The Opinionated Gamers Guide to GenCon Indy

Posted on July 31, 2011 by Dale Yu

[sorry for the late post this year — I know that it’s probably too late to use any of the housing suggestions… but things got busy this summer!  We’ll keep adding to this for next year’s edition!  DPY]

GenCon Indy will be held this year August 4 to 7, 2011 in Indianapolis, IN.  According to them, it is “the original, longest running, best attended, gaming convention in the world”.  It is one of the highlights of the summer gaming calendar.  More information can be found at their website:  http://www.gencon.com/2011/indy/default.aspx

Many of the Opinionated Gamers have been to GenCon in the past, and this Guide is a collection of advice from those folks who have been in the past.  Many of us have been as tourists, though some of us have also been there to work the fair.  We’ll break down our comments into a few broad areas to help organize our thoughts…

  • How to get to Indy
  • Where to Stay (and/or Park)
  • What to do before the Convention
  • What to do at the Convention itself
  • What to do after the Convention
  • What/Where to eat
  • Everything Else

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Posted in Convention Report | 3 Comments

Summer Reruns #3 — Six is a Crowd

Posted on July 29, 2011 by Talia Rosen

Five is perfect, six is a crowd.  What to do when that dreaded sixth person shows up?  A common problem if online fora are to be believed and one that most would seem to solve with meager game offerings.  I have another way.  Buy another table.  Split the group up and never look back!  What better article for the number three spot in this series than one lauding paired three-player games as the solution to this vexing problem.  I recall from when this piece originally ran a couple years ago that just about every commenter vehemently disagreed with me.  That at least suggested it was an interesting topic that people cared about; a silver lining indeed.  With week 1 on survival games and week 2 on team games, I thought it was time for a slightly more contentious topic.  So tear my suggestions to shreds in the comments and parade your best six-player games for the world to see.  Or if you can muster as little attachment to your fellow players as me then come up with your own three-player game pairing to support my divide and conquer mission.

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Posted in Commentary | 5 Comments

Dale Yu: My Thoughts on New Games Played at Gulf Games (Karnaxis, Lancaster, Rising Sun Railroads, Alien Frontiers and more!)

Posted on July 27, 2011 by Dale Yu

I just got back from a fun weekend in Gatlinburg, TN at Gulf Games.  I got a chance to play a number of games that were new (or mostly new) to me, and I thought I’d say a bit about them.

Karnaxis – I’d been wanting to play this one for awhile now.  It was apparently all the rage at the Oasis of Fun last month, and the gamers in Atlanta really seem to be talking it up.  After my first play (5p game), my reaction is that it’s an interesting game, but something that I would need to play again before making up my mind.  It’s kind of like a gamer’s version of the game of Life, except that it’s way longer and still has event cards that will swing the game more than I’m willing to accept in a 2+ hour game.  The goal of the game is to go through the twelve years of the game and earn the most money at the end.  Each player gets a “role” card which gives them some initial attributes and gives them a Karnaxis, or life goal, to accomplish.  Then, by going to school to improve themselves, holding different jobs, starting/franchising different businesses and saving for retirement, players try to make more money than everyone else. Continue reading →

Posted in Convention Report | 9 Comments

POSTCARD FROM BERLIN #49: Memorabilia

Posted on July 27, 2011 by jeffinberlin

By Jeffrey D. Allers

After a three-year absence, my family and I are vacationing in America, the land of my childhood and youth, and  I find myself returning to a country that, for most of my adult life, has primarily lived on in my memories.  Sometimes in fact, when I revisit a place that had some significance in shaping my story, I am flooded by so many memories that it dwarfs anything new I can experience there, and my wife and sons have to snap me out of my daydream.

We often attach our memories to places, and it is no wonder we rejoice in their preservation or mourn their destruction, as the vividness of the past can be stronger or weaker because of it.
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Posted in Commentary | 2 Comments

Mary Dimercurio Prasad: Board Gaming with Polymer Clay

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Mary Prasad

[Note: This is basically a repost of the original Board Game News article.]

My husband brought to my attention a Geeklist on Board Game Geek listing board games enhanced with polymer clay pieces. For example, one guy made all new pieces for Agricola, including the cutest little sheep, boar, cattle, and vegetables. I also enjoyed the images of Primordial Soup (amoebas and amoeba poop… uh, food!) and Power Grid (check out the garbage cans).

Over the years, I’ve made quite a few things with polymer clay (e.g. jewelry, figurines) but I had not yet used it for game pieces (except to replace missing pieces). At one point I had thought about making a Settlers board but that would be a lot more work than I’m interested in doing for one game. A smaller project would be fine, though, so I decided to make dinosaurs for our Evo game.

If you are unfamiliar with polymer clay, it is a moldable type of plastic that may be baked at a relatively low temperature to cure. For most brands that temperature is 265-275 degrees F (129-135 degrees C). Bake for 15 minutes per ¼” (6mm) of thickness. (Check the packaging for each specific type of clay.) Continue reading →

Posted in Game Modification | 6 Comments

Summer Reruns #2 — It Takes Two

Posted on July 22, 2011 by Talia Rosen

A couple years ago I declared my love for team games.  It’s time to renew those vows.  A few years later, team games are still some of my favorites.  This is the second entry in my Summer Reruns series, which launched last week and will continue each Friday throughout the summer.  This article was first published on Boardgame News in January 2009, but remains just as true today.  However, I’m sure there are additional team games that you can suggest in the comments.  So what do you think of the games discussed below and what others along these lines come to mind?

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Posted in Commentary | 10 Comments