I am at Gen Con again as Bezier Game’s demo minion, so I get an exhibitor badge that lets me into the hall on setup day. A quick stroll through the exhibit hall this morning oriented me as to the booth locations for the vendors I want to visit. It looks like there’s 20-25% more exhibit space this year. The added space (beyond aisle 2200) does not have an entrance/exit door from the convention center, so you will have to access them from inside the exhibit hall.

I had planned to try some new games today, but everyone is busy setting up still so I probably won’t get to do that until later this evening. I was able to pick up a bunch of games. Hopefully I will get to play some of them tonight and tell you about them.

One of the new games I learned so far are Bomb Squad, a timed co-op deduction/action programming game from Tasty Minstrel Games. Think Hanabi meets Robo Rally with the timing element of Zombie 15. Each scenario takes 16 minutes and varies in difficulty level.

Another game on my list to try is Aqua Sphere from Stefan Feld, also published by Tasty Minstrel Games. This is another action selection game where your choice is to place a worker or execute the action of a previously placed worker. Being a Feld game, the worker placement options are limited by previously selected actions (cards and lab upgrades allow you to break those rules). There are 5-6 different scoring opportunities (and one penalty) each round, in addition to some end of game scoring. It supports variable setup so between that and the many different strategy options, there is plenty to explore. I have already backed this game via kickstarter but am glad I got to try it.

As I left the hall at 5 pm, most booths are still in various stage of being set up for tomorrow. One piece that is already put together is this impressive 3D version of Zombie 15.

I am off to a couple of event tonight and will then break into the new games. I will post a quick report early tomorrow morning before heading over to the hall.