language, and Enoksson describes the game as Civilization-like in how your holdings develop. As you collect the right Hiragana characters, you’ll acquire new skills, such as a cannon to take down enemy forces. The Venn diagram intersection of Civilization fans who want to tackle a four-hour game about learning Japanese must be tiny, but my friend Brian is one of those people and had asked for a copy. If he ever gets it played, I’ll ask him for a report!
Enoksson’s other game is StreetSmart, which creates city life in a highly abstracted form, with consumers spending money in neighborhoods or slums (which creates new buildings of the same type and color, which may or may not be the active player’s), gangsters who convert neighborhoods to slums, policemen who revitalize an area, smokers who burn down shops, and much more. The movement system was lifted from RoboRally, as Enoksson admitted, although he’s tweaked it for his game to move characters 1-3 spaces in the cardinal directions. Lots of variety is possible as the game includes numerous expansions which introduce garbagemen, electricity access, and more.
Posted by W. Eric Martin on October 23, 2007 at 05:00 PM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: Essen 2007
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Convention Report: Essen 2007: October 19, 2007, Part 2 (Day 2)
By W. Eric Martin
October 21, 2007
The second half of Friday started with a trip to the Land of Yellow, aka HABAville…
I’ve played only a few games with my niece and nephew and with random other children that people keep bringing into my house, and to my untutored eye, children’s games seem to be nothing more than memory variants, dexterity challenges, and observation tests. Even with this minute amount of experience, though, I can appreciate the difference between good and bad memory variants, dexterity challenges, and observation tests.
HABA has a stellar reputation, so Dale Yu and I took a look at the company’s fall lineup to see what stood out. Dale will likely be reporting on these games in more detail, so I’ll mention only two titles:
Kapt’n Kuck: I wasn’t clear how the game would play from the brief description that I saw before the show, but once you see the game in person, it all becomes clear. You play the game in rounds, and in each round all players but one don an eyepatch, then cover their remaining eye. The one active player lays out a number of cards face-up on the maplike gameboard. Once he’s ready, the other players get to look at the gameboard through a telescope of sorts which allows the player to see only a tiny portion of the board. The players must scan the board as quickly as possible, and when time runs out, they try to name the cards that they saw.
Posted by W. Eric Martin on October 21, 2007 at 01:30 PM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: Essen 2007
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Convention Report: Essen 2007: October 19, 2007, Part 1 (Day 2)
By W. Eric Martin
October 20, 2007
Another day of Spiel, another four hours of sleep to keep you going through it…
One correction to start with: In Part 2 of the Thursday Day 1 report, I listed Rio Grande’s new titles and forgot to mention the long-awaited arrival of Race for the Galaxy, despite me actually buying a copy at the show! I was practically sleeping while I wrote that report and thought that I was writing Wednesday’s report for some reason, so I didn’t mention RftG as the game didn’t arrive until late that evening. The days are a blur.
The first stop of the day was with John Yianni, who was showing off his new title, Army of Frogs. This game matches the look and feel of Hive to some degree, as the players build an island of pieces turn-by-turn while trying to connect all of their frogs. The frogs are bakelite and add a lot to the visual appeal of the game.
More details on the game play: Players take one of the four colors and ten pieces of that color are mixed in a bag. You draw two pieces randomly to start. On a turn, you must move a piece of yours already on the board by jumping it over other pieces to move from one end of the line to the other; multiple jumps are possible as long as you follow two construction rules for the frog army. You then add one piece from your supply, which may or may not be your color, to the board and draw another frog from the bag. The first player to connect seven frogs of his color in one group wins; if more than seven of your frogs are on the board, you must connect them all.
