Origins Days 4 & 5
Well, it's over. And I had a blast. I played a bunch of new games and met a lot of great people. I ventured through one of the best exhibition halls I have ever walked through (because it was 99% board games). And I am exhausted. That is the sign of a good convention in my book. I wish I could come back next year, but due to the dates decided upon for the next two years of the convention I won't be able to. That is very disappointing, but what can I do?
So, what did I play on days four and five? Quite a bit, actually!
Yesterday saw e largest attendance of the convention this year. Therefore, there was a lot of gaming going on. The first game that I played was PitchCar. I entered the tournament, and because nobody showed up I made it to the finals by default. I ended up playing a round with the tournament organizer for practice (I am not so good at this game, but it is quite fun). In PitchCar you flick a disk that represents your car around a wooden track. That is it. It is simply a fun dexterity game. Here is the qualifier track:
Today I played in the final and got trounced. Here are some pictures of that much more difficult track:
The next game after PitchCar was a little Winsome Games card game: PanzerZug. PanzerZug is a card game about the allied forces bombing German trains and freight yards in World War II. Each player selects one of three types of planes and outfits it with fuel, rockets, and bombs. On a turn, the player spends furl to search for a target. When a target is found, the player chooses a weapon to fire at it and rolls a die to determine if they destroy the target, deal damage, or miss. This process is further complicated by the opposing players having the chance to play cards such as enemy fighter planes or cards that cause the player to crash. Once one player has reached the determined number of victory points, they win. But there is another twist: the Germans can win. If the players let too many German trains get away (fail to destroy them on their turn) and the Germans reach the number of points the players need to win, the Germans win and the players lose. I had the privilege of playing Brad Keen's custom made set. The cards were created using Artscow and were much nicer than the construction paper cards one would receive from a Winsome production. It was a fun little game. Not the best, but fun.
Next up was a three-player game of Cosmic Encounter that was a lot of fun. I taught the game to the other two and we all had a really good time.
After that was another game of Dominant Species. This was an interesting six-player game with a great group of guys. We had a lot of fun. I had to take a chance and take a big 30 point lead halfway through the game while simultaneously taking another player out of the game (essentially). I held it until the last turn, even though I was getting pounded by everyone for the remainder of the game. On the last turn, the white player won by three points due to a single piece in a mountain hex. It was painful, but a tight, fun game filled with trash talk and laughs. This game cannot be played by people who will take it too seriously. It will end badly. I need to pick this one up. Here are some pictures from the game (I was red):
The next game I got in was Bisikle. Bisikle is a bicycle racing flicking game, much like PitchCar with a different theme. The players flick a ball instead of a disk, otherwise the gameplay is basically the same as PitchCar's. Bisikle was fun, but I am not sure if I need to own it. It is very similar to PitchCar and that one takes up enough space.
The next game up was Last Call: The Bartender Game. This was a simple set collection type game where players each had specific drinks they needed to make that ranged from easy to hard. One player is the dealer and draws a bartender card and lays it down, he continues to do this until someone calls order and moves a bottle from any face-up bartenders drink pile t another face up bartenders drink pile. If a player has completed a drink, they call order up and reveal their card and score it. If there are extra bottles on the tray when they score, they take a number of ice cubes equal to the number of extra bottles. Ice cubes are negative points. The winner is the player with the most points at the end of the game. Last Call was fun, but it isn't necessarily my type of game. It reminded me of pit in a way as the players were rushing to try to complete their orders. It just had a little more structure. I won't be buying this, but I would play it again. Here is a crappy picture. They turned the lights out on us to get us out of the demo room:
The final game of last night was Time's Up!. Time's Up! is one of the best party games I have ever played. I like the sequel game, Time's Up: Title Recall! more than the original, but the original is still fun. This was one of the most fun games I played all week. The people you play this game with really make the game. And boy did these people make the game! There was much raucous laughter going on in the board room at 2 am last night!
Aside from the PitchCar final that I mentioned earlier, the only other game that I played today was Resident Evil Deck Building Game: Alliance. This is a deck-building game much like Dominion. The difference between them is that in Resident Evil the players explore a mansion deck to fight monsters and ultimately destroy the boss character. Each turn the players get one action and one buy and they can explore the mansion to try and kill a monster. I found this game rather boring. I am glad that I got to try it out. I have thought about buying it a few times and now I am glad that I never pulled the trigger. I just can't see this one getting much play at all. This one lands in the 5 or 6 range for me.
Here are a couple more pictures from around the convention, this time of a Star Wars miniatures game:
And there it is, my origins experience. I had a great time and really wish I could make it back next year. It just isn't meant to be. Maybe sometime soon. Until then I still have DragonCon. Now I just have to wait until September for my next convention experience!
