I am just home from a few days at Gulf Games in New Orleans, an invitation-only con that is somewhat unique in that was created specifically for families; attendees can bring their non-gaming (or more casual gaming) spouses and their children and there is both open gaming and some non-gaming activities that give everyone a chance to socialize.

Since the con has a wide range of ages and interests, there is a wide range of games being played.  Here are some of the things that I noticed were getting a lot of play and some of my highlights of the week.

Ganz Schon Clever

I’d been looking forward to trying this one and it didn’t disappoint. It’s a roll-and-write, but there’s more strategy that you might expect and the fact that you take actions on every turn makes this a winner with me. Watch for the upcoming Opinionated Gamers review on this one for more information. It’s unfortunately not easily available right now, but it’s possible to print the player score sheets on the Geek and itRs easy enough to find colored dice.

Die Quacksalber von Quedlinburg

This is another one I was anxious to try and it did not disappoint.  I am a fan of bag  builders, and the mechanism of how you place your tiles was pretty cool. You can read Dale’s recent review here.

Riverboats

I’d been wanting to give this one a try, and was very happy to see a copy in the game room. I really enjoyed it and will definitely be  picking this one up. You can read Dale’s review of it here; if I had played it then I would have joined Doug in the “loved it” category.

Drop It

This game was in near-constant play by all ages and level of gamers. It’s a dexterity game. Each player has identical pieces in their player color, and you  take turns dropping your pieces into the slot at the top. You get points based on the level your piece reaches, but don’t get points if you are touching other pieces of the same shape or color, or are in an area that forbids that shape. I normally do not like dexterity games because I have very little dexterity, but this one was a lot of fun and I will be picking up a copy as it will be a great game to play when our family visits.

Photo Scavenger Hunt

One of the organizers put together a Photo Scavenger Hunt; every day there were 5 or 6 photos that your team needed to submit. It was a fun competition, and it forced us out to see the sights and get some exercise every day. Above you can see a few of the photos my awesome team and I collected. We didn’t win, but we sure had fun trying. Oh, and we were FORCED to eat beignets. Forced, I tell you. Oh, the humanity. . . .

Other gaming highlights for me included getting some of my older favorites to the table. including Concordia and San Juan, two favorites I never seem to get to play any more. and an all-attendee (100 people or so) game of Take It Easy.

And, as always, it’s all about the people. Boardgaming has introduced me to so many interesting people, and it’s always great to have a chance to sit down with old friends and makes some new ones.

I’m already looking forward to my next gaming con in November.. . . . .