Here’s the registration line as I start.

That first table is usually there from the previous evening and games through the night. The line here has the ability to let you play games as you wait, something untenable at Origins, Gen Con, Spiel, etc. I saw a lot of card games this year, Tzolkin, a Downforce playtest map, and a lot of app games.

Some library changes this year. In an effort to make things more efficient, an exit has been opened at the back.

They’ve also pulled many of the smaller card games out of the boxes throughout. Now those little treasures are stored on these racks:

Speaking of libraries, I ran into friend who reports to have brought 14+ Ikea bags of games. Why would you do such a thing? Well, he’s local and has a pretty obscure taste in games. He gave us access to the shadow library last night and we checked out:

It had me at Reinhold Wittig and Perlhuhn Editions. You’re standing still in an old haunted house, scaring off this vampire lady with garlic. Winner is the player with the most garlic when two players have been eliminated wins.

The players, well, don’t really have turns. Only the lady does. You flip cards from a deck which shows how far she moves, and whether she turns right or left (or u-turn). If she’s close to you, you can scare her off, and run away scared yourself, otherwise, she takes another turn.

(Friendly reminder that there’ll be Twitter coverage during the day over at @opinionatedgmrs).

Also, finally got to enjoy The Glorious South. The rules leave quite a few ambiguities, and in correspondence with the publisher, I have more questions, rather than less, but I think we were able to use the provided framework to play something quite fun.

The board is a fabric reproduction of a famous Taiwanese painting- I thought it was beautiful before, but the game causes you to notice so many details, that I appreciate it even more now.

We played this as speed, team-based Where’s Waldo. One player on your team has a hand of round tiles showing a one up of one part of the painting and tries to get the other players on their team to point to where it is in the painting by describing what’s on the tile (while the other team simultaneously does the same).

Speaking of hot games, many years there is a promotional of some accessory in the hot games area. This year, the tables are all affixed with game toppers, a neoprene mat, and cup holders.

Overall, day zero seemed slightly more crowded than previous years, and it was easier to get into a pickup game.

It’s now 8:19, and registration doesn’t open for another 1.8 hours, but the line is up the stairs, and about to exit the hotel. It should move quickly though as last year the initial line was gone in roughly an hour, and there will be several condensings between. Now and 10.

If all goes according to plan, tomorrow’s update will include an OpinionatedEaters break.