Let me know what you think. Comment! Until next time, keep playing and keep winning!
So, what did I play on days four and five? Quite a bit, actually!
Yesterday saw e largest attendance of the convention this year. Therefore, there was a lot of gaming going on. The first game that I played was PitchCar. I entered the tournament, and because nobody showed up I made it to the finals by default. I ended up playing a round with the tournament organizer for practice (I am not so good at this game, but it is quite fun). In PitchCar you flick a disk that represents your car around a wooden track. That is it. It is simply a fun dexterity game. Here is the qualifier track:
Today I played in the final and got trounced. Here are some pictures of that much more difficult track:
The next game after PitchCar was a little Winsome Games card game: PanzerZug. PanzerZug is a card game about the allied forces bombing German trains and freight yards in World War II. Each player selects one of three types of planes and outfits it with fuel, rockets, and bombs. On a turn, the player spends furl to search for a target. When a target is found, the player chooses a weapon to fire at it and rolls a die to determine if they destroy the target, deal damage, or miss. This process is further complicated by the opposing players having the chance to play cards such as enemy fighter planes or cards that cause the player to crash. Once one player has reached the determined number of victory points, they win. But there is another twist: the Germans can win. If the players let too many German trains get away (fail to destroy them on their turn) and the Germans reach the number of points the players need to win, the Germans win and the players lose. I had the privilege of playing Brad Keen's custom made set. The cards were created using Artscow and were much nicer than the construction paper cards one would receive from a Winsome production. It was a fun little game. Not the best, but fun.
Next up was a three-player game of Cosmic Encounter that was a lot of fun. I taught the game to the other two and we all had a really good time.
After that was another game of Dominant Species. This was an interesting six-player game with a great group of guys. We had a lot of fun. I had to take a chance and take a big 30 point lead halfway through the game while simultaneously taking another player out of the game (essentially). I held it until the last turn, even though I was getting pounded by everyone for the remainder of the game. On the last turn, the white player won by three points due to a single piece in a mountain hex. It was painful, but a tight, fun game filled with trash talk and laughs. This game cannot be played by people who will take it too seriously. It will end badly. I need to pick this one up. Here are some pictures from the game (I was red):
The next game I got in was Bisikle. Bisikle is a bicycle racing flicking game, much like PitchCar with a different theme. The players flick a ball instead of a disk, otherwise the gameplay is basically the same as PitchCar's. Bisikle was fun, but I am not sure if I need to own it. It is very similar to PitchCar and that one takes up enough space.
The next game up was Last Call: The Bartender Game. This was a simple set collection type game where players each had specific drinks they needed to make that ranged from easy to hard. One player is the dealer and draws a bartender card and lays it down, he continues to do this until someone calls order and moves a bottle from any face-up bartenders drink pile t another face up bartenders drink pile. If a player has completed a drink, they call order up and reveal their card and score it. If there are extra bottles on the tray when they score, they take a number of ice cubes equal to the number of extra bottles. Ice cubes are negative points. The winner is the player with the most points at the end of the game. Last Call was fun, but it isn't necessarily my type of game. It reminded me of pit in a way as the players were rushing to try to complete their orders. It just had a little more structure. I won't be buying this, but I would play it again. Here is a crappy picture. They turned the lights out on us to get us out of the demo room:
The final game of last night was Time's Up!. Time's Up! is one of the best party games I have ever played. I like the sequel game, Time's Up: Title Recall! more than the original, but the original is still fun. This was one of the most fun games I played all week. The people you play this game with really make the game. And boy did these people make the game! There was much raucous laughter going on in the board room at 2 am last night!
Aside from the PitchCar final that I mentioned earlier, the only other game that I played today was Resident Evil Deck Building Game: Alliance. This is a deck-building game much like Dominion. The difference between them is that in Resident Evil the players explore a mansion deck to fight monsters and ultimately destroy the boss character. Each turn the players get one action and one buy and they can explore the mansion to try and kill a monster. I found this game rather boring. I am glad that I got to try it out. I have thought about buying it a few times and now I am glad that I never pulled the trigger. I just can't see this one getting much play at all. This one lands in the 5 or 6 range for me.
Here are a couple more pictures from around the convention, this time of a Star Wars miniatures game:
And there it is, my origins experience. I had a great time and really wish I could make it back next year. It just isn't meant to be. Maybe sometime soon. Until then I still have DragonCon. Now I just have to wait until September for my next convention experience!
Let me know what you think. Comment! Until next time, keep playing and keep winning!
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