GenCon Recap

It has been a while, hasn't it? I have had a busy summer, but now I'm settled back into the swing of things at home. I've been playing a lot of games with friends and family outside of Marvel Champions, and I figured that I might as well start sharing those games. To kick things off, I figured I would share some of the games I ran into at GenCon this year.

The last couple years I have gone to GenCon as a volunteer through Double Exposure Envoy, a company that connects gaming companies to people who can demo their games in various places. I've worked at GenCon demoing games for Kosmos both years. I chose Kosmos for two reasons. First, I enjoy a lot of their games, so I knew that I would have authentic enthusiasm for the games I was teaching. Second, my friends who had worked with Kosmos previously only had positive things to say about working with them. And they were absolutely right. It was a joy working with the people and games at Kosmos. As a helper, I felt very supported. I say all of that as a disclaimer.

Disclaimer: A number of the games I'm talking about are published by Kosmos and were given to me as part of the helper program.

I don't get paid by anyone for writing this or talking about these games, but it feels best to be upfront about that kind of thing. I included links to the Board Game Geek page for each game I mentioned. Now on to the games!

To get it right out of the way, my favorite game I ran into at the convention was Rebirth by Reiner Knizia. The publisher, Mighty Boards, made a really clean production of this mechanically simple, but strategically satisfying game. I happened to be walking by a demo of it that had an open seat, so I jumped in. After a hilarious ending that shook out to tie-breakers, I promptly played it again with some buddies who had dropped by. The game is snappy and satisfying. It is going to be hitting my table often.

Marvel Champions is my all-time favorite game, and I did get to play in the Friday night Loki event for Marvel Champions. It was an absolute blast. I really enjoyed our 35 player event, and I can't wait to play this event in more large groups. You can read a slightly longer account of this here.

One of the games I ran into that I couldn't pick up was Lairs. I don't keep up with crowdfunding games, but this one I am sad I missed! It is a game not unlike Battleship, where you will build out a board hidden from your opponent, and they'll have to blindly guess their way into figuring out your board. However, instead of placing ships, you're designing a dungeon full of maze-like walls, monsters, and treasure. Your opponent will try to find their way through your maze, fighting monsters and finding treasure, all while tracking things on a small bit of grid paper. The demo was enticing, and I am excited for this game to come out.

There are so many games I ran into, so here is a quick run-down of some other highlights for me.

• Dice Words by Kosmos: There isn't much to say here. It's Scrabble and Yahtzee combined into one. Quick word games are always a hit at our house.

• Marbleous by Kosmos: This is a quick-paced game in the vein of Candy Crush or Bejeweled. Having played Potion Explosion previously, I feel that this offers a quicker paced experience with complexity that matches the length. I have played this with both my six year old and my parents, all who really enjoyed it.

• Masters of Crime: Mosquito by Kosmos: This Indiana Jones style mystery adventure provided a couple of fun date night activities for my partner and me. You use a combination of physical components in the box and internet-based things (such as codes to input, fake websites to explore, etc.) to solve the mystery. We enjoyed this one so much that we will be picking up another game in the Masters of Crime line for next date night.

• Duat by Unphazed Games: This is a beautiful abstract game, consisting of only 7 marble pieces. 3 for you, 3 for your opponent, and the board. Your goal is to push one of your opponent's pieces off the board, but you can't push pieces that are facing the same direction as the piece you are moving. The whole production is fantastic. (Also, I regret purchasing this first in the exhibitor hall. It pretty much killed my arm with how heavy it was.)

• Tailor Master by Whales Entertainment: This is one of those games that just makes sense when you see it. It is a racing game where you each have a cloth hosting a variety of shapes and colors. You also have a shirt template and a pants template. These are small squares that feature a clear acrylic outline of the clothing, allowing you to see through them and down to the cloth. You flip a card over that shows a shirt or pair of pants with a pattern, and you have to move that template around your cloth until you find the exact right pattern. First to do so wins! It's simple. It's fun. And it is a great activity for both the kids and adults in our household.

• Woodland Rush by Chip Theory Kids: I didn't know that Chip Theory had a kids division, but they had a lot of neat kids game on show. One in particular caught my eye, and I picked up Woodland Rush. Is this a great kids game? Yes. Do I regret buying it? Maybe... I have played it nearly every night since getting home. My boys absolutely love it. In this game you race against a timer as you try to complete a number of tasks you draw from a deck of cards. You might be making silly faces, stacking blocks to make trees, figuring out what woodland creature is missing from a picture, or even doing a quick memory game. It has my kids moving, being silly, focusing in really neat ways, and again... they have asked to play it every night since I've been home from GenCon.

• Décorum by Floodgate Games: I happened to walk by a demo of Decorum's new expansion where only one person had shown up to the late-night scheduled event. I asked if I could hop in, and they taught me the base game and then the expansion in a few back-to-back plays. I had a lot of fun with this, and now my partner and I have so much more to fight about as we try and decorate our fake game home. If you're a fan of cooperative games where you need to figure out other people's goals, this might be for you.

• TowerBrix by Kosmos: Speaking of cooperative games where you need to figure out other people's goals, TowerBrix is a super fast game that does just that. You're building a tower out of rectangular blocks with your friends, but each of you has a few rules about how the tower can be built. There are no turns, and you just move blocks around annoying each other until it all works out (or doesn't).

There were tons of other interesting games, but those were some that stood out to me. One of the most fun parts of GenCon was waking up that non-MC side of my gaming brain. And as such, I plan to gather and share some thoughts on more games as my family and I play them. Because why not?

Remember, if you want to hear more about the Marvel Champions Loki event, click here! There is also a contest running from that page until the end of September, so be sure to check that out.