The Post-Origins Post

"We all know the Government is raping us..." ~ man on stage

Comm-fest in Columbus, OH, happens to share the downtown space with Origins Game Fair for a few days this year. It's debatable whether the name is intentionally sharing the same four letters as both Community and Communism. But, the Socialist party has a recruiting booth stationed between a stand selling pit BBQ and another tent with screen-printed rocks for your stoner garden. "We all know the government is raping us," was the first statement we heard over the loud-speaker as thousands littered the streets completely oblivious to the organizer crying out about some bland cause, most likely the legality of medicinal marijuana. I was hoping to buy a kebab, but the lines were long and sweaty and stinky.

In fact, it's kind of sad that one block away is an air-conditioned convention center packed with people playing, buying, demoing, talking, and possibly eating board games and this sweaty throng of unfocused semi-protesting carnival-goers are just as oblivious to the speaker ranting about the government as they are to the goings on inside the pastel building enclosure that is the home of Origins. It's the golden age of board gaming. Don't they know? Pale is the new bronze. Fear the sun, people. Come inside and play some DeveJava.

Exhibitor's Room

The Story of Origins

The beginning of my origins origin story starts at the end of April when I decided to include Wednesday-Friday, June 22 - June 24, in my vacation schedule. I hadn't decided whether I would actually make the trip to Columbus, but I figured that even if I didn't find anyone to go along, I would at least have a few extra days of sleep. Then, my friend Alison said that she would visit me on June 25th. And soon after, John Moller emailed me tentatively, then once discovering that I was attending, he offered a hotel room-share. I think I spent about $150 for four nights on the tenth floor of a nice hotel with a vertigo-inducing view of downtown Columbus.

7 VP - Swinging Jivecat Voodoo Lounge

Skip the driving part. Skip the getting lost in town part. Skip the getting acquainted with new friends, the oohs and ahhs of the huge dealer room, the burgers across the street. I'm there and all I want is to try every NEW game and find like-minded individuals, preferably those with an inclination towards publishing, to give the elevator spiel and entice them to play my game just once, so that they are overcome with happiness and offer me millions on the spot! Or something similar that involves a much more conservative "send me the rules and a prototype" type discussion. "This game is relatively fun." They might comment.

Age of Dinosaurs - OMG the pieces!

John Moller was instrumental in setting up the first hasty meeting where we sat down with Ross Fleming of Tartan Grizzly (a relatively new, small-scale publishing company out of Canada). I can't be sure, but I wildly waved my bits at him and he seemed moderately interested. His main concern was keeping the cost of components down, which gave me cause for concern. Being new to the whole "pitch" thing, I'm not a person that can easily gauge another person's level of interest, but from reading up beforehand I knew that the "cost of components" discussion is something that should occur much later. So, I shook hands and we pledged to stay in touch. It was exciting. Thursday morning and already one full pitch down.

I spent most of my convention time walking from booth to booth in the dealers room and relaxing with late-night boardgaming in the "board" room.

Core Worlds - prototype

Quick list of new games I played and my impressions: FlashPoint by Kevin Lanzing; relatively fun coop game about firefighting, can easily be played by one player and needs fine-tuning. RoboDerby by Clint Herron; excellent idea to make a dice game of RoboRally, fun, fast, and works well. Times Up! Title Recall; people always say this is the best party game, I see why they enjoy it so much. Core Worlds by Andrew Parks; deck-building game with engine building and a final purpose that is intriguing but doesn't necessarily make sense as a deck-building game since you reshuffle maybe 4 times during the game. Family Reunion by John Moller; a memory-style match-up game with interesting card interaction (hope there are more juicy combos added).  Carnival by Dice Hate Me Games; a fun set-collection game with customizable turns determines by dice, amazingly polished and elegant for a game only weeks old.

Sadly, I did not get a chance to play Kingdom of Solomon, The Road to Canterbury, or Swinging Jivecat Voodoo Lounge. All these lovely prototypes and not enough time to force out a demo.

Playtest 1:

This occurred on Thursday night at covered tabled near the entrance to the Board Room. I played the game with my temporary roommate, Jon from Kentucky, and 4 other drafted players who just happened to be walking by in a group.

Positives:

This was the closest game I've ever played. Three players ended the game tied for 27 points, while the fourth place player had 26 points.

After the rules explanation, all players (with the exception of one) had a good understanding of the rules and were assisting with setup by the end of the 1st round. The game was relatively fast-paced as the group didn't over-think each step and blending was a popular choice. Smiles all around.

Negatives:

Virtually no reaction. The game ended and the 4 drafted players stood up and left. I bid them a quick goodbye, asking if they enjoyed themselves, and one of the group nodded. Cold as hell. Also extremely confusing. Jon confirmed that he enjoyed it very much, but the inexplicable tepid reaction from the others drained me. It was a close, competitive game where all the elements seemed to work together nicely. One of the players, however, was having troubles managing the beans within their bag. I think the next time I explain the game, and when writing the "strategy hints" section of the rule book, I will be clear that this is not a game about collecting beans, but being selective about what is in your bag. Still don't really understand the reaction.

Playtest 2:  << click for to John's write-up

This started with us trying to entice Philip DuBarry, designer of Kingdom of Solomon to play. He instead chose to leaf through the rule-book as he had some business to take care of. So, this play-test included John (cartrunk.net), Chris (dicehateme.com), Shawn, and another innocent bystander whom we drafted from the Board Room. It was strange how many people walked by as we played.

Positives:

There is a HUGE positive from this game (more on this later). Also, David from Clever Mojo Games sat in for the end of the game and he seemed genuinely interested. I really believe it was Shawn & Chris' positive reaction that allowed David to flip from disinterested to explaining that he just couldn't fit in another "big game" on his release schedule, but would love to see more updates. After the first playtest went over so stale, this was a definite ego boost.

Negatives:

Shawn used a very good strategy to run away with the game a bit. He was able to get an early lead with a good blend 1st turn and a judicial use of investment chips carried him on to the win. While he won the game by only one point, it does emphasize how powerful investment chips can be. However, no one exploited the Flavor track in order to counter this.

There were still 5 cards remaining in Blend Slate deck, which means I need to further readjust the distribution. The "sliding cards" mechanic for replacing blend slates may need to be nixed. Notes, notes, more notes.

Overall, I was impressed by Origins and by the sheer amount of talented designers attempting to drum up interest for their games.  It was daunting and anxious and fun.  Hundreds were walking around with cardboard and plastic boxes discreetly labeled with a single "Title" sticker, hoping that some wayward publisher would shake their hand enthusiastically.  I felt like a number at times.  Here I am, another unknown, wandering from prototype to prototype in some lame attempt to network.  

I'm not a salesman.  I don't know how to small-talk.  I can only analyze.  I know that a proper conversation is an exchange of ideas that usually includes one party speaking for the equivalent of 2-3 grammatical sentences and then the next party reciprocating with information that pertains to the previous party's desired topic.  There is usually laughter; this is optional.  And the most important aspect of a positive conversation is the non-verbal cues.  The flash of teeth.  Leaning back in the chair.  Moving forward with hunched shoulders to emphasize a point.  A lack of animation can spell disaster, just as much as a 5-minute pitch can be construed as a 5-minute negative conversation (a lecture).  I hope I can be engaging.  I hope my gap-toothed smile is overshadowed by my reality-based enthusiasm.