I'm back! And if you are reading this, you must still find me interesting. As promised last time, I am going to start my Origins preview this time around. To start it off I want to give some context and background. As you all know, I love board games. Thus, it only makes sense that I would finally attend the largest board gaming convention in the country.
Origins is put on by GAMA, the Game Manufacturers Association, and is one of their two annual shows. The second, the GAMA Trade Show, is for the business side of the gaming industry. Origins, on the other hand, is all about playing and buying games. It is held at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in, you guessed it, Columbus, Ohio. The show has been happening yearly since 1975.
OK, there is your history lesson. Now we can get to the good stuff. As this is going to be my first Origins, I really want to experience as much of the convention as I can. I am also really excited to play a ton of train games and to meet some people who are as into train games as I am, if not more. You can probably tell that I plan on playing a lot of railroad games, so let us discuss this for a moment.
For a while now I have been interested in a series of railroad games that are considered to be the ultimate railroad games. The grandaddy of the sub genre, if you will. The series? 18xx. If I have my druthers I will play at least three or four games. Preferably at least a couple of variations within the series. The 18xx series of games take everything I enjoy about railroad games (stock manipulation, portfolio management, and route building). They tend to be long and complicated games. I like long and complicated providing that the game is engaging. I would like to play 1830, 1860, 1856, and 1861. Although, I will play whatever I can get in on.
I may also jump in on a Chicago Express tournament. Haven't decided what I want to do on that front yet. I am signed up to demo Rolling Freight, a dice rolling railroad game that looks to offer a nice balance between random elements (dice) and route building. Looking forward to this one. There are a few other railroad games that I may end up trying at the convention, but you will certainly hear about those during my Origins Daily Updates when the convention rolls around in 33 days.
That should do it for this short Origins railroad preview. Next time I am going to focus on a number of other games I am looking forward to trying. There is quite a list, but I believe I may be able to play a large chunk of them. We will see come June!
Thanks for reading!
Origins is put on by GAMA, the Game Manufacturers Association, and is one of their two annual shows. The second, the GAMA Trade Show, is for the business side of the gaming industry. Origins, on the other hand, is all about playing and buying games. It is held at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in, you guessed it, Columbus, Ohio. The show has been happening yearly since 1975.
OK, there is your history lesson. Now we can get to the good stuff. As this is going to be my first Origins, I really want to experience as much of the convention as I can. I am also really excited to play a ton of train games and to meet some people who are as into train games as I am, if not more. You can probably tell that I plan on playing a lot of railroad games, so let us discuss this for a moment.
For a while now I have been interested in a series of railroad games that are considered to be the ultimate railroad games. The grandaddy of the sub genre, if you will. The series? 18xx. If I have my druthers I will play at least three or four games. Preferably at least a couple of variations within the series. The 18xx series of games take everything I enjoy about railroad games (stock manipulation, portfolio management, and route building). They tend to be long and complicated games. I like long and complicated providing that the game is engaging. I would like to play 1830, 1860, 1856, and 1861. Although, I will play whatever I can get in on.
I may also jump in on a Chicago Express tournament. Haven't decided what I want to do on that front yet. I am signed up to demo Rolling Freight, a dice rolling railroad game that looks to offer a nice balance between random elements (dice) and route building. Looking forward to this one. There are a few other railroad games that I may end up trying at the convention, but you will certainly hear about those during my Origins Daily Updates when the convention rolls around in 33 days.
That should do it for this short Origins railroad preview. Next time I am going to focus on a number of other games I am looking forward to trying. There is quite a list, but I believe I may be able to play a large chunk of them. We will see come June!
Thanks for reading!
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