Has anyone been to a board game convention? It’s hard to find some gamers here in a small town. I ask because I would love to try some other games that are out of the scope of my current gaming group (Mostly lighter games). Does FallCon have a good gaming group? SHUX looks like it might be awesome too.
The issue I find with FallCon is that unless you sign up for the pre-arranged games, the open tables generally feature a lot of games that are full or hard to get into unless you know the people involved.
Outside of the Fallcon group itself though, there are lots of events around Calgary (and in Airdrie for that matter) that would allow you to get into some games, via Meetup.
__________________ "The great promise of the Internet was that more information would automatically yield better decisions. The great disappointment is that more information actually yields more possibilities to confirm what you already believed anyway." - Brian Eno
Every Sunday from noon until late, Dickens transforms into Gamer Sunday! Get together with a group of friends or come down solo and join a session. We have dozens of board games in our library which is updated regularly with popular titles or bring down your own favourites from home. Expect to see everything from Settlers of Catan to Terraforming Mars, from Ticket To Ride to Clank, from Mysterium to full blown D&D campaigns. There’s always new and exciting games underway and a rotating series of monthly tournaments (ie. Catan, Hearthstone and more). We have free WiFi, no charge to sit and play, a full, tasty menu that includes all-day breakfast and gamer-themed cocktails. Come down and visit us
It's Sentry Box mondays, Dickens pub Tuesdays, Legion / Crowfoot Coop on certain Saturdays (once a month each), and then Dickens pub on Sundays.
The Hexagon drop in conflicts with Sentry Box's night and costs actual money so I'm not aware of anyone who actually goes to it.
__________________ "The great promise of the Internet was that more information would automatically yield better decisions. The great disappointment is that more information actually yields more possibilities to confirm what you already believed anyway." - Brian Eno
I am 2.5 hours away from Calgary so I was thinking of conventions to make it worthwhile. I’ve done enough trips to Calgary when I was a STH that I’m done with that drive for 2-3 hours of (sometimes lack of) entertainment. I want a weekends worth of gaming as it’s not something I get to do often.
That’s good info to know about FallCon, doesn’t sound very inviting to new attendees. From what I have read about SHUX is that it is very open to meeting new people and learning new games. I would probably be game for a CP meetup if I was going to do the drive down to Calgary thing.
I would say that you should for sure go to Fallcon, just make sure you get on the pre-arranged games and sign up for a spot in two or three of them beforehand so you know you've got something you want to play all lined up. Often they're pretty long and involved games like Here I Stand though, so it depends if you're into that sort of thing.
__________________ "The great promise of the Internet was that more information would automatically yield better decisions. The great disappointment is that more information actually yields more possibilities to confirm what you already believed anyway." - Brian Eno
That’s good info to know about FallCon, doesn’t sound very inviting to new attendees. From what I have read about SHUX is that it is very open to meeting new people and learning new games. I would probably be game for a CP meetup if I was going to do the drive down to Calgary thing.
FallCon is very inviting to new attendees - it's grown from 200 attendees 10 years ago to around 1,000 today, and that's by being accessible and open to newcomers.
They have volunteers walking around whose role it is to teach games to attendees. You can pick any game from their library and organizers will try to find someone to teach it to you. If you need more players for a game, stick a red pilon on your table and other people will come join if they're interested in playing. Conversely, you can just walk around and people will invite you to join a game they're about to start.
Yes, it's true that some people at FallCon only play with the friends they've shown up with. But unless you're a severe introvert who can't speak at all with strangers, you'll have no problem meeting new people and playing games.
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If this day gets you riled up, you obviously aren't numb to the disappointment yet to be a real fan.
My kid bought us Cartagena for Christmas, after a couple of plays it is pretty interesting. The rules are amazingly simple, but you can quickly pick up some more complicated strategies. Plus the board has a lot of variations so it has high replayability. I like it for the times when you want to knock off a couple of games of something in an hour or so.
