We’re getting close to the end of the Gen Con specific coverage. Actually, this might be the last bit. There will be reviews and me talking about games from Gen Con for a while. But as I wrap up the game plays and demos, it was really such a strong year at Gen Con. I think it is the most gaming that I’ve done at a Gen Con, but let’s get to the list.

Gen Con Gaming Days 3 and 4

11. Purrfect Match

Another cat game that is not that great. You get currency to get cards, you are trying collect sets of all the different fish. And then there are take that cards or things that block when you get more fish to buy more cards. It’s basic and nothing special for a game. It’s mainly that it has cats and cats are cute.

10. Dixit: Disney Edition

So there is only one game that I felt like was just okay this time the rest I liked. I hadn’t played Dixit before, and I see why people like Dixit. I don’t think I need to own Dixit, but the game play is fun and fairly challenging to give a clue that will get someone to guess your card but not so everyone will or no one will. There is luck with that, someone might have the perfect card, but overall, a nice party game.

9. The Mines of Pekari

This is where I get to a tough spot on the list. I enjoyed basically all the games left on this list. And The Mines of Pekari just falls down to that bottom of that section. This is a push your luck Dwarven mining game. You are trying to get as many gems and as much money as possible. At the same time, you don’t want too much money so you don’t get taxed and cost you points that are gold. It’s an intriguing game for sure, if you can track it down.

8. New York City

Not the normal time of game I gravitate towards, but I really enjoyed playing New York City. It’s an area majority game of building skyscrapers. There are ways to manipulate where skyscrapers go and where you get points for having that majority. I like the auction in the game. I like the powers that you get that make you more unique. Plenty of fun in a game that doesn’t look the most exciting. I think there are some pretty smart turns in this game which I enjoy.

7. Redwood

One that I bought from Gen Con. Redwood is a pretty light game about photography. You select a template for moving and then a template for a lens as well with taking a picture to see what you get in the picture. And you get points based off of what you get in the picture. It’s simple, it’s fun, and it’s easy to get playing. I think the gimmick might bug some people, but I like it, and I think more people will enjoy it than those who dislike it. The ambiguity of it is taken care of well in the rules, I think.

6. Mass Transit

Mass Transit is a little card game where you are trying to get people home from work at the end of a long day. To do that you need to spend cards to build out routes of different types. Plus you need to spend cards to move people as well, so can you do that before you run out of cards.

I think it’s a challenging game and one that people I play with will enjoy. And it’s a cooperative game that I can easily travel with which is nice. Fairly often cooperative games are bigger, but this one is very small and it plays in a fast time. And you can watch me struggle with it here.

5. Ship Shape: It’s a Smuggler’s Bounty!

Another auction game, two of them on the list for the Saturday/Sunday at Gen Con. This one you fill the hold of your ship with cargo. Too much contraband you don’t get points for that. Not enough guns, you miss out on points for them. And then there is gold as well for points. Each piece has holes on it and you are trying to look down to figure out what you want to win the bid on. Granted, if you tie with someone, you need to rebid later and miss out on the tile you wanted. It’s just a cool concept for a game.

4. Forest Shuffle

I like nature theme games. And Forest Shuffle is another one with very good art. You try and planet trees and put things around them. As you do that, then there are points depending on what it is. Things like bats, you get points for different types you have. Or birds might give you points for having the most or for specific types of trees.

I like how it works, turns are simple but how you pick scoring is a lot of fun. And I feel like you have good ability to pick the type of scoring you want and build on it. Sometimes it is push your luck to get what you need.

3. SCOUT

The big hit last year at Gen Con, SCOUT is a card shedding game. You get a hand of cards and unlike normal you aren’t allowed to sort them. And you are trying to get rid of your hand of cards. You do that by playing down cards to beat what the previous person played. If you do, you get their card(s) for points. If not, you scout and take a card of theirs and put it into your hand wherever you want and to create sets and runs. I love the speed of this game and one that I picked up on Sunday after playing it Saturday night.

2. Star Wars: Unlimited

One of my favorite Gen Con experiences was getting to play Star Wars: Unlimited. I will say, you want more, checkout the article I wrote. This is a fun game, I love the Star Wars theme. And I think for a two player head to head trading card game, it’s a fun time. Simple to learn but good decision making space. I can’t wait for it to come out and I expect to play it and buy it quickly when I can.

1. burncycle

burncycle, I bought it last year and never played it. So I signed up for this event so that I could learn how to play it. Chip Theory Games make a lot of dense games in terms of rules. burncycle is the same way, it is a lot to get into the game and going. But once we were going the system is really smooth.

I really like how the game works and I think that there are a ton of cool elements to the game. I want to get out my copy and start playing it at home. It is a game that will take up a lot of my table, though, so I need to wait until after my current streaming game.

Gaming Wrap Up

So many good games overall to try at Gen Con. I might do a top 10 games from Gen Con 2023 list, we’ll see. I already kind of did that, though, and you can just compare my three lists. But this one would put them all in order. And I think that there are games that will end up in my Top 100 of all time that I got introduced to first at this Gen Con.

Oh, and which ones do I own now? burncycle, Forest Shuffle, SCOUT, Ship Shape, Redwood, and Mass Transit. So, when I said there were a lot of great games on this list, there really were. I want to own New York City, but it’s too expensive for what the game is, at least for right now.

Which of these games would you like to try most?

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