Well, yesterday I ended up going to SaltCon and Mark Crane asked for a detailed sessions report, so here goes.
I got there at 8:15 AM and didn't miss a thing. There was a long line as they had just barely started admitting people. So rather than wait in line, I went back to my car and got the games I was trying to trade during the day and put them on the trading table. By the time I'd done that, the line was down to nothing so I bought my ticket. Yes, it was $15 since I didn't prepurchase--so it was a little pricey, but it's not something that I dwelt on the rest of the day. When I looked around I didn't see anyone there I knew. So I joined 4 college age guys and played 2 games of Witch's Brew. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/34084/witchs-brew They were just sitting down to read the rules, so I spared them that tedious task and we had a good time. I resolved again that someday I will own this game (along with the expansions from the Alea box!--so if someone bought that and doesn't want the Witch's Brew expansion part, let me know). We all had a good time. I don't remember exactly who won, so I must have lost both times :) After those 2 plays, a lot of people from Utah County had arrived: Mark T. & Son, Josh & Wife, Jeremy, Matt (Nate's Bro in law), Chris, Jeff, and Andrew. Next, I tried Spies & Spooks which was being demoed all day. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/67422/spiesspooks-the-cold-war-edition Josh joined me along with 4 other players. Spies & Spooks is a Cold- War Themed card game where you try to collect sets of secrets and knock off other players using hidden bomb cards and daggers. While fun for the $15 price tag, the strategy is minimal and it comes down to luck of getting the right cards. The game ends when 3 missions have been completed. Josh completed 2 of them and I the other. All day they were giving the winners a free Spies & Spooks t-shirt so Josh left with a nice trophy (and I tossed out sour grapes thinking they probably didn't have any 3x sized shirts anyway! hahahaha) Spies & Spooks was fun for one play, but in the end, not one that I would purchase. Every hour or so they called out numbers for free games, t-shirts, etc. Once again I won nothing even though the number right before and right after mine were called! The only Utah County person I know that won was Jeremy Coe who got 10 days in Europe. I also heard during the convention that A Gathering of Strangers may not happen this year and that SaltCon was replacing it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's not true, since I like the Summer dates for a game con more than the Winter. Next I joined Mark T. & Jeremy C. for 2 games of Diamonds Club. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/37907/diamonds-club We had played this twice at UCBG on a Friday and I was happy to play it again. The first game I massed produced and tried to get as many bonus cards as possible, but I couldn't beat Mark's animal strategy :P hehehehe! For the 2nd game we were joined by Ryan Bruns "The Board Game Guy" who I met at the first Gathering of Strangers and have enjoyed playing with ever since. This time I went all out on trees and just edged out a win over Mark. Those trees are tough to beat. Diamonds Club continues to be a great game, but not one that would appeal to the people I play with at home, so I will probably never own it. Next, we played Long Shot, a new Horse racing/Betting game. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/40237/long-shot A friend of Ryan's joined us, so we had 5 players. It's a unique game in that you can bet on horses as the race progresses and also buy & own the horses in the race. The whole game is just one race long and it takes about an hour. Horse movement is luck driven--by die roll-- plus some strategy movement based on a hand of cards you can play from. While not realistic--horses can be moved backwards, horses can move from last to toed for first with one particular card used in just the right circumstance--it is a lot of fun and which horses will take 1st, 2nd, & 3rd the race is in question right to the very end. While correct betting is primarily how you win this game I managed to win by owning 2 of the 3 winning horses which also pays out quite well. I enjoyed this game more than Winner's Circle, but I got the impression that Mark did not. This is a game I'd like to own trough a trade, but I would probably not go out and purchase it. Next Ryan wanted to learn Tichu and I was the 5th wheel (just kidding, I left by my own choice :) so I went and watched a demo of S'quarrels, as Ryan recommended it as a good family game. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/33427/squarrels-a-game-of-absolute-nuts While it looked like it could be fun, it wasn't WOW enough to add to a game collection the size of mine. :) Finally, I ended the day with the same group of guys I started the day with. I taught them Zooloretto. While playing the magic hour of 4:00 PM came so I was interested to see how that was handled since my ticket and those I was playing with were only good until 4 PM. One of the organizers stopped by our table and asked to see our tickets. He was very polite and said we could pay more money if we wanted to stay. We asked if we could finish our game and that was no problem. Anyway, we had a good time and I took last place--can't beat 4 people with beginner's luck! :) Other observations and comments: I tried out the new MayDay games $100 crokinole board. It's nothing special, but good enough for playing--not a piece of art that you'd hang on the wall though. It was a bit scratched up, the pegs looked cheap and one was leaning ever so slightly--but I think it was only because it was a demo copy that had seen a lot of use. Score/storage box = nice as any. Surface = fine, but not quite as shiny, probably not as many clear coats applied. For $100, I probably would buy one if I didn't already and then not worry about taking it to family reunions where nieces and nephews might beat on it :) (maybe I should get one just for that use--but where to store it in the mean time) I don't like the 2 session thing, but who does. Some guys like Steve Kimball that I like to play with were coming just as I was going. The price is also rather high for 2 sessions. The 2 sessions also puts a damper on on-site trading. Usually that gets really good as people get ready to go for the night. Since some people were just arriving as I was leaving, I didn't ever get a really good chance to make trade deals--although I did sell 2 of my games. The guys running the show did as good as any, but I was disappointed more Brand New games weren't there. I was really hoping to try out 3 Musketeers, but it was not in the library of games. I think the past Gathering of Strangers has been better about showing off brand new games...of course if you have Jay Tummelson in attendance.... :) There is still no easy way to get something to eat unless you wanted to buy there over priced candy bars, apples or nuts. But as a rule I don't eat during conventions anyway. :) I had a great time. I'm glad I went. I'll probably go again and again. Mostly because money means a lot less to me than fun! -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "utah county boardgamers association" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/ucboardgamers?hl=en.
