I always enjoy a stroll through the “family fun pavilion” in the exhibit hall. There, the games are brightly colored, game explanations are quick, and it’s great to see younger kids saddling up to a booth and having a good time. Last Night Games was showing off Mystic Manor, a ghost hunting game where you use a rubber stamp as you explore and catch ghosts. Moose Games (known for Bluey games, like Keepy Uppy or Shadowlands) had a quick dice-based matching game based on tiny Hello Kitty figurines as well as a more serious Menagerie game based on collecting butterflies and other insects. Finally, there’s the ever-yellow HABA booth. Games I checked out this year include Secret Code 13+4 (a simple math dice game), Point of View (a cooperative Where’s Waldo sort of deal), Fast Factory (cup stacking without cups), Forest Festival (a card based memory game), and a rerelease of the hilarious Dancing Eggs (where you compete to hold the most eggs in your elbow, between your knees, under your chin, etc….)

Last Night Games

Mystic Manor

Mystic Manor is a 2 to 5 player game of rushing into a haunted house, capturing a ghost, and then running back out to get paid for your ghost-catching services, payment depends on the type of ghost caught. Payment is important as money is also used as victory points in the game. The main board is a sheet of paper that displays a house and its attic filled with a grid of squares. Players must spend “courage” to move through the house, making a mark with a real rubber stamp and ink pad when they’ve explored a spot. When fighting a ghost, players roll a die and check the number on the ghost token to see if they are able to capture it.

I love the variety of games you get at Gen Con. There are the big name, high strategy games that appear on lots of lists but I have a soft spot for the slightly goofier titles and perhaps nowhere is that seen more than in the many different sorts of dexterity games. Twin City Games was showing off Dino Dunk! Deep Freeze, a sequel to their disc-flicking game of soccer with special disc powers. Asmadi had a cool preview of Mystic Curling Club, coming to Kickstarter soon. Finally, I got to see Yubibo in person at the Jelly Jelly Games booth. I think of it as a sort of one-handed cooperative Twister. Each of these publishers also had other games on display (Animals in Espionage, Innovation Ultimate, and Fixer, respectively) but it’s the dexterity ones that really captured my heart.

Twin City Games

Dino Dunk! Deep Freeze

Front and center of the Twin City Games booth was Dino Dunk, a sort of dexterity-based soccer game from 2018. It’s sold out, but Twin City is launching a Kickstarter at the end of September for a remake/sequel with an ice theme, Dino Dunk! Deep Freeze. The gist of Dino Dunk Is a sort of carom version of soccer/basketball involving teams of discs, with special powers, and an egg ball, all played on a nice roll-up neoprene mat.

Each player has several discs (1 large, 3 medium, 1 small) that they can flick around the board in an attempt to get the tiny dino egg (ball) disc into the lava crater. (The blue and red backstops are basically backboards you can bounce off if needed.) Players alternate every two flicks. If you “control” the egg on your turn you can also shoot it directly. A player can “pass” the egg by shooting it at another disc of their color. In that way, the disc can move down the field but remain “in control” of the active player. A player trying to steal control of the disc has to hit the egg without making contact with the opponent’s disc.

At both ends of the alphabet and almost at both ends of the exhibit hall, I’m smooshing Bézier Games and Wise Wizard Games together in the same post anyway. Bézier had the kitchen-sink of mechanisms of The Game Makers on display. It is a huge game and was garnering a huge interest, not just because it allows players to literally “publish” in-game their favorite boardgames. Scream! is another take on Scram! but now with bluffing. Wise Wizard Games has more Star Realms – the very newest stuff is all digital (for now) but there’s also the kid’s (no reading required) version of Star Realms Academy and a core set and expansion for the rethemed Star Trek: Star Realms game. The core set is just a reskin, but the expansion has all new content including options to play multiplayer against a Borg player (or AI.) Other new stuff seems to focus on smaller is better. There’s a card drafting game containing a total of 9 cards, Elemystic. Finally Draconis 8 is a card/tile laying game where cards “fight” against cards on their four sides. Every card in Draconis 8 is different, and you will be able to scan them in and also have a digital version of them with whichto play.

Bézier Games

The Game Makers

Under a giant banner, Bézier Games was showing off their upcoming Kickstarter, The Game Makers.

It is a game about making games. The eye-catching part is that Bézier Games has managed to get permission to include a huge number (300+) of actual boardgames for players to create during the game. Once a game is produced, you can display its box in your own personal display case. It’s a mammoth game (expect a mammoth price, I suppose) and there’s a lot going on under the hood. Obviously, players are hoping to get all the resources together and produce some games, but it’s not just about money. Players can gain points for their display board of all their finished titles. There’s worker placement (cute little forklifts!) on a rondel, three sizes of dice for marketing (to increase endgame scoring), and piles and piles of resources. Resources and other do-dads can be used in multiple ways – improving your factory, your assembly line, your warehouse, your workers, etc…