Our new activity for March was SaltCON...otherwise known as the Boardgame Convention...yes it is true Seth has converted me to geekdom...and we are raising a little geek as well. But seriously we had a blast at the convention. The convention was full of vendors but our favorite part was the Game Library. We were able to "check out" any game that our hearts desired. We played eight games that were new to us. We only had to read the rules to learn one of the games...for the other seven we made new friends that taught us how to play. We have included a little review of all the games we played. Seth helped compile the reviews and we also had input from Scott.
The convention hall was full of tables with games already set up on them as well as empty tables for new games to be set up.
We found out about the convention through my cousin Anne's husband Jared. Jared actually taught us our first game of the convention.
First Game SEASONS:
This is a resource game that is divided into four seasons with three "years" in total being played over the course of the game. Each season has a unique set of dice that is rolled to acquire resources that allow players to play cards that increase their total victory points.
| Our Rank: |
7 |
| Game Quality: |
9 |
| Complexity: |
8 |
| Skill/Luck Balance: |
6 |
| Fun: |
6 |
| Game Audience: |
Frequent Gamers |
| Will we Buy this Game: |
Used or at a discount |
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Board Game Geek Info:
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/108745/seasons
Dice Tower Review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ9IhHWeUkE
Our next game was FLASH POINT: FIRE RESCUE:
Flash Point was the only cooperative game that we played at the convention. Jared had introduced us to his friends from Ten Sleep and we played this game with them. We each played the role of a firefighter as we attempted to save 7 of 10 victims from a raging building fire before the building collapsed...we lost but still had a good time.
| Our Rank: | 8, Seth 4 |
| Game Quality: | 9 |
| Complexity: | 5 |
| Skill/Luck Balance: | 4 |
| Fun: | 10, Seth 5 |
| Game Audience: | Family, Over 8 |
| Will we Buy this Game: | Yes, We tried |
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Next up was KINGDOM BUILDER:
In this game we built settlements with the goal of having the largest kingdom at the end of the game.
| Our Rank: | 7 |
| Game Quality: | 7 |
| Complexity: | 7 |
| Skill/Luck Balance: | 10 |
| Fun: | 6 |
| Game Audience: | Strategy Gamer, if you like Settlers you may like this game |
| Will we Buy this Game: | Used or discounted |
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Phin got quite good at entertaining himself while we played. We learned to corral him with his stroller between tables. He loved kicking his feet up on the walls and rolling around.
When he tuckered himself out we put him the stroller, laid him down and pushed him back and forth until he fell asleep.
Next up was UFO HUNTER:
We were looking for a game to play and noticed a guy with a stack of games on his table and a sign that said "Players Wanted." We didn't realize until we sat down that he was the game designer. His stack of games were literally all of the games that he had designed. The premise of the UFO Hunter game was that there were UFO rumors and players had to move around a map confirming the rumors. The person that confirmed the most rumors won the game. It was interesting to play with the designer...but it wasn't really our type of game.
| Our Rank: | -2 |
| Game Quality: | 3 |
| Complexity: | 4 |
| Skill/Luck Balance: | 3 |
| Fun: | -1, Suzy Quit |
| Game Audience: | Family & Friends of designer |
| Will we Buy this Game: | No |
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Board Game Geek Info:
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/16994/ufo-hunter
Dice Tower Review: NA
We ran back into Jared's friends from Ten Sleep. We taught them how to play RIVER DRAGONS while we ate dinner.
| Our Rank: | 8 |
| Game Quality: | 5 |
| Complexity: | 4 |
| Skill/Luck Balance: | Depends on opponents |
| Fun: | 8 |
| Game Audience: | Family |
| Will we Buy this Game: | Yes, we own it |
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Board Game Geek Info:
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/634/river-dragons
After dinner they taught us to play KING OF TOKYO:
Seth described this game as a King of the Hill type of game. We each chose a King Kong or Mutant Monster type character and rolled dice to gain health points, attack the monster on the hill or to earn victory points.
| Our Rank: | 9 |
| Game Quality: | 5 |
| Complexity: | 2 |
| Skill/Luck Balance: | 4 |
| Fun: | 9 |
| Game Audience: | All |
| Will we Buy this Game: | Yes |
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Board Game Geek Info:
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/70323/king-of-tokyo
We were ready for a lighter game and headed out to the main hall to play PITCH CAR:
Seth had seen this game online and had been interested in playing it but it was price prohibitive since it is out of print. The track is made of wood pieces that interconnect and the goal is to flick a little wooden piece around the track.
