Top 10 Games to Buy at Gen Con

Honorable Mention: Pirates of Maracaibo: Commanders

Is this 11 games, no it is not. Why, because Pirates of Maracaibo: Commanders is an expansion. So it doesn’t count as a game. No, more so you know if you are interested in this based off of if you like Pirates of Maracaibo or not. There are some new things like commanders that give you an asymmetric starting point. Plus there is rum as a new resource because it should have always been there. There are mix and match explore tracks. And there are now cannons and things you can fight with cannons. It adds a little bit, but not too much in my opinion.

10. Buffet Boss

So the list officially starts with Buffet Boss. This is a stacking game. I believe you draft things from a buffet and then you stack them on edge on your plate and you see how high you can stack them. The higher you get, the more satisfied you are with the buffet. Of course, if you get too much that isn’t good because they won’t balance or they will topple over. This sounds like a silly fun game.

9. Cat Tower

The next game on the list is another dexterity game and the last dexterity game. Cat Tower is a game where you work cooperatively to get a cat as high in the tower as you can. But the edges of things that you use to balance aren’t always even, some might even say that the tower is a bit cattywampus. The story of the game is sweet though and the game play looks fun.

So, if you want to know the story, and this is just the theme of the game not how it is plays, the cats mom has died. And the cat wants to build a tower up to heaven to find their mom. It’s a sad but sweet theme.

8. Trinket Trove

Trinket Trove is a set collection bidding game. This one has cute artwork, but let’s talk about how the game works Because that is what draws me into this one. In Trinket Trove a number of cards are flipped over that you bid on. And you bid with the cards in your hand to get them. So you are giving up something that you might need. The more cards you bid, the sooner you pick. But, and here is the twist, when you bid, the cards you bid are now a new pile of cards for people to take. So it is a great puzzly sounding time with a simple game but fun strategy.

7. Koi

Koi is on my Gen Con list just because it is pretty. If you can’t guess, Koi is about Koi and building a Koi pond. And this game looks great. I assume that each element of the Koi pond score in different ways. But there are elements like arches that you add to your pond, fish that you add and more. And it is a 3D presence to the game which I’m not sure is in every version of the game but I hope so. This is one just from an aesthetic point of view that I want to track down.

6. 12 Rivers

I feel bad about 12 Rivers being outside of my Top 5 on this Gen Con list because I think it looks really intriguing. Some of that, though, is that I mainly know the board. The board is this 12 marble track where there are spots for players to put their blockers. And then you release all the marbles. As the marbles travel down the rivers they hit a blocker. If you block early you might get a specific marble, you could get blocked too if you aren’t high enough. Or further down more will make it to you, but it might not be the ones you want.

That physical element of the game is what gets me. I love Potion Explosion for that. And this one gives me that same toy feel for the game. I hope that the rest of the game is good to go with it and that the game isn’t just all that.

5. First-Class Letters

First-Class Letters is a roll and write word game, and I like roll and write games. In this game you roll four dice. All the players need to find words that use three of those four dice and that don’t use the other one. The more of the letters you use, the more points you get. And you need to put them in alphabetical order. So that is going to be pretty easy the first few times, but, there is more. You also seed the first letter of three of the spots, in alphabetical order, so that is going to limit you more. I think this sounds simple but like a ton of fun.

4. Tricky Kids

Tricky Kids is a trick taking game that looks like it’s for kids. But I’m not 100% sure that it is. In this game you play three hands of seven cards each. And each time you need to assign the values to your cards. Yes, this game there are suits on the cards but no numbers. So you divvy up 21 points between them as you start playing. And yes, you want to win tricks, but when you win tricks you get tokens. And you know what the tokens are and when they are showing up. It sounds like a simple but very fun big twist in trick taking.

3. Slam Throne

Slam Throne could be my #1 on this list. But I think you’ll see why the other two beat it out. This is Dice Throne but pogs. Dice Throne teased and joked about this for years on April Fool’s Day. But it is finally a reality now. You play pogs with powers and abilities and try and take out your opponents stack before they take out yours. This sounds dumb and goofy and 100% a good time. I wish I was going to be at Gen Con because I expect this one to sell out. I asked for a friend to grab it for me, I hope they don’t stand in line early, I can always get it later.

2. Tag Team

Tag Team is a weird game because it gives me Dice Throne vibes, but it’s also auto-battler. So let’s talk about how this works. An auto-battler is a game that when it comes to fighting the fight just happens.

You start with two characters and one card for each character. You both flip over the cards and check what they do. Then after you play out those two cards, you draw three more and pick one to add to your cards. You add it without changing the order of the others. But you add it to the top, bottom, or middle and then you go again. So you start to figure out where to put a block for a big attack. But maybe your opponent thought you would so they changed that with how they added their card.

