Gaming Convention: Let's Play Recap

Well, unfortunately I forgot the camera.  Maybe not an epic failure, but a serious oversight, at the least.  I had it packed, but somehow ended up at the convention center sans digital-ness.  Sad day!  My brother-in-law did at least snap a quick picture with his iPhone of our boys with the Wisconsin Brigade of the 501st Legion: Vader's First.  Seems rather anachronistic, doesn't it?

Anyway, Let's Play Green Bay was a well-run affair. I'm not sure they reached their target goal for audience numbers, but I was only there on Saturday.  There were several independent and small publishers exhibiting and demonstrating games.  The larger companies that participated included Looney Labs, Out of the Box, Mayfair, and Fantasy Flight.  There were ongoing demonstrations and open-gaming for the Big 4 of the TCG's; namely Magic, Pokemon, Legend of the Five Rings, and Yu-Gi-Oh.  It also allowed for lots of structured and open gaming for the big miniature sets: Warhammer, Dust, Flames of War, and Wings of War.  We all also got a first peak at some of the less common miniature sets which included ship-to-ship pirate forays, Roman coliseum battles between gladiators and beasts, and something to do with British colonials on unicycles spearing a mechanical pig in India.

Of course, I was there mainly for board gaming and I was not disappointed.  Gnome Games had a large store-booth to which I donated some money in exchange for three games.  They also had a nice library for open-gaming with a knowledgeable staff of volunteers and employees.  Most had a wealth of helpful information and even a few were able to teach some games to people.  Aside from the FLGS, the publisher booths also indulged our interests with enthusiasm and kindness.

So what did I play?  This week, I'll be posting little capsule reviews, but for summary's sake.  New to me games from the open game library (in which we had to read the rules before/while playing) included Carcassonne: The City and Memoir '44.  We also played Forbidden Island from the library, which was new to our boys.  Gnome Games staff and/or volunteers taught us Once Upon a Time, Poo, and Quarriors.  The folks at Out of the Box demonstrated Pirate vs. Pirate and Word on the Street (including a fun "life sized" version).  Over at Fantasy Flight, we saw, but did not participate in, demonstration games of Game of Thrones: The Board Game and Dust: Tactics.  And Aaron Kreader, with Studio 9, Inc., personally demonstrated to our boys his new card and dice game Villagers and Villains.  He was friendly, patient, and connected well with the boys.  His game was one of the three I purchased on Saturday.  The other two were Condottiere, a card game well established on my wish list; and Sleeping Queens, a whimsical card game that I purchased moreso aimed at my 4 and 1/2 year old daughter.  My brother-in-law came away from the weekend with Memoir '44 - an exciting development considering he is less engaged in board gaming and much more into Pokemon!

Board Game Convention: Let's Play!

I'm getting deeper and deeper into the gaming world.  Oh, it all started out innocently enough as a young child with family games.  Harmless games like Candyland, Monopoly, Wahoo, and Yahtzee were popular in our house.  Then I played my first games of Risk and Stratego in the 5th grade.  Very soon after, in middle school and high school, my friends and I plunged into the Milton Bradley GameMasters series and even delved into Avalon Hill and SPI behemoths (often drowning).  It was in high school, too, that I broadened my scope of traditional card game knowledge, thanks to both sets of grandparents teaching me pitch, euchre, spades, hearts, pinochle, and cribbage.  But college and early married life was a desert of gaming experience.  Only fond memories remained.

That changed about two years ago.  On a whim, when visiting my parents one weekend, I decided to break out that old, 1975 copy of Risk to teach my two boys (both age 7 at the time).  I figured it was a pointless exercise that would send them crying and running the moment a legion of plastic pieces stormed through their bastion in Ukraine.  However, to my delight, they took to it like a mathematician to a Knizia game and wanted more.  We hit garage sale buys of Axis and Allies and Samurai Swords.  Heading to the internet to look for more of the old games I used to know, I came across the most intimidating web site I've ever seen not ending in ".gov" -  BoardGameGeek.  I'm still not sure I even know of everything that this resource has to offer for the hobby and enthusiast, but that's not for lack of spending time in browsing it's mind-numbing array of pages.  Needless to say, what a discovery!

After way too many nights of reading reviews and watching videos, I began browsing new-to-me online stores such as Troll and Toad, Boards and Bits, and Cool Stuff, Inc.  With research conducted and cross-testing prices and showing wishlists to my kids, we bought our first "Euro" game, Citadels.  Soon after that, I used birthday money to make my first bulk purchase - you know, those ones to reach the "free shipping" threshhold.  Then I officially joined the Geek, began logging all of our plays, started this blog, and just recenlty joined the online gaming community Yucata.

And as for the "next step" into the hobby, I've made plans to attend, and have passes reserved for, my first gaming convention!  It was actually my brother-in-law that tipped me off to the inaugural Let's Play Green Bay.  The 3-day (March 30-April 1) gathering will host venues and events for board gaming, CCGs, role playing, and miniature gaming.  There will be publishers and designers, casual and official tournaments, demos, sales, and open gaming.  A few highlights include a Settlers of Catan North American championship qualifier, the world's largest Monopoly collection, several official CCG tournaments, and a meet/greet with the reigning Pokemon world champion.  Presenting sponsor Gnome Games will be offering a great deal of assistance in planning and logistics.  This friendly local game store is knowledgeable, helpful, well-connected with the community, and offers a wide selection of products and support in all genres of the hobby.  They are missionaries sent forth from the gaming fold.

There's tons more.  Pat Fuge, the head gnome at Gnome Games, promises a refreshingly different kind of convention focused on social gaming and attracting new gamers.  I'm looking forward to this experience and sharing it with my two boys.  It should be a nice fit for our first convention.  On one hand, they have a lot of activities with some big name participants.  On the other hand, there should be under 2,000 attendees which, combined with the focus on social gamers, should make for a more relaxed and family-oriented atmosphere that is not intimidating for first-timers.  Of course, these are merely my initial thoughts.  Because of the six-hour drive to Green Bay, we're only able to attend Saturday; but I'll definitely be there from open to close.  Blog posts and photos are sure to follow with our exploits and my observations!