Pop-Up GenCon Itself

Honestly, it was just fun to game with strangers again. Yes, it wasn’t the same as GenCon, but I got to sit down on three separate occasions and play games that were new to me with complete strangers. And not only that but to play out at a game store again was just fun.

It’s one of those things that I don’t think I’d completely realized how much I missed. There is just a level of excitement and fun being around people who are excited to be gaming. They are excited to try new stuff, see new games, and just have a good time. The energy is infectious in a good way. And I’m someone who really loves being around people so just being around excited gamers is amazing.

The Games

Don’t worry, I’m going to talk about all four of the games that I played there, plus the ones I saw, but I didn’t want to make them each their own thing. Because I got to play four new games to me.

My Farm Shop

This is one I actually knew about because I’d seen it on the Dice Tower. They played through it live and did a review of it. The game looked fun to me so when that was one of the official Pop-Up GenCon games I wanted to play it. And I have to say it is a very good game. I actually ended up picking it up.

The game is a style that I like, which is in the veins of Machi Koro. If you’re not familiar, each turn you roll some dice and activate something. Your opponents also activate stuff on your roll as well. In Machi Koro what activates is limited. But for My Farm Shop you always activate something. So you roll three dice, one determines what card you get and two determine what is activated. The turns go really fast and you are always engaged doing something.

Unfathomable

Another one that I knew about but I hadn’t seen played. This game I know I’ve talked about before because it’s the new version of Battlestar Galactica. It’s a big game and also a hidden traitor game.

Normally I don’t gravitate towards hidden traitor games. Not because they can’t be fun, I do like Dead of Winter and BSG. But something like Shadows Over Camelot I thought was just okay. I want more game going on with it, otherwise it feels too close to social deduction.

Because Unfathomable builds off of what was done in BSG, I thought I’d be interested. We got to play a whole game, the hybrid won. But it was a blast. The core of the game is very similar to BSG, but I felt like it make a ton of sense how it worked. With BSG, there was just more going on with two expansions making the game very big. This keeps some of the expansion stuff, but trims off some of the fat.

Catan (Yard Game)

This one is not a real game. Well, it kind of is one but not really. It plays like bags but you are aiming for areas to get resources. Then you use resources and are racing to 4 points. The person at the end of the round when someone makes it to four who has the most points wins.

Super simple game, but it is fun. They have little figures for wood, wheat, brick, ore, and sheep, as well as the robber. So you get double resources if you throw the right figure into the right spot. And the nice thing too is that the game maybe took 15 minutes, maybe 20, with four players. But it’s more a convention game versus a real game, not one you can go out and buy.

Descent: Legends of the Dark

Finally, I got to play a game I already own. Descent: Legends of the Dark is a big dungeon crawl, app assisted, adventure of a game from Fantasy Flight. I unboxed it a bit ago on the Malts and Meeples YouTube Channel, which you can see here. But I hadn’t gotten around to learning the rules or getting to the table.

It was a great way to learn the game, I will say. That’s one of the best things that I really like going to conventions. Even with games that aren’t new you can get to see them and play before you buy them. Now, some games, Descent, I knew I wanted to get. But it was fun to actually play it. I really like the mechanics of the game, we definitely got some things wrong, but I can see bringing this game to my table pretty soon here.

World of Warcraft Pandemic

This, I thought, is an odd mash-up. But I thought it was really interesting to learn about it. Because it’s kind of like Pandemic Legacy Season 2 feel to it. And because while it feels like a Pandemic game from the mechanics it is going to play differently. In this game you are trying to survive and complete quests.

I think that’s the really interesting part, from what I remember some quests were in Pandemic Legacy Season 2, basically paying cards into completing things in specific orders. It makes a lot of sense for a World of Warcraft Game. Eventually you need to go fight a big boss as well. Very clever looking game and very accessible.

I also like it made the lose condition easier to track. The game funnels everything into the “outbreak” track. If you can’t place a figure, that’s an outbreak, your character dies, advances an outbreak, and outbreak happens, advances the outbreak. It’s only when that track, which is still short, hits the end that you lose. It’s one of those simple things that to me makes it more accessible for new gamers. You still need to pay attention to everything, but only the one spot causes the game to end.

Final Thoughts

I hope that they keep Pop-Up GenCons around. And I hope that I don’t go to one for a long time. Why, because this just makes me want to go back to GenCon. This year wasn’t the right year to go back for me for reasons I’ve talked about before. And it might not be right for you. Or maybe GenCon itself isn’t right for you. So I hope they keep the pop-up GenCons for the people who can’t make it to regular GenCon. And hopefully, next year, I’ll see you at GenCon.

Did you attend GenCon this year, let me know your thoughts. Or did you do a Pop-Up GenCon, how did yours go?

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What Do My Ratings Mean

The baseline that we should get started with is looking at what the numbers means. Obviously a 10 is the best and a 1 is the worst. However, it is more nuanced than that. I do use the half point scale as well. So right now I have everything from 10’s to 1’s, but no 0.5’s in there.

A 10 is a game that is as close as perfect for me as you can get. And I say for me, some board games are objectively good and some are objectively bad, but when rating games, so much as to do with taste. So a 10 is a game that is as close to perfect for me as you can get.

A 9 is a game that I love, and I’d always want to play it. 8 is a great game for me and I’d likely not say no to playin that game. 7, I like and I’d play, but I won’t seek it out. 6 is a decent game but I probably am not that interested in playing it often. 5 is okay and I’d play it if people want to. 4, I’ll try and recommend another game to play. 3, I don’t want to play it. 2, I actively don’t like the game. 1, I wouldn’t play that game again ever.