As a complete aside, it is a great feeling as a parent that one thing that will always bring the teenagers to the table to hang around with us is a board game of some kind. That, or Smash on the Switch.
FallCon is very inviting to new attendees - it's grown from 200 attendees 10 years ago to around 1,000 today, and that's by being accessible and open to newcomers.
They have volunteers walking around whose role it is to teach games to attendees. You can pick any game from their library and organizers will try to find someone to teach it to you. If you need more players for a game, stick a red pilon on your table and other people will come join if they're interested in playing. Conversely, you can just walk around and people will invite you to join a game they're about to
Is there a lot of red pylons out there? I am pretty open to playing any game at least once. I am fairly shy, but in a convention type with basically an ice breaker in games I will be fine. I just don’t want to be wandering around with not a lot of “looking for players” tables.
Is there a lot of red pylons out there? I am pretty open to playing any game at least once. I am fairly shy, but in a convention type with basically an ice breaker in games I will be fine. I just don’t want to be wandering around with not a lot of “looking for players” tables.
Lots of tables put up pylons. It's a matter of timing more than anything. You can get stuck where several tables are all starting new games at the same time and you missed the boat. So it's worthwhile to register for a scheduled event or two, because when they end there are usually a lot of people are once looking to start something new. You will also have met some people playing the scheduled game.
Another approach is to find a table playing a game in progress that looks interesting - you'll typically see several tables at once playing the hot new game de jour - and stand and watch. You can more or less pick up the rules of the game, and then when it breaks up there will often be people interested in playing again (assuming it's not a 3+ hour game). Even if they aren't, you can just stick a pylon up and (assuming it's one of those hot new games) you'll have no trouble attracting more players.
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Originally Posted by fotze
If this day gets you riled up, you obviously aren't numb to the disappointment yet to be a real fan.
I will add that he is very serious about producing this. Suppliers are lined up and ready to go if the kickstarter is successful.
The kickstarter for this is ending in about 36 hours. Right now it is sitting at 92% funded, so very close.
If anyone is on the fence please re-consider supporting. Would love to see this happen. To be clear - I have no stake in this other than trying to help a friend bring a great game to market.
There is also a full site now where you can learn/see more about the game
Gorilla Marketing is the hilarious parlour game of naming and advertising ridiculous products, movies, companies, bands, college courses, or food trucks
I playtested that one a lot! Party games aren't really my cup of tea, but Adam's a great designer, and Roxley will do a fantastic job of the design and components. I appreciate that it rewards genuine cleverness, (and has brain-burning moments when you're staring at the letters, trying to make something fit) unlike the forced humour approach of CAH and others of that type.
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Family of 4, youngest 10, We have Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, and Catan. Wondering where to go next. Of the three games Ticket to Ride is the favourite, Catan is next and Carcassonne isn’t played much. I haven’t figured out what we don’t like about Carcassonne. I think TTR is a favourite because even if you don’t win you have accomplished something in completing your routes.
Have looked at Pandemic but passed on it given the current environment.
I plan on picking up Sushi-go party as a light game but still looking for the next more complex game.
Deckbuilders like Dominion can be pretty hit or miss, honestly. I think the next step game after those that I'd recommend is Power Grid, then Great Western Trail. Both are games that you get the hang of fairly quickly, but have immense potential for getting truly good at if you play them a lot.
Pandemic is a co-op. If you wanted to get into co-op stuff, no one creates an atmosphere like Fantasy Flight. Eldritch Horror is up there among my favourites in that genre - easy to learn, extremely hard to win at (though you can customize the difficulty to make it much easier if you like), but everyone's in it together and the game feels epic.
Then there's the worker placement genre which you haven't really hit on yet - Lords of Waterdeep is a popular option there.
__________________ "The great promise of the Internet was that more information would automatically yield better decisions. The great disappointment is that more information actually yields more possibilities to confirm what you already believed anyway." - Brian Eno
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