Unpub South Jersey Recap!

Saturday was the first Regional Unpub event, a large gathering of game designers showcasing their games in South Jersey of all places! While it was about 25 minutes from my home, it felt like it was right in my backyard.

I've been to the big Unpub events in Delaware and the smaller minis in Pennsylvania, and this one was a solid mix of both. There were about 20 or so designers on hand with a huge variety of games. I saw some kids games, a space mining game, a horse-racing game, a realtime war game, a My Little Pony game, and many more. In typical Unpub fashion, I was able to show off my game a little, get solid feedback, and play a handful of really cool games.

I wish I had more pictures, but if you head to the Cartrunk Entertainment Facebook page, there are a ton (including the one above of my daughter Elle and her game Ponyland).

Full recap after the jump.

Unpub 3 (Unpublished Games Festival) Mega Recap!

Last year, we kicked off the board game convention (pre)season by heading down to Delaware for the intimate, yet innovative Unpub 2. This past weekend was the 3rd year for the Unpub program and it was bigger, longer and better than ever.

With two days and 65 unpublished board games, there was a lot of ground to cover. I was also running up to 15 sessions of my own games so it was tricky. In the end, I only played about 8 other games (mostly quick ones) but still had a blast.

Click through the jump for my full recap!

Unpub Protozone At Congress Of Gamers - Recap

Congress of Gamers is a small(ish) gathering of board gamers in Rockville, MD, just outside of Washington DC. It's just under 3 hours from my house, so I took the long solo drive down to see what it was all about. I really had no clue going into it because 1) Like I said, it's small(ish), 2) It's only been around for a few years, and 3) Their website is a little rough. Just finding out the location requires the user to channel their inner internet detective.

Even walking up to it, I still had no clue what to expect. The event was in a Senior Center, which sounds like it'll be a one or two room building, but this was bigger than most high schools. Tons of themed rooms, with tones of things to do. It made me want to skip 30 years into the future just to have the possibility of hanging out at one of these places.

But I was there to play games. The main room had a whole bunch of people playing Power Grid at once, with a silent Board Game Auction happening along side of it. Instead, I spent my time in the Unpub Protozone, a room for established, and up-and-coming designers to demo their new and unpublished games. The mood was very upbeat and creative in there, with a lot of great minds huddled around each game. I only played a few, and photographed a few more, but overall had a great time.

Click through the jump for the full recap.

Gen Con 2012 Recap - Part One (with SEASONS!)

After a whirlwind of a weekend in Indianapolis, I'm finally home from Gen Con and looking back at my first experience at the largest board game convention in the US.

There were tens of thousands of people playing thousands of different games. It's by far the biggest convention I've ever seen (even bigger than the Philly car shows) and one of the best weekends you can experience as a gamer.

Click through the jump for the recap!

Origins 2012 Mega Recap

Last weekend I drove out to Origins Game Fair in Columbus, OH. It was my first time to Origins and will definitely not be my last. I met up with great friends, and made plenty of new ones. I played some unreleased board games, ate some ridiculous food...

And in between all of that, I had this photo taken.

Please ignore the massive water spot on my shirt.

If I could recap Origins with just one photo, that would be it. 

But if you want to read a LOT more about the event (including meeting Felicia Day and Wil Wheaton, game designers Loren Overby & Chevee Dodd, games like Sentinels of the Multiverse & Swinging Jivecat Voodoo Lounge, the whole Tentacle Bento controversy, and much more….) then click through the almighty jump!

Recap of the Mini Unpublished Games Festival in West Chester, PA

Yesterday was the latest of the mini Unpublished Game Festival events (otherwise known as Unpub), with a full day of gaming in West Chester, PA. I was there along with 4 other designers, displaying board and card games that are in various stages of design and development. It's always a great opportunity to test your game and play others at the peak of the creative design process.

This was my third Unpub event, and as always it was a wonderful time. The Games Keep in West Chester, PA was the perfect host location with regular customers coming in and out and jumping into games, and plenty of space for everyone to spread out. 

Click through the jump for photos and descriptions of the 5 games that were on display: Pixel Lincoln: The Deckbuilding Game, Co-Op Tower Defense, Mecha Mayhem, Aether and Pilatch.

Recap of the Mini Unpublished Games Festival in Philly!

Last weekend at Redcap's Corner in Philadelphia, game designer John Moller hosted the first of his series of Unpub Mini events.

If you haven't heard of Unpub, it's short for Unpublished Games Festival, a showcase for tabletop game designers who would like to playtest, and showcase their unpublished games. More than that, it's a chance to get feedback from gamers as well as other designers in a controlled, exclusive environment. John runs a great event (with the great help of Katherine), and everything went off very smoothly. There were over 30 people playing games from 7 designers throughout the day.

I had the chance to display my game Sandwich City, as well as the opportunity to play a few really cool new games. Check out the full recap after the break.

Recap from Saturdays Unpub 2: Unpublished Games Festival

This article was cross posted at the wonderful board gaming site, Games and Grub. Visit them at http://gamesandgrub.blogspot.com.

Yesterday myself and many others trekked out to Dover, Delaware for John Moller of Cartrunk Entertainment's Unpub 2; a convention featuring unpublished board games presented by the designers.

As a designer, it was a day to get feedback for my own game.. but as a board game fan, it was a day to try out new things. Some that I've been reading all about online recently (VivaJava, Princes of the Dragon Throne), and others to discover for the very first time (Wartime, Fat, Pond Farr).

Click through the jump for my full recap of the days events.