I love how it works and I love the head games for it. But it isn’t just all head games. As you pick between those three cards, you create strategies and synergies as you play. And the game comes with a ton of characters. I can not way to get this in my hands, I have it pre-ordered.

1. Ace of Spades

The final one on the list is Ace of Spades. This one is getting great reviews 8’s and 8.5 from the Dice Tower and they all really liked it. It is a solo or two player boss battling game. Now, I like a good boss battler, but this one is different with a weird west theme, but let’s talk about how it works.

You face off against monsters and bad guys and you want to take them down. How do you take them down? Not by rolling dice but by playing out poker hands. And each type of hand is going to do some damage. Better hands will do more damage. As you progress the enemies you face start to have powers and abilities that they use against you. But when you beat them, you get one time or ongoing powers as well.

The theme of this game is a ton like Balatro. But it is going to be simpler than that because Balatro changes cards and I’m glad it’s not a Balatro legacy game, though that could be cool. This is one that I’d wait in line for at Gen Con. But it is available to pre-order from Devir, so I just did that today.

Final Thoughts

Oh how I wish I was going to Gen Con. If you are, let me know about some of these games. And let me know which of these games are the most interesting to you. I also remind myself that all of these games will be available at retail at some point in time. So even if I don’t get them, like I said, I expect Slam Throne to sell fast, I will get it eventually. And I am really excited to try all of these games and give you reviews in the future.

What game tops your list that you are anticipating?

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Upcoming Gen Con Coverage

So what to expect in the next week around Gen Con. Mainly because it’s a week until Gen Con starts and I’ll be headed out very early on Wednesday for Indy from the Twin Cities. I plan or at least hope that I’ll have articles coming out during Gen Con, but it’ll be ones that are pre-written. So let’s talk about what they are going to be.

Tomorrow and Monday it’s going to be Top 10 Games I Want to Demo at Gen Con and Top 10 Games I Want to Buy at Gen Con. That is some of the reason for doing these videos with games available or to demo. I get a chance to work on the lists.

Then next week, Tuesday is going to be normal podcast episode. We’ll see if I do any last pre-Gen Con stream on Monday night as well. If I do I’ll cover that. But during Gen Con, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. My hope is to have some articles around what I think the hot games are going to be, and other topics. But i need to figure those out still.

And finally, if you see me at Gen Con, don’t hesitate to say hi. I’d love to meet people who watch the videos and chat. If I’m heads down in a game, wait until my turn is done, but definitely say hi.

Upcoming Streams

On Monday I play small solo game plays. The schedule is, right now, going to look like gaming every other Monday. A chance to see people in person came up for Monday and as much as I like streaming, it’s good to socialize as well. And I might do more deck construction with Star Wars Unlimited on Mondays as well or pack openings. Right now it’ll be more Slay the Spire.

On Wednesdays, I play solo campaign games. I plan on playing a campaign game coming up. Right now I’m torn between two games. Well, more than that if you watched through the end of the video. And that is more of The 7th Citadel. I plan to keep playing through The Drums of Desolation for a while so join me for that.

And if you want to know when I go live, the best way is to subscribe. When you subscribe, click that notification bell and you’ll get an alert whenever I’m going to go live. Follow the link – here – to subscribe.

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What This Gen Con List Is

Let me make sure that it’s clear as to what this Board Game Geek list is. I think it can be a bit confusing if you just jump into it. Because if you find yourself plugged into the board game hobby like I do, you know a lot of these games already. Now, I know that most people aren’t, but if you happen to be one who is.

But this list isn’t purely a new games list. This is for board games that haven’t been at Gen Con before. So that means from August 7th last year up until August 1st when Gen Con starts, any game that came out then can make the list. So some of the games have been out for a little while. But a lot of them are not that easy to find, if they are popular. So Gen Con is going to be a chance to track them down.

That said, there are plenty of games coming out for the first time as well. These games will hit the list and look for games with that August 1st release date. Or even games that don’t have a release date.

Now some of them might not make it in time. That is one thing to be aware. Some of these games, I know 25th Century Games is doing this, fly over right before the con. Others might be on the boat and the companies hope it arrives in time. Just be aware that some things won’t be there to play or demo that are on the list. This is more than anything just a logistics situation.

Upcoming Streams

On Monday I play small solo game plays. The schedule is, right now, going to look like gaming every other Monday. A chance to see people in person came up for Monday and as much as I like streaming, it’s good to socialize as well. And I might do more deck construction with Star Wars Unlimited on Mondays as well or pack openings. Right now it’ll be more Slay the Spire.