Posted by W. Eric Martin on October 20, 2007 at 01:30 AM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: Essen 2007
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Convention Report: Essen 2007: October 18, 2007, Part 2 (Day 1)
By W. Eric Martin
October 19, 2007
The flow of unexpected companies continued throughout the day—admittedly I was looking for them in order to cover those holes in the 2008 Essen Preview, so perhaps they stood out more to me than other companies. Here’s a sampling of their wares:
Czech publisher Dino Toys had a Carcassonne-style tile-laying game called Cabo da Roca in which players construct a seascape and port locations turn by turn. As ports appear, players can start buying ships to sail around the sea and trade goods from one town to another. Different types of ships are available, with a pirate ship naturally being one of them, and players try to accumulate the most gold possible through trade and settlement. The authors are listed only as BB Team, and the promotional flyer says only “created by Czech inventors,” which seems somewhat odd.
Motiva’s offerings seemed to fall in the crack between games and toys, such as with Desert Dice (pictured below) in which you use a magnetic tool to drag dice through sand towards your goal. Dice games were present in abundance, such as 6 Richtige: Each player starts with four dice in one or two colors (out of six). Your goal is to acquire a die of each color. Players take turns rolling a single die; the first player puts the die in the center of the board; the next player claims this die if he rolls higher or else his die goes in the center as well. Eventually someone claims the dice and the center empties. You have light decisions about which die to roll, but once you do roll, your chances are in fate’s hands.
Posted by W. Eric Martin on October 19, 2007 at 03:30 PM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: Essen 2007
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Convention Report: Essen 2007: October 18, 2007, Part 1 (Day 1)
By W. Eric Martin
October 18, 2007
After a few hours of sleep, I headed to Spiel for the proper opening of the convention. I had made an appointment to check out alea’s new release, but since Im Jahr des Drachen will appear in English before too long, I decided to cancel and head towards the booths of smaller publishers, those who I wouldn’t see except at Spiel. Thus, the first stop of the day was in the Cwali booth where Corné von Moorsel was still unpacking to prepare for the crowds.
Gipsy King is von Moorsel’s new game for Spiel ‘07, although a mostly similar two-player version of the game called Land of Lakes is available online at his Mastermoves.eu. Gipsy King keeps the same features of Land of Lakes—take turns placing caravans on spaces around numbered lakes, first in ascending order, then in descending, with a goal of claiming fish in lakes and creating large groups—but expands the game play up to five players.
I played Gipsy King three times in the evening, twice with two players and once with four. The game with two is slightly different from the online version as players can place a double-wide caravan twice in the final round, to enlarge their groups and try harder to nab fish. The game with four plays much differently as the consequences of passing your turn—that is, skipping your caravan placement in order to stay at the front of the turn order chart to claim something better later—are harder to determine. With two players, I pass, you’re forced to fill the empty space around the current lake, then I go again; with four, you can’t be sure of what people are going to do, so if you really want to grab a space, you might have pass early and keep passing for several rounds or just forget it and try for something else.
Posted by W. Eric Martin on October 18, 2007 at 09:00 PM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: Essen 2007
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Convention Report: Essen 2007: October 17, 2007 (Press day)
By W. Eric Martin
October 17, 2007
A few nights ago, I went into a game store only to discover a disappointing selection of trivia titles and old-fashioned mass-market games like Monopoly: Bratz Edition and SpongeBob Squarepants Risk. I ran into a few other people, maybe in their late teens or early twenties, and we started talking about games. Naturally I mentioned Boardgame News and the advancements in game design over the past twenty years. Then I gave them the lowdown on the Spiel game convention—the show of shows in Essen, Germany where hundreds of publishers, game designers, and vendors have thousands of games on hand to demonstrate and sell. I mentioned a few titles that I thought might interest those new to modern adult strategy games, and they all seemed eager to attend Spiel themselves.
Then I woke up. When you start talking about Spiel in your dreams, it’s time for the show to start!
Thankfully that day has almost arrived. I’ve spent the last two weeks in Munich, visiting friends and pretending to take a few days vacation. In fact, I spent most of my non-traveling hours updating the BGN Essen Preview, reading rules, and otherwise prepping for Spiel, often to the driving dance beats played at the San Francisco Coffee Company. Don’t let the English name fool you—the café is as German as they come, with delightful café mochas, fresh-squeezed juices, an open door policy for dogs, and a relaxed attitude toward Americans who have their laptops plugged in for hours at a time. Outside the window I had a view across the Odeonsplatz of Feldherrnhalle and part of the Residenz, which housed Bavarian rulers for more than 500 years.
