The Opinionated Gamers

Brian got his own energy drink this year!

Here is the initial Fairplay list.  No numerical ratings yet (not enough votes)

By 1030, there are numbers

Beasty bar at the top for now

Had a nice meeting at Kosmos. Their big mainstream release is a cooking trivia game sponsored by a celebrity chef.  Too much German on the cards for me to try.

7 steps is a nice puzzle game and Jaeger und Spaher is the next Kosmos 2 player game.  According to my contacts, the company is definitely looking to revive the 2p line with regular releases. 

The other great thing at the meeting was the German Machi Koro box which is nice and small.  Part of me was considering getting an empty box to store my English cards in!

Time for my Huch meeting

Mit mist und tucke. Rolling dung marbles.  They also had a clever party game called 5 minutes which uses electronic timers.

Then off to observe the memory world championship

Seriously. It’s an annual thing.

Liga and I met up for some yummy fried potatoes,

Everybody is eating them

Ok. Lunch break is over. Time for more game exploration.

Gotta get off to a good start.  Most important (and prepaid) meal of the day.

Lots of walking thus far. 9 to 10 miles each day. (about 6,000 –  7,500 nike fuel each day says my Fuelband)  I got a blister early Monday morning while we were walking around trying to keep awake and that has slowed me down a bit this week.

Hopefully the rain holds off.  I was uber thankful for my zippered Ikea bags yesterday as they kept my games dry. Skies currently look overcast. Boo!

Thus far. I have played more games than I usually do while here. Partly due to less preparation prior to leaving – there are a lot of games that I’m not overly familiar with.  Also, there’s a great group of guys that we’re hanging out with. Thanks to Brian, Luke H and Anthony R.

Spike and Spellcaster from R&R are both very good. We enjoyed abraca-what? From Korea. 7 Steps is an interesting puzzle-y game but you have to like the problem solving aspect as that’s what the game revolves around. The knizia Zombie game from Noris is very reminiscent of Heckmeck. Mangrovia may be a candidate for SdJ though it may be a touch too heavy for what the jury has selected in the past few years.  Villanex is a quirky card game, but what would you expect from Japan? May be the first game that takes longer to score a hand than to actually play it.

Lots of meetings today and then time to head home to test pack.  Right now, my first big bag is full but I still have most of the orange one to go,

A large portion of last night was spent separating the heavy boards and punchboards from the boxes. The empty boxes go into the big pieces of luggage while the heavy bits go in my carry on (which is usually not weighed)   Then a bit of box tetris trying to nest as many boxes as possible and get them all to fit in the bag,

Ok. 9am beckons. Time to head back to the Messe

At the Asmodee press event

Loony quest looks awesome. Lots of fun.

Sadly, it will not be available for this show.  I am eagerly awaiting this one.  Hopefully Asmodee usa will do it! Continue reading →

Looks like it is true.. According to Eric, demos only for now. No word on English or not.

New awesomeness this year. Ikea bags that act as backpacks. Continue reading →

Not sure what happened to the first draft. The app on my phone must have eaten it.  Anyways, I can’t find it anywhere.

Setup day was it’s usual hectic hurry up and wait. Everybody rushing around to get stuff done.

Managed to have my favorite blood pudding dish for dinner tonight.  Yum. Continue reading →