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Board Game Bash - Day 1
Aug. 9th, 2014 07:25 pmThere aren't many things I think would be fun enough to do all weekend long. Ballroom dancing is one of them (I once went to an "international" ballroom dance competition with classes every morning and competitions every evening). And playing board games is another.
So last weekend I went to the fourth annual Board Game Bash. Mostly people just bring board games (or get some from the library) and start playing. There are also some tournaments if you're really into something. And game companies bring their games for testing in case you want to help out with that. And there are vendors and door prizes and a mystery grab bag, most of which are usually of no interest to me, but games!
In addition, friends who've moved to Google (T and S) came back to town for this event and also slipped in some socializing with others. So it was a doubly excellent weekend.
The convention was held in a hotel downtown, basically on 6th Street and I-35. The parking looked terrible, so I took a bus, which worked great, dropping me off just 6 blocks away. And I found the place, no problem. The hotel had the most gorgeous hotel swimming pool I recall seeing outside of Las Vegas with plants and a waterfall and all that.
We crossed over this (through an indoor bridge that bizarrely had no windows through which you could view the pool) to get to the convention.
The first order of the day was to get the mystery grab bag because mystery! And games! But first there was a huge sign that said no outside food or drinks were allowed. Suddenly I was quite hungry. So when I went into the bathroom to take off my anti-sun hat (for the commute) and put on my sweater (for the air conditioning), I also ate a granola bar I had brought with me. Rule breaker!
The grab bag normally has snacks, but we're not allowed to eat them, so we got a ticket that let us get the snack part of our grab bag on the way out. Other things I liked were custom-made Board Game Bash dice and some little plastic Martian guys with weapons. There was also a small game suitable for playing with kids which looked of no interest to me ("Rats"), although the pictures of rats playing were very cute. And there was a lot of other stuff I didn't want. Oh, well.
Now for playing games. Would I just wander around hoping to play games, or would I get to play? The answer was: I got to play.
First I walked around the whole room. Then I went back to the entrance where someone was setting up a game I'd never heard of. I asked if he needed players. And so I was invited to join in a game of Splendor. Nice players (as with all the games I played). We collected jewels and tried to build prestige with them. By the time I figured out I was missing the point of the game (we're collecting 15 what?), it was too late for me not to have an embarrassing loss, but it was fun and I would definitely play it again.
Then T&S arrived, and I followed them around the rest of the night. First we played Greed where we used thugs, holdings, and action to collect money. Although I don't normally aspire to join the mafia, I enjoyed this game.
Next we played The Builders where the goal was to build things efficiently. Each of your workers and tools is good at different combinations of things, and finding the team with the all the things you need, but not paying for extra things you don't need, is ideal. I think this was my favorite (2-D) game of the day. I sound like such a bureaucrat, but I do like building and efficiency games.
Then it was time for the game I was most looking forward to, though as a spectator: Live-Action Robo-Rally. One team had T as the programmer and S fabulously dressed up as Twitch, the "Tread-mounted Inspector Bot." She chose that robot because it was it was a costume she could imagine packing for a plane trip.
Like all spectator sports, it's more fun when you know some of the players (either in real life or by just watching the same team a lot). My team did great but did have competition and ended up in second place of eight. Plenty of action. No other costumes were as good, but one guy was very creative with his tin foil and another brought great sound effects (from R2D2, apparently) which he played whenever something bad happened to him.
**
In other news, yesterday I didn't mind putting a spoon in my mouth, though I still preferred drinking my meals. This morning I had a little trouble with applesauce, but by evening was eating macaroni and cheese. Mmm, solid food!
So last weekend I went to the fourth annual Board Game Bash. Mostly people just bring board games (or get some from the library) and start playing. There are also some tournaments if you're really into something. And game companies bring their games for testing in case you want to help out with that. And there are vendors and door prizes and a mystery grab bag, most of which are usually of no interest to me, but games!
In addition, friends who've moved to Google (T and S) came back to town for this event and also slipped in some socializing with others. So it was a doubly excellent weekend.
The convention was held in a hotel downtown, basically on 6th Street and I-35. The parking looked terrible, so I took a bus, which worked great, dropping me off just 6 blocks away. And I found the place, no problem. The hotel had the most gorgeous hotel swimming pool I recall seeing outside of Las Vegas with plants and a waterfall and all that.
We crossed over this (through an indoor bridge that bizarrely had no windows through which you could view the pool) to get to the convention.
The first order of the day was to get the mystery grab bag because mystery! And games! But first there was a huge sign that said no outside food or drinks were allowed. Suddenly I was quite hungry. So when I went into the bathroom to take off my anti-sun hat (for the commute) and put on my sweater (for the air conditioning), I also ate a granola bar I had brought with me. Rule breaker!
The grab bag normally has snacks, but we're not allowed to eat them, so we got a ticket that let us get the snack part of our grab bag on the way out. Other things I liked were custom-made Board Game Bash dice and some little plastic Martian guys with weapons. There was also a small game suitable for playing with kids which looked of no interest to me ("Rats"), although the pictures of rats playing were very cute. And there was a lot of other stuff I didn't want. Oh, well.
Now for playing games. Would I just wander around hoping to play games, or would I get to play? The answer was: I got to play.
First I walked around the whole room. Then I went back to the entrance where someone was setting up a game I'd never heard of. I asked if he needed players. And so I was invited to join in a game of Splendor. Nice players (as with all the games I played). We collected jewels and tried to build prestige with them. By the time I figured out I was missing the point of the game (we're collecting 15 what?), it was too late for me not to have an embarrassing loss, but it was fun and I would definitely play it again.
Then T&S arrived, and I followed them around the rest of the night. First we played Greed where we used thugs, holdings, and action to collect money. Although I don't normally aspire to join the mafia, I enjoyed this game.
Next we played The Builders where the goal was to build things efficiently. Each of your workers and tools is good at different combinations of things, and finding the team with the all the things you need, but not paying for extra things you don't need, is ideal. I think this was my favorite (2-D) game of the day. I sound like such a bureaucrat, but I do like building and efficiency games.
Then it was time for the game I was most looking forward to, though as a spectator: Live-Action Robo-Rally. One team had T as the programmer and S fabulously dressed up as Twitch, the "Tread-mounted Inspector Bot." She chose that robot because it was it was a costume she could imagine packing for a plane trip.
Like all spectator sports, it's more fun when you know some of the players (either in real life or by just watching the same team a lot). My team did great but did have competition and ended up in second place of eight. Plenty of action. No other costumes were as good, but one guy was very creative with his tin foil and another brought great sound effects (from R2D2, apparently) which he played whenever something bad happened to him.
**
In other news, yesterday I didn't mind putting a spoon in my mouth, though I still preferred drinking my meals. This morning I had a little trouble with applesauce, but by evening was eating macaroni and cheese. Mmm, solid food!