Posted by W. Eric Martin on October 17, 2007 at 08:00 PM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: Essen 2007
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Paul Burdick: GAMA 2007 Report
A giant hawk circled above Bally’s in Las Vegas on the opening day of the 2007 GAMA trade show. Similarly, hundreds of eager retailers and industry types waited for the signal to enter the trade show floor to discover what new releases lay ahead for them to sell and play in the coming year.
Many board game publishers had a number of releases on display, but many of them also crossed over with Toy Fair and have been adequately covered previously. I have chosen to highlight one new board game release from each major publisher.
Posted by W. Eric Martin on May 11, 2007 at 09:00 AM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: GAMA Trade Show 2007
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Brent Mair: Coverage of the 2007 GAMA Trade Show
This year I was able to attend the GAMA Trade Show in Las Vegas for a few hours, and I have finally gotten around to writing a report for you. This was my third trip to GTS in the last five years and unfortunately my shortest trip as I had only one day off of work with which to make my visit. At five p.m. Monday afternoon, I got off work, jumped in the car, and headed for sunny Vegas. I arrived well after the sun went down and finally reached my room at midnight. On my most recent previous trip, I had not attended any seminars so I hoped this year I might be able to attend a few before the halls opened at noon. I got up after fewer than six hours of sleep in order to get my badge early and see what was going on in the hospitality suite. The result? Not much at that early hour.
At nine I was able to attend a session by Michael Stackpole entitled “Breaking into Freelance Writing.” It was an informative 50 minutes and if I heard correctly, that presentation and others will be available through the Pulp Gamer podcasts.
It appeared the show was less attended than last year, likely due to a number of retailers attending Games Expo in March. There were still enough retailers to crowd the two halls early on, especially in the larger booths.
I was able to spend only four hours on the floors before I left the convention center, but I did get a chance to look at most of the booths. Here are details, with pictures below for some of the items mentioned:
Posted by W. Eric Martin on April 30, 2007 at 11:00 AM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: GAMA Trade Show 2007
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Scott Tepper: A Glimpse of GAMA 2007
This week’s column comes to you from sin city itself, Las Vegas.
Ahhhh, Las Vegas. Home of showgirls and indecent proposals. What happens in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas.
Usually…………But I’m a sharer.
I was in the city of lights demoing for Rio Grande Games at the annual GAMA (Game Manufacturer’s Association) trade show. This convention is not open to the general public, but rather is a chance for retailers and distributors to get together and see what’s new from the manufacturers they represent, and also attend seminars on how to improve their business.
Posted by Scott Tepper on April 30, 2007 at 01:00 AM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: GAMA Trade Show 2007 > Columnists > Scott Tepper
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Convention Report: The Gathering of Friends 2007: April 4, 2007
By W. Eric Martin
April 13, 2007
I’ve discovered the secret to writing efficient reports of games played at the Gathering: Play lots of prototypes. Typically you can’t write about the particulars of the prototypes you play, which leads to write-ups like the following:
“My Wednesday at the Gathering started in the afternoon by playing two games from one designer, who was showing them to a publisher’s representative. One game was an involved, heavy strategy game with a kind of set-collection/bidding mechanism and a unique end-of-the-round determining-first-and-second mechanism, and the other game was a multiplayer, luck-free abstract with a customizable gameboard and interesting hand-management aspects. Both games had areas that would need to be adjusted or fixed—the first game, its special action tiles; the second game, grossly imbalanced starting positions—but were solid designs overall. The four players spent roughly four hours playing the two games and discussing them.”
Wow, that was easy.
Posted by W. Eric Martin on April 13, 2007 at 03:00 PM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: The Gathering of Friends 2007
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Convention Report: The Gathering of Friends 2007: April 3, 2007
By W. Eric Martin
April 11, 2007
Another day, another immersive soaking in games both old and new, starting with a fresh take on one of 2005’s certified hits: Caylus.
