I went through all the games available to demo at Gen Con and there are a lot. If you want to see them all from when I did the video you can watch that here. And I want to demo basically every new game. But I like to create a Top 10 list of games to demo. Because it is possible some won’t be there to demo. They might be games that you can just look at and wonder how they play or get a description. But let’s talk about the games that I really want to demo and will wait around for to demo if I need to.

Top 10 Games to Demo at Gen Con

10. Party Panda Pirates

Let’s start out with a game that sounds really unique. Party Panda Pirates is supposed to be Mario Party style of game. It’s one where you want to get to the finish first, but you compete on mini games. I think that idea just sounds unique and fun. The big question I have about this is, are the mini games fun? Because I need all of the mini games to be at least fun, if not most of them being great. Because otherwise it’s just a need party trick, but not that great a game.

9. Buffet Boss

Buffet Boss is another odd game and one that maybe you might not think of for me. But I love the idea of this game. If it were there for sale, I’d pick it up without thinking about it. Buffet Boss is a dexterity game where you are trying to stack you plate the highest. The higher you get the more points you get. And you even measure to see how high you are. I’m not sure if you do it multiple times and highest score wins, or if it’s just tallest wins. But this is a buffet so you should go back and load up your plate.

8. Western Legends: Stories

Next up is Western Legends Stories. I want to play Western Legends but I wasn’t getting my copy to the table, so I sold it. But this version sounds interesting to me again. Why, because it is adding in more specific story and events. The first one is an open sandbox experience and that sounds great. But now as a scenario driven experience, I think that could be even better for me.

7. Avalon: The Riven Veil

Then we have Avalon: The Riven Veil, this is a game from the company that did Oathsworn. Just for that reason it is on my list. I’m not sold on the type of game or it being one that I’d need to get. But I like Oathsworn a lot, even though I need to play that campaign, so I’m going to give it a whirl. I expect this one to get a lot of demos because of the popularity of the first game. Avalon, however, is going to have more area control which isn’t something that I love. But if it has enough adventure feel to it, it could work for me.

6. Meadow Adventure Book

Next up we have the Meadow Adventure Book. This expansion for Meadow was announced two years ago, I believe and it’s still not out yet. And this isn’t one of those things where it was a Kickstarter or crowdfunding game and running late. This is an expansion that I think it just a lot of work and they want to get it right. It’s going to build on what is already happening with Meadow by having you go through some adventures. I’m assuming it’s just going to be specific scoring objectives and things like that, but either way, I’m excited for it.

5. Flickering Stars

Then we have Flickering Stars. This is going to be a space game but more than that, this is a dexterity space game. You flick to move around to different planets. But also looking at the game, I don’t think it’s just going to be very basic flicking. There is going to be more to the game and what is in the box. So I want to know how they make that work because flicking isn’t precise. So can they make a bigger game that works.

4. Knitting Circle

From the creators of Calico or the same company anyways, we have knitting circle. This time you’re collecting yarn to make the best scarves and of course get cats again. I really like Calico. I think that it is a great tight puzzle of a game where there is a lot of fun tension in the turns. I’m hoping for more of that from Knitting Circle. Plus I could use some more cute games about cats.

3. Mistborn Deck Builder

Moving away from cute, we have Mistborn Deck Builder. This is going to be a deck building game based off of Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn books. I enjoyed the first series of them and I want to go back to them again. In fact, I should maybe take one along to do some reading on it. So if you take two things that I like, Brandon Sanderson books and deck building, I think you can tell why I am excited for this one.

2. Viking Route

Then we have Viking Route. This game is one that I am so curious about for the toy factor of this game. You play through scenarios and sail around a Viking ship. But you use magnets to determine where the ship is going to go. That concept works for me. I’m just guessing about how precisely it works, but I’m assuming you move a magnet around the edge of the board and that will cause a compass to point different directions and sale the ship in that way. This could be a really fun puzzle and toy factor game.

1. Kyoto No Neko

And we wrap up the list with cats and Kyoto No Neko. You play as cats in Kyoto who want to go around and do different things. So you go and do those things, for points and you race for the most points. But it’s a really fun theme, and a great aesthetic to the game. When I read about this one, I knew that I’d want to check it out. And I will definitely wait in line for a chance to demo at Gen Con. I hope it’s a simple and thinky gaming experience.

Final Thoughts

There are so many games to demo at Gen Con. I think last year I demoed about 40 different games. I hope to do that again this year. Some you just sit down and barely get to play. Other games you get to play through the whole game. So Gen Con always a chance to experience and have fun playing a lot of different games. If I don’t demo all of these, that is okay. If I do, it’ll be a great Gen Con for sure, though I’m sure one will disappoint me somehow, even if it’s just not as good as I hope.

What games do you want to demo at Gen Con?

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