We’re getting close to Gen Con and that means it’s time for a lot of coverage. And the first big video that I is what is going to be available at Gen Con to demo. Thanks to Board Game Geek for the list they put together every year. It’s a fairly long list of games that will be around to demo, but this only counts the games to demo for the first time. I go through that whole list and give my thoughts on them.

Gen Con Demos

I am not going to go through everything in writing as well. I will do a Top 10 games to demo, probably tomorrow. But today, let’s just talk about strategies for demoing because there are a lot of ways and places you can demo games.

Demo Events

Firstly, you can do official demos. Some companies don’t do demos at their booths, notably with that is Chip Theory Games. In some cases it’s because the games will take too long, again see Chip Theory Games, so you need to sign up for official demos. The upside is that while you’re still in a noisy hall, you aren’t as likely to have as many people around you who are having a separate conversation. So a good way to learn those heavier games. Downside is, it often costs.

Hall Demos

Next, you often find demos at booths in the dealer hall. A ton of them have tables setup and they do demos of different levels. I say different levels because some companies, you get to play the whole game. Other companies, you get to play one round. Other companies, they show you small pieces of how the game works.

Two of those, I personally like. I don’t like it when I just get told about the game as a demo. That doesn’t really help me know how the game is played. The other two, I like both of them. I prefer playing a whole game, when I can. But that depends on the game that is being played. Obviously a three hour game is not going to work to demo at a table in the dealer hall, in full anyways.

So with those games a round or two makes a lot more sense. It allows you to get through a game quickly and get to experience it to know what the game is going to feel like. Certain games, Asking for Trobils and Meadow for example, last year had short demos. But it was enough to know what the game was like, you get to experience all the mechanisms through playing a few rounds or through fewer scoring cards.

New Game Purchases

The last way, and this just happens randomly, is if someone bought the game. Two examples of that for me last year with Mythic Mischief and Ready, Set, Bet. Both of them good games, one of them better for me. But it’s a good way with hot games to get to try them if someone else has bought them. Because some games are just hard to demo.

Upcoming Streams

So as we get closer to Gen Con the schedule is going to be more Gen Con focused. Next Wednesday at 8 PM Central we’ll have a larger list of games to buy for the first time at Gen Con. So join me with that next Wednesday.

Then on Monday it’ll be a normal board game stream. What is the game that I’ll play solo, I’m not sure. Generally that is done at the last minute. So I won’t even guess, but not likely a new game that I’ve learned as I’m saving my new game knowledge for Gen Con.

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