William Attia’s initial game design took the Eurogaming world by storm, bowling over players at Essen, then winning the 2006 International Gamers Award and 2006 Deutscher Spiele Preis among other accolades. Attia, along with publishing partners Ystari Games and Rio Grande, now presents Caylus Magna Carta, a card game version of Caylus.
Posted by W. Eric Martin on April 11, 2007 at 10:00 AM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: The Gathering of Friends 2007
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Convention Report: The Gathering of Friends 2007: Reports from Elsewhere
Plenty of Gathering attendees are taking time away from the gaming tables to talk about what they’re playing. Check out the following links for more reports on titles new and old:
- Aldie and Derk share their Gathering experiences—on a Geekpost of all things.
- David Fair has multiple Gathering entries on the Games Club of MD blog. You can start with days 10 and 11, then scroll backwards from there.
- Ravindra Prasad (aka Snoozefest) has a mighty big Geeklist for his Gathering happenings.
- Brian Leet is posting about his experiences at Pinhole Optics
- Lucas Hedgren has a blog solely torecord the Gathering experience—Luke’s Gathering of Friends 2007 Blog
- Lorna Wong is posting multiple reports from the Gathering: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.
- Brain Bankler is covering the Gathering is his regular blog, The Tao of Gaming
- Matthew Gray does the same in his eponymous blog
- The finals of the Loopin Louie tournament, featuring winner Brian Stallings, second-place finisher Dave Chalker, Caylus designer William Attia, and (maybe?) Terry Egan.
I’ll update this list as I run across more reports.
Posted by W. Eric Martin on April 9, 2007 at 09:00 PM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: The Gathering of Friends 2007
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Convention Report: The Gathering of Friends 2007: April 2, 2007
By W. Eric Martin
April 9, 2007
Don’t take the date listed at the top of this report too seriously. Time flows in an odd way in the meeting rooms where the Gathering takes place because the rooms are on the lower level of the hotel, which shuts them off from natural light. As a result, you suffer the casino effect where you lose track of time and suddenly discover that it’s five in the morning and you forgot to eat dinner, yet you’re still completely wired for the next game. Luckily the sensation doesn’t happen only to me or else I wouldn’t have opponents for the next game waiting to be discovered.
Posted by W. Eric Martin on April 9, 2007 at 12:00 PM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: The Gathering of Friends 2007
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Convention Report: The Gathering of Friends 2007: April 1, 2007
By W. Eric Martin
April 1, 2007
Alan Moon’s Gathering of Friends, a small convention that attracts doznes of game designers and publishers—not to mention gamers—takes place early each April and although a few tournaments and special events take place each year, most of the time is devoted to open gaming. New titles have arrived from the Nuremberg fair, designers and showing off prototypes, and publishers are previewing early release copies. Whether you want to play games that are obscure, brand new or designated classics, the Gathering is the place to find them.
What’s the hit of the show for 2007? To find out, all you have to do is keep watching the tables. Read the report below and see whether you can figure out my take on this week’s hot game.
Posted by W. Eric Martin on April 4, 2007 at 11:00 AM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: The Gathering of Friends 2007
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Convention Report: New York Toy Fair 2007 - February 13, 2007 (Day Three)
By W. Eric Martin
February 16, 2006
With snow, snow and yet more snow in the forecast, I decided to cut out of Toy Fair in the afternoon of the third day. Luckily for me, I had explored most of the Javits Center on the first two days, so covering the final ground wouldn’t take too long.
One aspect of the Fair that I missed, probably due to inexperience, were the various off-site locations, that is, toy and game companies in Manhattan that had opened up their businesses to nosy reporters. As such, I saw nary a hex of Heroscape or any other Hasbro items. Thankfully, Erik Arneson from About.com was on the case, and he has published gallery images of the Heroscape: Swarm of Marro Master Set, Marvel Heroscape (which is now due May 2007), and assorted other Hasbro titles.
Posted by W. Eric Martin on February 16, 2007 at 10:00 AM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: New York Toy Fair 2007
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