Gen-Con Report

Gen-Con is a large convention about the size of ALA for table top gamers. Four years ago this convention came to my home town and I went for one day. The next year I started hosting board games, and this year I attended with a GM badge.

Like ALA there is an exhibit hall, and session. At this conference the sessions consist of games which you pay to play ($1.50 for 2 hours or less). The exhibit hall is open from 10am to 6pm so I scheduled my events for times when the hall wasn't open.

Some of the biggest companies had new games to show, and the independent developers had many fun and original board and card games. As I demoed games I found some I loved and some that would work well in a library. The following is a list of the new games with difficulty rating:

Xig 1 A puzzle game where you play pieces to form a connected line from a fixed start and end point.

Hex Hex 2 A player throws in a Hex(bomb) and players must use cards to move it away from them or it goes off

County Zzzzz 1.5 Use specialized cards to create good dreams.

You've been Sentenced 1.5 Using 10 word cards with five different word tenses create a sentence that makes sense.

Infinity 2 Think Rummy with special cards that skip turns, and add bonuses.

Deadman's Treasure 1.5 Collect the most gold from islands. Players bid for the island while a Pirate and a ghost rotate around islands to add bonuses

Mimic 2 In a Grid of 7 x 7 you play cards to create matching pairs to earn points.

Mix Up 1.5 Like Connect four but you use tiles that vary by three shapes and colors. One player has to connect four shapes while the other connects colors.

Slap Wacky 1 Players play simultaneously to complete shapes. When a shape is complete a player slaps it and takes it off the board to earn points.

You're Pulling my Leg 1.5 A game of truth or dare without dare. A player draws a card with a noun on it rolls a die in a cup. If the die says T then the player tells a true story related to the noun. If F a player tells a fib. The other players must then vote on whether they think the player is lying or telling the truth

Jabber Jot 2 Tell a story using three pictures and three words determined drawn from the "judge"

Ingenious 2.5 Place tiles on a board in line with the same shape and color. You earn points based on the number of shapes in the row you placed the tile, and the object is to out of all the players be advanced the most in the color you the player have the least in. (so if I had blue 5, yellow 4, green 6, and orange 7 My opponent's smallest number would need to be more than four.)

Fruits Basket 3 This game takes images from the Fruits Basket Anime and translates it into a Card Game. Each of Tokru's friends represent the zodiac and are placed in order in a circle. Tokru moves around trying to make friends. In your hand you draw memories and events that help you make friendship. This game is really nice because the cards that represent friendship are actually a deck of normal playing cards with images from the show.

I'll write up more information with links to order and companies later after I rest

To help you understand the previous ratings here is a list of classic games with difficulty rating:

Dominoes 1
Rummy 2
Monopoly 3
Munckin 3
Settlers of Cataan 3
Fluxx 1
Icehouse 1
Apples to Apples 1.5
Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot 3.5
Carcassonne 2.5
Water Works 1
Scrabble 2.5
Empire Builder 4
Bohonza 2.5
San Juan 3