watervole | Entries tagged with games

I've been to Baycon, a board games convention in Exeter. A very friendly small event where 200 people take over a hotel for five days and play lots of board games together. I've been going for 12 years now and it's great to meet old friends, play my favourite games and learn new ones. Silly games, serious games, complex games, simple games, something for everyone.

Favourites this year were:

'Wingspan' a fairly complex game about North American birds (created by a bird lover who is also a serious gamer - it works both as a good game design and as a game with a lot of realistic details about birds - it's rare that you get both theme and design to work really well);

'Sonar' a two/four player version of the old Battleships game (you may have played that with pencil and paper when young),. There's an 8 player version for two teams of four, which is messier and more manic, but I didn't get a chance to play that.

And a game where you have to guess words and phrases by putting markers on a board with lots of symbols. (Called 'Concept' and it's an excellent social game where you can have a group of people all trying to help work out what the word is, and no one bothers about scoring.)

I also played old favourites like 'Country Garden'. Decided that I do like 'Azul' - I wasn't keen last year, but I think that's because the person who taught me last year was trying to backseat drive too much. Would have bought 'Factory Funner' if there had been a copy around. It's a slightly better design than Factory Fun, and I don't own Factory Fun.

Crossposts: https://watervole.livejournal.com/662490.html

Lots of good suggestions-thanks everyone

I've just phoned my brother in law to find out the likely number playing a normal game and that's affected the final choice.

I think the best ones to come out were:

Totemo - (but loses out against the others because of price)

Carcasonne - will probably get this as it works well with 2-3 players

Braggart - which is a simple game with a bit of fun, but works best with more people than they usually play with

Flash Point - which I would recommend to others looking for a co-operative game. (It looks a little similar to the game I got them for the last birthday, otherwise this would have been my first choice) The players have to work as a team to rescue people from a burning building. See here for video review.

Boardgamegeek is very useful for finding the best number of players for a game.

It's going to be Carcassonne or Flash Point, but probably Carcasonne.

Crossposts: http://watervole.livejournal.com/543759.html

Yes, we've decided to do it again. (Hurrah!)

We're going to celebrate our silver wedding yet again. We're also celebrating Richard's birthday a couple of days early, and offering my husband and sons a chance to buy me a very belated present for my October birthday (see my user info page...).

We are therefore inviting anyone who would like to come along to come and join us for a long weekend of gaming and generally hanging out with a mixture of interesting people. Food will all be provided by us. (If you have a specialised diet, you may need to being some stuff)

The dates are 28-31 May. The venue is our house in Dorset (just ask, if you don't know the address)

The nearest station is Poole. There's a bus service from Poole to close to our house. (Number 3, runs twice an hour, get off at 'Corfe Mullen Library', more details of navigating to/from bus stop available on request.)

There will be LOTS of board games and card games to play.

There's an inflatable double bed which goes to the first couple to ask for it. After that, it's bring a sleeping bag (we have a few spare, ask if you need one)

If you're a regular reader of this journal, then consider yourself invited.

Let me know if you want to come, so that we have an idea of numbers. We seem to average 10-15 people.

We've decided 23-25 January would be a good time for the next Silvercon.

Bring yourself, bring your favourite game, bring a sleeping bag, have a fun time.

If Richard's in work, then we'll feed everyone for free. 

If we're both still out of work, then we'll request a £5 donation towards food  costs. (Optional if you're skint too)
 
If you're reading this, then you're welcome.  (ie. Don't think, "Do I know them  well enough?" - think "Do I like games and I like being with gamers.")

Let me know if you can make it.  Let me know if you want first dibs on available  spare beds...  Ask for address/directions if you don't know them already.  (We're  in Dorset. Nearest rail/coach station is Poole.  Half hourly bus service from Poole  to Corfe Mullen, but only during the day.)

I'm quite enjoying the free rice spelling game. I've got my score up to 46 so far. At the point the words get really difficult.

Feeling pretty tired today. Just recovered from a stomach bug and am bit tired from that and I've been doing a lot of committee and hotel stuff in the last few days.

orbital_2008 are trying to choose between the last two hotels left on our list. We looked at data for masses, actually visited 5 of them and elimanated several hotels that were good in many ways on grounds of either cost, not enough programme rooms (we're definitely planning a programme-heavy convention) or lack of available bedrooms.

The two left are both good venues and have a lot going for them, in my eyes at least. One of them is a much tigher call financially and requires us to fill a lot of bedrooms.

Trying to estimate (with a good safety margin) how many bedrooms will be booked at an Eastercon is giving me grey hairs. (bear in mind that the number of attendees is not the same as the number of people staying in the hotel, especially if you're near a large city and people can commute.)

The good news is that we've got frineds around for a gaming weekend and I've already managed to play Metro, Guillotine, TAboo, and Citadels. Lots more gaming planned for tomorrow.

People have been posting about the five things that give them exhilarating moments.

Here's my one for today. I'm just back from leaping up down and doing a small dance around the lounge floor and grinning all over my face and shouting 'yes!'. ( Read more... )

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Judith Proctor's Journal

Ramblings on morris dancing, 17th century re-enactment, and gardening

Entries tagged with games

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Games for nephews

Silvercon Strikes Back!

Gaming weekend

Spelling and 400 grains of rice

conventions and games

Almost a meme

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