On Wednesdays, I play solo campaign games. I plan on playing a campaign game coming up. Right now I’m torn between two games. Well, more than that if you watched through the end of the video. And that is more of The 7th Citadel. I plan to keep playing through The Drums of Desolation for a while so join me for that.

And if you want to know when I go live, the best way is to subscribe. When you subscribe, click that notification bell and you’ll get an alert whenever I’m going to go live. Follow the link – here – to subscribe.

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Top 10 Games to Demo At GenCon

So, there aren’t many rules for how this list will work. The only one is that if I’ve played it or demoed it before, it won’t go onto the list. So I think Stuff of Legends is going to be there. I think that’s a fun game that I’d want to try again, but I’ve already played it. So anything like that won’t count on this list.

10. Lost Ruins of Arnak: Expedition Leaders

I’m starting off with an expansion. This one is for a game that I own but have yet to play. It combines deck building with worker placement, and I really like deck building. But the expansions adds in leaders, basically unique powers that players start with. I’m really excited for that because I like unique or variable powers in games a lot. It if fun when you can do something I can’t and I can do something you can’t in a game.

9. Merchants of the Dark Road

Another worker placement game, and generally I don’t love worker placement. But this one interested me after watching the GloryHoundd Playthrough. The game play seems interesting and the theme isn’t dry, which I like. The artwork on the game is really nice. If this one was for sale, it might have made the list, but it’s a game that I want to see in person and try, maybe not own.

8. Steam Up: A Feast of Dim Sum

I like my food themed games. Sushi Go Party! is great, I have Foodies to play, I want to pick up On The Rocks and already own Homebrewers. There is just something about food themes that I like. I also like that they tend to be pretty straightforward to play. I am hoping that this is going to be another good one because the artwork looks nice and the theme is fun. And the idea of set collection is something that has worked well with my game group.

7. Machi Koro 2

This one almost breaks the rule I set for myself. I have not played Machi Koro 2, but I have played Machi Koro. This seems to build on that but be a pretty similar game. Machi Koro is a game that I liked but didn’t love. The issue I had with it was that everyone was doing basically the same thing, same strategy. There weren’t enough differences, this seems to have fixed that with putting out a variety of the big buildings you need to build to win the game. Having that randomness should make it better.

6. Now or Never

This is the sequel to Near and Far and Above and Below from Red Raven Games. I like Near and Far but I got rid of it because there wasn’t enough of the story it promised. The artwork was amazing and the same is true for this one. I want to see if this would fit better for my group. But, that said, I think that the game on the other list, Sleeping Gods, is going to be the better fit for me from Ryan Laukat and Red Raven Games.

5. Return to Dark Tower

I almost backed this one on Kickstarter. A big cooperative game with a giant powered tower in the middle of it that is spewing out skulls, that is cool. I don’t have the nostalgia to the original game, but watching this one played seems like a lot of fun. It’s also cooperative which works well for me. It’ll be one of those games that when it’s on the table people will notice.

4. Wonder Book

I hadn’t heard anything about this game until I saw it on the list today, but now I want to see it. Cooperative games are always good for me. And add in that this has 3D pop-up scenarios, that’s really cool. I wonder how it would compared to Shivers which I almost backed, but ended up passing on, on Kickstarter. The idea is interesting for at least the look of the game.

3. Dubious

I’m always dubious of deduction games with a social aspect to it. But Dubious from Hobby World seems interesting. I’ve heard good things about it, or about it’s mechanics anyways. And the artwork on the box really stands out to me. I’m always interested in social deduction games because I want to find more that I like. And Dubious looks like it might be a deduction game with a social aspect which is really in my wheelhouse.

2. Velocity: Vanguard

A cooperative space adventure, that sounds interesting to me. I don’t know much about this game, but the theme is interesting. The question I have to ask myself is do I need another adventure game, or want one. The answer to one of those questions is basically always yes. But I want to get better when I would have a chance to demo something, demoing it prior to buying it.

1. Key to the Kingdom

This one is one that I’m basing it mainly off of the artwork. The game has take that as a mechanic, which I really don’t like. But I am always interested when Restoration Games takes an old game and turns it into something new. It means that it might work better for me. And I am curious about this one because taking pixies to fight a Demon King, that seems entertaining.

All The Games

This list was much shorter than the games for sale. Now, I’m guessing that is because a bunch of companies won’t announce what’s going to be there ahead of time, or at least Board Game Geek doesn’t have them yet. But you can checkout the list to see all 33 for yourself here. And I’d totally expect to see a lot more games to demo.

