Latest / Pick Up and Deliver / Gencon 2024 Highlights

Transcript

Gencon 2024 Highlights · Pick Up and Deliver

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to pick up and deliver the podcast where I
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: pick up my audio recorder as I step out to walk,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: and I delivered episode do You while I stroll around.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: I'm Brendan Riley. Welcome morning listeners. It's a lovely day
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: here in suburban Chicago. The sun is out. It's muggy,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: getting muggy or by the minute. But I should be
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: home before it gets too unpleasant. And then I'm going
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: to spend a day doing work. Ooh. I went to
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: the library to drop off some books and now I'm
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: on my way home, and it's going to be nice
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: to chat with you while i'm doing that. As I
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: mentioned last episode, this was gen Con week. We just
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: wrapped up yesterday and I came home, and so I
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: thought I would share some highlights from gen Con. First off,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: I'll share what I got. I picked up a number
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: of things. I made a rookie mistake on the first
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: day of gen Con. I went and bought all the
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: stuff I really wanted. But all the stuff I really
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: wanted was expansions to other things. I mean, there were
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: a few new games I would have liked to get,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: but I didn't. I wasn't pushing real hard to find
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: those this year. So I got the expansion for Revive
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: very exciting. I got this expansion for Orleons, the Invasion
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: expansion or sorry, the Plague expansion, very exciting. And I
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: got the new Zoo maps for ark Nova very exciting.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: So yeah, those three things were all great. I also
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: picked up some expansion packs for a Touch of Evil
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: and one for Last Night on Earth. Now, there's a
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: word in there that I said several times in that clip,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: which is expansion, expansion, expansion. So we got back to
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: the hotel room Thursday night, and we had nothing new
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: to play because I had just bought expansions out down.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Oh well, a couple other people had stuff, so we
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: did get to play some games, but or one game
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: at least, but I did not get to play any
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: of my new stuff. I did end up picking up
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: a couple other things for my classroom. I picked up
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: a copy of Freedom the Underground Underground Railroad and its expansion,
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: and I picked up a copy of a new game
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: called Burn the Fort, which was created by an Indigenous
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: creator named Klee Bailey and distributed by a Kickstarter. This
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: is the first year they had at ten Con, and
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: they sold out. I was really excited to get a copy.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: We actually got a copy for Toggle played it Thursday night.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Then I went back Friday and I bought a copy
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: from my classroom along with the Freedom the Underground Railroad game.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: I'll use those in a conversation about socially aware games
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: or games that are about community and about teaching how
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: things work through gameplay. That was what I picked up
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: for myself. I also got a copy of Leaf, which
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: is a new game from Tim Eisner, who I know
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: best is having created the game about the three Little pigs.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: I think was called Enchanted. That doesn't sound right. I
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: can't remember the title of it. Which I liked, but
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: was just wasn't a great fit for my family, so
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: I sold it off and actually made a fair amount
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: from like, I made a decent amount in the selling off,
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: so that was good. Yeah, but this Leaf game looks
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: pretty fun. I like the nature theme and there's some
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: great art on some of the cards. So that's pretty
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: much my acquisitions for my own collection. We did, however,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: get quite a few games for the Toggle Library, which
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: you can head over to Toggle gaming dot com and
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: you'll find our announcement about that. As part of the
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: follow up to the Tuesday Gaming Night Tomorrow night. So
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: I'm very excited about showing off what we got. Lots
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: of good stuff, so I shared the purchasing mistake that
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: I made. Let's see, what are some other fun things.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: I had an example of why hanging out in the
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: Board game Geek forums is a good idea or can payoff.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: At one point, I was chatting with somebody and I
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: came up to talk to somebody and I noticed that
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: that person was talking with someone else who was in
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: a purple mind Class Games shirt. And I noticed the name,
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: and I think the name was a Robber pru It.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: I recognize the name as the person who maintains the
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: faq and answers questions on Board Game Geek, and so
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: I just thanked them for all the work they do
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: for mind Clash games on Board Game Geek. And they
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: recognized my name from the forums and we're super excited
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: to talk to me and glad to connect. So that
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: was really fun to get to see that connect, that
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: personal connection payoff. And speaking of that kind of thing,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: I had a really funny moment on Sunday when we
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: were I was looking at the game leaf and the
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: company that makes that also made a game called The
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: March of the Ants. And this other person was staying
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: they looking at it, and he said, do you know
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: this game March of the Ants? No, I don't. They said,
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: it's kind of like Eclipse, but not so bloated. It's
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: like a tighter version of that. It's really interesting. And
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: while they were telling me a talking about it, I
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: noticed I looked at a glance at their name tag
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: and I recognized the name. It was kim Breebok or
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Brebatch it gets back, and then I realized I recognized
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: the voice, and so between the name and the voice,
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: I was like, who is this? Where do I reckonize
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: that from? And so I said, is there any chance
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: do you make board game media? And he said no,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: I'm a publisher and a game store owner and he
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: studies from Australia or by that time I realized he
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: was from Australia. So I said, oh, is that good
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: games publishing? And then of course his shirt said good Games,
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: so it seemed like I was pretending to remember something
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: that was on his shirt. But then he said yeah,
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: and I said, I think I backed a kickstarter you
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: guys did for Monstrous, the game where you throw cards,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: and he's like, oh yeah, that was our first Kickstarter
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: and I had heard about them on the Bearded Bros. Podcast,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: which was the podcast that Jonathan Edwards did before he
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: did the Forgot My Dice podcast, So it was really
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: fun to connect and so Kim and I chatted for
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: a bit and it was really fun to talk with
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: him about games and learn more about good games publishing,
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: and this is a really nice opportunity to connect with people,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: and you know, I had little moments like that throughout.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: Also had a nice rapport going with Billy at the
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: Colossal Games booth about the expansion to Revive, which I