| Our Rank: |
5 |
| Game Quality: |
7 |
| Complexity: |
2 |
| Skill/Luck Balance: |
3 |
| Fun: |
3 |
| Game Audience: |
Family |
| Will we Buy this Game: |
No, it is pricey and it takes up too much room. |
Board Game Geek Info:
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/150/pitchcar
We read through a pretty extensive rule book to teach ourselves to play RELIC RUNNERS:
We roped Jared into playing this one with us as well. It was a lot of rule reading but we made it through. We were all archaeologists racing through the jungle from temple to temple to recover artifacts and relics.
| Our Rank: | 5 |
| Game Quality: | 8 |
| Complexity: | 8 |
| Skill/Luck Balance: | More game play needed? |
| Fun: | 3 |
| Game Audience: | Heavy Gamer |
| Will we Buy this Game: | No |
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We were looking for a lighter game next and one of the game librarians recommended GET BIT:
The librarian was willing to teach us this one so we spent some time playing this one with him. We liked this game so much that we ended up buying it at one of the vendor booths before we left. Each player was given a swimmer and a deck of cards from 1 to 7. We laid our swimmers down in front of a shark and then played our cards. If you played a 1 then your swimmer swam to the front of the line first, if you played a 2 your swimmer swam to the front of the line second, etc. If someone played the same card as you then you did not swim forward. If you were the swimmer at the end of the line at the end of the turn then the shark bit you and you lost a limb. The limbs literally pull of the swimmers which adds to the fun of this game. We played until a swimmer lost all of the limbs at which point the swimmer at the front of the line won. We liked that it was a simple game that could be played with kids but also with adults that had some strategy.
| Our Rank: | 8 |
| Game Quality: | 7 |
| Complexity: | 1 |
| Skill/Luck Balance: | Depends on opponents |
| Fun: | 8 |
| Game Audience: | All |
| Will we Buy this Game: | Yes, we did |
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Cons: Not going to play repeatedly, Short filler game
Final night of the game RAMPAGE:
In this game we were Godzilla like characters entering a Meeple city to feast. The board game was set up with meeples holding up buildings. Each turn we could complete two actions...move, demolish, toss a vehicle or breathe. This was a pretty interactive game that kept us all laughing. In the pictures below you can see Seth and I both completing the breathe action. We had to put our chins on our Godzilla characters and then we could literally blow to knock down meeples and buildings. In the move action we flicked the bottom part of your Godzilla into buildings. For the demolish action we picked up our Godzillas and dropped them onto buildings. In the toss a vehicle action you put a vehicle on top of the Godzilla and flicked it at other Godzillas. The player with the most complete sets of meeples at the end of the game won.
| Our Rank: | 9 |
| Game Quality: | 7 |
| Complexity: | 3 |
| Skill/Luck Balance: | Not Applicable |
| Fun: | 9 |
| Game Audience: | Family |
| Will we Buy this Game: | Yes, although we wish it did not cost so much. |
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Board Game Geek Info:
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/97903/rampage
Dice Tower Review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD5UgW3eKdA
The convention also had a used game center where convention goers brought their used games to sell. We ended up buying the game BITS:
I actually thought this was the game FITS but it was not it...after ten straight hours of gaming it is hard to even walk straight. BITS, has some Tetris like qualities to it that are quite enjoyable...after all who doesn't like Tetris. We didn't actually play BITS at the convention we brought it home and played it after our family dinner on Sunday.
| Our Rank: | 6 |
| Game Quality: | 7 |
| Complexity: | 4 |
| Skill/Luck Balance: | 10 |
| Fun: | 6 |
| Game Audience: | 13-Adult |
| Will we Buy this Game: | Yes, we did |
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Board Game Geek Info:
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/89668/bits
Dice Tower Review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PJ5OPVlCtY
We attempted to buy a used copy of FLASH POINT:FIRE RESCUE but were unable to meet up with the seller which was a little disappointing.
We had a great time at the convention and are pretty confident this may be an annual tradition for our little family. Scott loved it so much he has decided he will attend three days in a row next year and may even stay at the hotel close to the convention center to maximize his gaming time. I am up for two days of gaming and am hoping Seth can take a day off of work to play with me. If anyone would like to join us next year we would love to have you...Rachelle, maybe the convention would coincide with Spring Break...a lovely reason to visit your cousins up North.
