Gateway Games and the Gamerati Tour

Last night I attended the Gamerati Tour event at Gateway Games. Ed Healy had visited Yottaquest that morning, and he was pretty jet-lagged (car-lagged?) from his epic trek. Even so, he seemed to enjoy playing my game and interacting with the other people. The turn-out was fantastic--lots of players and lots of industry people! I got to run three demos of Kingdom of Solomon and even sign two copies of Revolution! (one of which was purchased during the event). Other games played included The Resistance, Ticket to Ride and Mesopotamia. And some RPG action. Here are a few pics:

GenCon Photo Wrap-Up

I made it back today from a great trip to GenCon 2011! I spent two fun-filled days working the Minion Games booth and the exhibit hall and demoing Kingdom of Solomon. The latest word is that it will be available at Essen (October) and shipped to the US soon after. Unless things come together just right (or wrong) . . .

I had some really exciting success with pitching several of my new prototypes. More news on that score to follow in the coming weeks. I also bought the 7 Wonders: Leaders expansion. We played this afternoon and had a blast! 

Here are a few picks from the show:

 

This is one of my "biggest" fans.

This is our booth, just chock-full of newly- and soon-to-be-released games and designers. I like it better when people don't look at the camera.

Some of the great (and odd) art at the show.

I finally got to meet THE Steve Jackson! He is pictured here with his trusty Bottle of Quenching.

Here I am with Tom Vasel and Eric Summerer of The Dice Tower Podcast. If you don't already listen, you should! Very cool guys . . .

Thursday evening I got to have dinner with some very special Kickstarter supporters, Jed and Ashley. They really helped us out with our funding--thanks, guys! And they're also very cool people.

Vader was in the house.

 

The softer side of Vader.

One of the biggest games at the show was Fantasy Flight's new Star Wars game, X-Wing, coming next year. Looks pretty neat--you move and fire just like in the movie!

Friday, Jed and Ashley got to play their first game of KoS, along with two other guys. All the demos seemed to go very well--we had no trouble finding extra players when needed!

This game featured the highest KoS score of the con: 171! I watched him do it, and I still don't quite understand how he pulled that off. Well done, sir.

 

 

So, that's just a sliver of my experiences this year at GenCon. Thanks to all the folks who played a demo of KoS--it was a lot of fun!

Beyond Monopoly at the Library

Today I had the opportunity to do a board games program at my local library (Green Township, for you locals). I'd like to thank the staff, and especially Natalie Fields, for smooth and flawless logistical support! I also need to thank my brother-in-law, Aaron and two of my daughters for their help teaching all the games. We had around twelve tweens/teens/parents for this two-hour event (called Beyond Monopoly: An Introduction to Eurogames). As you can see from the pictures, everyone had a blast.

 This was my first group. We played 7 Wonders twice, and the girl in the red won both times (and I was playing in the second game)! They loved it!

 These girls had just finished a spirited game of Carcassonne. They really got into it.

 Aaron led a game of Revolution!, losing pretty badly to one of the little girls pictured (he did come in second, but I couldn't resist the dig)! This game was also a big hit.

 My group then moved on to The Settlers of Catan. They caught on almost immediately and just ate it up. While they didn't quite finish this one, they all said they really enjoyed it.

 Another group formed to tackle Forbidden Island. Amazon currently has this for 13.00--what a steal! This game also didn't get finished, which was probably good. Things were not looking good for our intrepid explorers!

Finally, Isabel got in quite a few plays of her Tiger Stripes game. She even made a sale to one of the librarians! BTW, Isabel is now officially past the break-even point and into the black! Sweet success!

We just had an amazing time introducing these wonderful games to a very enthusiastic group of library patrons. Perhaps more of these opportunities will show up in the future . . . For those interested, here are a few more fantastic games we didn't get a chance to try: Tobago, Dominion, Pandemic & Ticket to Ride.

Tiger Stripes Video Demo

Here is the promised video demo of Isabel's new game:



And we have news that the games are officially on the way via UPS. The preorder window will close soon, so act now before they're gone!