152 – Con and ReCon – The Family Gamers Podcast

We are finally back into the normal routine (more or less) after a month of con-related craziness. We’ll talk about highlights from Anitra’s trip to Origins and Andrew’s trip to Dice Tower Con.

What We’ve Been Playing

Ticket to Ride New York

Suspend Junior

Constellations – check out our review and check out the glowing stars!

For Independence Day, we played Rolling America, and Battle Sheep (with red, white, and blue sheep)

Quacks of Quedlinburg

The Grimm Masquerade

Dirty Pig – which we’ve already reviewed – enjoyed it at an outdoor concert.

Backtalk!

Michael S. met Andrew at Dice Tower Con. He emailed us to tell us about Brain Chase – an interesting 5-week online adventure for kids to solve a mystery and locate a real hidden treasure! Find out more at https://brainchase.com/the-treasure-hunt/

Seth Overdeer, a new fan, is excited for this episode – we met him at Origins and shared to our FB group that Origins is the “best convention of them all!”

And of course, Andrew ran into a fan at IKEA when looking at shelving units.

Giveaway Winners

Barnyard Roundup playmat: Kelly VanAuken

Sagrada promo winners: Joseph Reninger, Amala Anand, Kristin Troska

Munchkin CCG pack: Alexi Dikos

Congratulations to all our winners. Contact us with your address, please!

Convention Wrapup

We talked in episode 148 about FOMO and how that affects our individual relationships with conventions. Ironically, Anitra went to a convention much more about the business side and meeting people, and Andrew went to a convention primarily about playing games.

Origins Highlights with Anitra

Anitra got to meet Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon and be a book nerd in addition to lots of games at Origins.

SHOBU, Lanterns Dice, UNDO, Die Hard: Nakatomi Heist, Dungeon Academy, Spy Master, Ship Shape (so excited!)

The Climbers (from Capstone Games)

The 3 Laws of Robotics (party game from Floodgate)

Arch Ravelry (coming to Kickstarter this fall from XYZ Games)

The Alwaysgreen Garden (coming to Kickstarter soon from Splattered Ink – check it out!)

Honga (action selection from HABA)

Smash City (from WizKids) – perfect if you like giant monsters and attacking each other.

Kibble Scuffle (from WizKids)

Brain Waves (from KOSMOS)

Dice Tower Con Highlights with Andrew

Started right off by making new friends.

Koryŏ – card game where abilities are assigned based on who has the most cards of a particular type.

Bang! The Dice Game – roll dice to gain life or shoot people.

Village Pillage – from Jellybean Games

Brikks – Tetris-inspired roll-and-write from Stronghold Games (mentioned in episode 151 interviews)

The Grimm Masquerade

Castles of Burgundy

Slide Quest – (from Blue Orange) if you liked the Labyrinth marble puzzle, you’ll love this! It puts a video-game-style plot around that mechanic.

Teotihuacan

Las Vegas (AKA Vegas Dice Game)

Prêt-à-Porter – fashion design as worker placement

Roll Player

Unmatched – Restoration Games remake of a Star Wars dueling game.

Die Tavernen im Tiefen Thal ie. “The Taverns of Tiefenthal” – a nice solid game about running a tavern from the creators of Quacks of Quedlinburg. North Star Games will be bringing it to the US soon.

Planet – a tile-placement game from Blue Orange Games – but you’re placing these pentagonal tiles ONTO a magnetic “globe” you hold in your hand.

Chopstick Dexterity Mega Challenge 3000 – race to get colored pieces into your bowl

Freight Cars – coming to Kickstarter soon from Quick Simple Fun. Andrew’s new friend Ben is the creator!

Detective Club – “A cross between Dixit and Spyfall” – also from Blue Orange Games

Paranormal Detective – coming soon from Lucky Duck. A bit like Mysterium, in that one player is a ghost, giving other players clues. We are interested to see how family-friendly this could be.

Arraial – a party-themed polyomino game!

Draftosaurus – Anitra saw this at Origins and we’re so excited that Andrew picked up a copy! Think “Sushi Go with dinosaurs”

Questions from our Facebook community

What were games were you totally blown away by? Both of us: Draftosaurus, Anitra: Shobu, Andrew: Slide Quest

What was the best family game? Draftosaurus, Echidna Shuffle, and Slide Quest. Maybe also Dragon’s Breath from HABA.

Best new food you tried? Anitra tried lots of things at North Market in Columbus. Favorite was several dishes at an Indian restaurant. Andrew had “really really good fried chicken” and tried a cupcake vending machine?

How are these cons suited for families? Both of these conventions are great for families!

Both Origins and Dice Tower Con (“Dice Tower East”) have a kids’ room. At Origins, “Critter Care” was open most of the time that the exhibit floor was open. At $4/hour per kid, you could drop your kids off with screened individuals, and they could play games OR do other activities. At DTC, you could go in and play games with your kids, and also give them a safe place to play with other kids while you go get in a heavy game.

Origins also had a “sensory-friendly gaming room” specifically geared for children and adults with autism. A place where the press of people is not so intense, plus video games and pinball to help re-focus overwhelmed brains.

Dice Tower Con had a Pitchcar Championship for kids, as well as a lot of panels that were kid-friendly. This particular convention center is attached to a mall, which means it’s exceedingly easy to take a break and go to the mall instead.

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The Family Gamers Podcast is sponsored by Breaking Games. Check out their games Order of Invention and The Stars Align:

This week’s opening and closing music is Orchid by You Bred Raptors?.

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