This is going to be a different year at GenCon though. I am sure that there will be less games to demo and less games just in general. Some of that will be due to Asmodee not being there, which means a number of companies won’t. Some of it is going to be supply chain issues. Let me know what games you’re interested in demoing though.

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Top 10 GenCon Games

So, this list is going be games that I don’t own. I loaded this up and I immediately saw Kohaku, but I already own that. It’s a gorgeous looking game that I still need to get to my table. But beyond that, I didn’t put these in a super specific order, it is just the 10 that are jumping out to me. Also, note that if you are there, not all of these games might be there. In 2019 the list was fairly off, and with shipping I suspect that some won’t be here.

10. On The Rocks

I almost backed this one on Kickstarter. And I’ve almost bought it from Miniature Market a few times. Why, because the theme is just fun, I like the idea of mixing up drinks. I also like that you are picking groups of marbles to store or add to your drinks. It feels like a good combination of something like Azul and Potion Explosion but with a theme that more people will enjoy. The reviews on it thus far have been pretty good, so it’s on my radar to pick-up.

9. Kabuto Sumo

I always need to put a dexterity game on the list. Kabuto Sumo though is kind of a different sort of game. You will be up around the table doing bug sumo wrestling as you push discs onto the board to try and knock off your opponents disc. Silly game but man does it look like a lot of fun. But I’ll say decide for yourselves and checkout the videos that Man vs Meeple did as well as Tablenauts, which I have below.

8. The Dragon Prince: Battlecharged

This is one that I’ve talked about before. It’s really one that I want to checkout mainly because I love The Dragon Prince. The show is just amazing and I love it. That said, a skirmish game, while I do trust the company, Brotherwise Games, to make a good game, it is still a skirmish game. I’d love to try this one, but I think it’s going to be a good game.

7. Mazescape: Labyrinth

Escape room games are all the craze. The fact that this one has “scape” at the end of it means that it’s going to be some sort of an escape room style game. But to add in a Maze, now I’m very interested. I loved mazes growing up, I still love them now. And while the mazes on kids playmats at restaurants are fine, I imagine this is going to be more like the mazes in Labyrinth of Time and other video games, which is going to be cool.

6. Dinosaur Island Rawr ‘n Write

Out of all the ones that I think will be at pop-up GenCon, this is the one I said I was looking forward to most. I love my roll and write games, so this isn’t the only one on the list. It’s building a dinosaur park, I’m interested in it for sure. I’ll hopefully be getting this one myself, but if you think it sounds interesting, I’d probably check it out pretty quickly at GenCon.

5. Sleeping Gods

BGG (Board Game Geek) has it listed but I imagine this might not be a ton of copies. In fact, this would be one that I wouldn’t be shocked if it wasn’t there. But I really want to get this game, and I think most people will like it. It takes the world style of Near and Far and Above and Below and puts it into a cooperative game. But a game that has a ton going on and a ton of great views. I really want to get my hands on this one, but it isn’t that cheap. Right now I’m kicking myself for not backing it on KS.

4. Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Scrawlers

Another roll and write on the list. I like the idea of this one, a Dungeon Crawler with Dungeons and Dragons tied to it, that sounds cool. I just hope that it isn’t too simple (or too complex). Some things like character class specific powers for your hero, that sounds cool. But I’m not sure if it’s in there or not.

3. ArchRavels

Honestly, I’m mainly curious about this one because of the theme. And not because I love the theme so much but because it is an odd and accessible theme. And my wife likes to knit, so it’s maybe a theme that would interest her more. She doesn’t love a lot of games, by that I mean she won’t suggest or pull of the shelf a lot of games. But this might be one if it is easy enough that she’d want to play and learn.

2. Picture Perfect

This is an odd game. In it you are drafting characters and items to set them up to try and match up your picture as closely as possible. At the end you take the picture with your phone and compare it to your card. I don’t know precisely how this all works, but it’s one that I’m really interested in. Why, because it’s weird. That said, it’s one that I’m really interested in trying it. I’d definitely need to play it before I’d buy it.

1. Windward

Finally a game that has been out for a little bit, at least to Kickstarter backers. This one GloryHoundd has a playthrough of it, and game looked interesting. Things like sky whales and going out on your sky ships to get them, that is cool. Another that I really want to try before I’d buy it. But the theme is interesting, the mechanics seem good, and I think it should be a fun game.

All The Games

If you want to see a list of everything that Board Game Geek has complied, you can go through the whole list here. Right now it’s a pretty solid list and I have it filtered for the ones that will be for sale. You can clear that filter and see all the demos, or you can wait for tomorrow. I’ll be posting the demos that I’d want to try.

Let me know what game you’ll be picking up at GenCon, or if you were going, which one you’d want to get.

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