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: had needled him a little bit about last year trying
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: to get him to sell it to me. It was
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: pretty funny. So it was nice to see him again
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: and to get the opportunity to connect with them. So
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: it was a really fun networking con. I saw a
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: lot of people. I saw a couple of beep from
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: TikTok that I know, Hello to anybody who's listening there.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: I did meet up with my friend Ralph who works
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: at Flying Frog Productions and was there. Ralph is an
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: old friend I've known since I was in high school. Hey, Ralph,
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: how's it going. I don't think he listens, but if
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: he did, I'm saying hi. And I also met Gavin,
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: who is in the role playing group that Ralph runs.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: Gavin is local, but we all play over a zoom
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: and so I know some of some folks from there.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: I saw Gavin work in one of the flying Frog
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: tables and I said to myself, Hey, if I if
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: his face were in a tiny square on my computer screen,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: i'd know who that is of it. That's Kevin. And
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: it was so really fun. Con. Got a chance to
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: meet lots of interesting people at the x y Z
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: Game Labs booth, selling copies of art ravels and occasionally Bigfoot.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: So yeah, it was a really nice con in terms
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: of meeting people and getting to know them. So excited
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: to share that with you. I guess I'll take a
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: moment to talk about new games I played. These will
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: all come up in a future board Game Espresso episode,
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: I'm sure. But like I said, we played the game
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: Burned the Fort, which I thought was pretty great. We
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: played I got to try out a art project or
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: art project, and the person who did the demo for
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: us was Sam Healy who used to be on the
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: Dice Tower, and sure if he's I think he has
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: his own YouTube channel now actually, and I've I've always
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: thought he was kind of a fun character, so it
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: was kind of neat to meet him in person. That
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: was That's a game by the op I think I
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: got to try Aqua, and Aqua is designed by Dan
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: and Tristan Halstead. Dan Halstead is one of the former
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: hosts of the pop cast of Nonsensical Gamers, and I
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: know him from I met him once at Origins twenty seventeen,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: so that was really neat to get to play his game.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: I thought it was okay, a little more abstracted than
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: I generally like. Seems to fit the kind of game
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: he really likes, you know, Baron Park, I like with
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: the theme and the way the tiles work and stuff.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: But looking at the games he's designed, I've played Bees
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: and now I've played Aqua, and both of them have
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: this sort of simple play, almost abstract feel to them.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: Varying scoring conditions, so you're constantly trying to fight between
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: multiple things that might score and manage that. It's a
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: beautiful game. Art by Vincent Dutree or dutrait and neat looking.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: I was playing with Rob, my design partner, and sometimes
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: we had trouble finding the borders and some of the tiles,
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: So the art tiles themselves that you're playing with could
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: have been a little more clearly designated but general, And
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: there was a weird rule about how the contiguous pieces
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: of the board had to remain contiguous or not. It
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: was confusing, but it was still an interesting game and
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: if you like abstracts with variable points scoring, I recommend
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: giving that a try. And then we plied. We tried Ziggurat,
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: which is a family Weight legacy game from Matt Leacock
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: and Rob Davio. The game has a kind of CPIA
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: toned feel with some pastel colors, and in that you
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: are exploring. You are members of a village and you
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: have a huge magical ziggurat near your village that is
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: like waking up. It's been dormant for centuries and not
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: it's waking up, and you are chosen by your village
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: to go explore the ziggurat. And it's a legacy game.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: So we played the first round, but we don't know
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: what's coming next. It was very simple, definitely family weight.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: I thought it was fine, but I mean, I didn't
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: think it was incredible or anything. I thought it was fine.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: Knowing Davio and Leecock, I'm sure it's interesting even if
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: it's not amazing. And it was only forty dollars. And
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: one of the things I like about it is, you know,
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: it comes with stickers and pouches you open, and all
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: the sorts of things that you would expect from a
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: legacy game, but it also comes apparently with a whole
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: new set of tiles and new sets of stickers under
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: the box, so that once you've played all the way through,
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: you can reset the game and play again, so you
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: can play twice all the way through before you would
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: have to do any kind of maneuvers to ignore the
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: state of the board. The person showing us the game
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: did say it was replayable, but it was unclear how.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: It's unclear if it's like Pandemic Legacy or My City
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: where there is an ongoing mode once you finish the
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: legacy campaign. That was unclear. I don't think I would
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: want to do that, but it's nice that it resets,
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: particularly because it's only like six or seven scenarios, I
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: think six, so that's not a lot, particularly for such
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: a light game. Probably on par with my city in
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: terms of complexity, although not at all like my city,
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: but probably in terms on part in terms of the difficulty. Overall,
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: gen Con twenty twenty four was fantastic. It was a
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: really neat way to engage with the community. Again, it
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: was really invigorating as a game designer to be around
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: all these people who love the hobby. To hear such
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: nice things from everybody really recaptured my imagination for the
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: work we do and excitement for the hobby. So I'm curious,
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: did you go to gen Con twenty twenty four. If so,
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: what did you see? If not, what seeing as you're
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: hearing and seeing media coming out, what is it that
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: you're going to track down for games or for experiences?
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: Have you been to other cons? What are your favorite
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: cons to go to. I've been to Origins myself once,
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: gen Cons are Origins twice, gen Cons several times. Actually,
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: I've only been to Origins once. I've been to gen
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: Con several times. I've been to a couple of local
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: cons that are fun and generally otherwise haven't been to
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: that many. So I'd love to hear which cons you
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: like to go to? Which ones you think I should
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: go to? If somehow I became independently, well, think it
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: goes to as many concerts I want, all right in
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: that regard. Thanks for joining me on my walk today.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: I hope your next walk is plea it does mind
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: one hood bye. Brought to you by rattle Box Today