The Breakdown

10’s –

I have 12 games that I rate a 10. That is 4% of the games that I’ve played and rated. I’m sure that I’ve missed a few games, but likely not tens. There is also a wide variety of games in there, I have a massive dungeon crawler with Gloomhaven and then I also have a dexterity game with Ice Cool. But 67% of the games really immerse you in the story and world of the game, which I think will be a trend for these high spots.

9.5’s –

21 fall into the 9.5 category, this 7% of the game that I’ve played. We again stick with a lot of story with games like TIME Stories and Arkham Horror: The Card Game. We also get some lighter games like Sushi Go Party and The Lost Expedition and our first party game with Just One in this category.

9’s –

38 games fall into the 9’s, all the way up at 13%. I wonder if this might be one of the higher percentile groups out there. This is where we start to hit a lot of roll and writes with games like Clever Hoch Drei, Doppelt so Clever, and more. We also get a lot of games that aren’t as story driven anymore. More games like Letter Jam and Super Fantasy Brawl that give you more of a classic board game experience. We also get A Gentle Rain in this section.

8.5’s –

16 out of 283 are rated as 8.5’s. That is about 6% of my rated games. The trend holds pretty steady from the 9’s with a lot more of the classic board game experience. Another party game with Wits & Wagers makes the list. And we have a new game that I just played recently a few times with Merchant’s Cove.

8’s –

We likely have it the big number here, 50 games that are 8’s, which is 18% of my collection. So as you add up the percentages, keep in mind I am rounding up or down so it might not equal 100% in the end. But I feel like in the 8’s we get a number of games that are in that lighter category, more filler games. Things like Skull and Fruit Picking are easier to play and teach than a lot games earlier.

7.5’s –

At 20 games in the 7.5’s, we are at 7% of the collection again. While other sections have had games that were previously owned, with the 7’5’s, I definitely noticed a few more. Machi Koro, Winter Tale, Krosmaster: Arena and at least one more were in my collection and have left. It’s not because they are bad games, but I have other games that do it better. And with Krosmaster: Arena, I got rid of that before Super Fantasy Brawl, but I just didn’t have anyone to play it with.

7’s –

Sitting at 12% with 34 games out of 283, we again see a number of previously owned games. But we also see games that I grew up playing. Set, Dutch Blitz, and Scrabble all make it into this category as well as the party game Scattergories. I obviously have some level of nostalgia with these games, but at the same time, I’d still play them again right now.

6.5’s –

13 games in this number, for 5%. I think this is where we’ll start to see the numbers dropping off in terms of number of games rated in the area. It is also a lot of games that I don’t own but have played in this area. I guess that means that I buy games that I like a lot. Donner Dinner Party and Flapjacks and Sasquatches are two that I’d definitely play again, but I have games that I like better that do something similar, especially with Donner Dinner Party.

6’s –

A tick up here with 24 games which is 8%. Most of the time the whole numbers seem to have more than a half numbers ,I guess. I own a few games in this section, though some of that is nostalgia, or with a game like Splendor, it’s because I know other people who like it a lot. I probably won’t ever pull Splendor off the shelf to play myself, but I know my wife likes it, so I won’t remove it from the collection.

5.5’s –

5 games make up the 5.5’s which is just barely 2%. We are reaching the social deduction game area, I feel in the 5.5’s, and 5’s. Where I would play them again, but I won’t seek them out. They tend to be the very simple social deduction games like Secret Hitler, While that game does have a little double blind fun going on with it, the theme doesn’t interest me, and it’s just a fine game.

5’s –

Down in the 5’s we have 21 games at a whopping 7% again. Again more social deduction games like The Resistance and One Night Ultimate Vampire. These two really do what I don’t like about a lot of social deduction games, they don’t give you anything go on right away or in general much to go on at all. We also have all of Red Dragon Inn, a fun game but often is played with too many people. I think 4 is about my max for that game, maybe 5.

4.5’s –

1 out of 283 which is 0% for those keeping track at home. And it’s Seafall. I feel like it’s fair that Seafall falls into this spot by itself. It is a game that I want to like more, it is a game I can see the potential of it. It just ends up being a flop. The story doesn’t play out as it should, it is a just a bit too random, and the games are way too long. And the more you play the longer the games get. Yet, it’s just on that cusp of I’d play it again without an AP players.

4’s –

9 games or 3% of what I’ve played. This is where we get into a lot more of a mass market or mass market adjacent games. Not that there haven’t been some before, but we have stuff like Guesstures, Forbidden Island and Dominion. Yes, I have Dominion as a 4. It is a game that I’d play if you twisted my arm, but it is also a game that if you know the game extremely well you will win, and it’s not interesting enough for me to know it that well.

3’s –

You might be wondering where my 3.5’s are, the answer is there were none. Instead we have 10 3’s. That is 4% of what I’ve played. Again a lot of mass market games, and a lot of games I grew up with. This goes back to growing as a gamer, stuff like Malarky and Pit had their place getting me into the hobby, but I don’t need to go back to them.

2’s –

3 games or 1%. Monopoly falls into this group. It isn’t the worst of the worst, but it is very bad. Another super popular or at least well sold game, Exploding Kittens lands here as well.

1’s –

Finally, I have 5 1’s, or 2%. I really don’t like these games, and most people won’t like most of them. The two that will probably surprise people are Cards Against Humanity and Concept. Cards Against Humanity at one point in time I would have rated higher, but now I consider it a worse version of Apples to Apples because the jokes are created for you and often not funny. Concept is one that I know a lot of people like. It just didn’t work for me. It has this group feel to the game, but ends up just being boring.

Alright, there we have it, all the games in my collection rated. What do you think should be rated better? Or what do you think that I should rate lower?

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