Circle DC 2025: Painkillers, SCOTUS, Chalice of Poison, Cherry blossoms

This year, Circle DC, an annual convention held by historical game publisher Fort Circle, was held on March 28-30, 2025. It was mostly held at the DC History Center, with a few gaming opportunities at satellite locations, and while that main location presented some challenges, mainly closing at 8 p.m. each day, we figured out how to make it work and continue gaming even later.

Fort Circle did the best they could do with the upheaval in the nation’s capital. Plus, one of convention highlights, in addition to all the gaming and seeing friends, was the cherry blossoms. I was in heaven! I mean, look at that! 

I arrived in D.C. on Wednesday night to meet some non-convention friends (and play some backgammon in Arlington) and then I wanted to spend Thursday sightseeing. I ended up at the Jefferson Memorial early Thursday morning and made my way on foot through the city.

I also visited the Spy Museum, which had all kinds of neat exhibits and history about spies and their contraptions. Lots of secrets!

The current special exhibit “Bond in Motion” is about the vehicles used by superspy James Bond. I’m a sucker for James Bond movies and couldn’t resist this photo-op.

I then walked over to the National Portrait Gallery to walk the halls and see some artwork, such as see this lovely angel.

And of course, I sauntered over to the Presidential Portrtais to look at former President Barack Obama’s presidential portrait. 

Near the National Portrait Gallery portrait gallery was where the guys and I met up for dinner. We had Cuban food at Cuba Libre, and a few Cuba Libres, too!

Afterwards, we went to Astro Beer Hall for the pre-convention mixer. These pre-con events are always a good opportunity to catch up with people who arrived in town for the convention.

Friday

My first event on Friday was a VIP tour of the U.S. Supreme Court. I was bummed that I couldn’t take any photos in any of the main areas, but we did begin our tour in the very room where the justices rule on the law. Outside in the hall, however, I was allowed to take some photos of some architecture and this fancy elevator. 

Our nice tour guide took us to the law library and a few conference rooms, where previous chief justices’ portraits were hanging. The tour guide did verify my question about the basketball court in the building, which sits above the courtroom, “the highest court in America,” he said. 

I then took a Lyft back to the DC History Center and checked in to get my badge.

My first game of Friday was Painkillers, designed by Brooks Barber, about the American opioid epidemic in the 1990s. This prototype centers on five states: Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia, and players are different pharmaceutical companies expanding into these areas to get people hooked, but without them dying. Meanwhile, evidence is being collected from federal officials in order to potentially prosecute these companies. The game is bleak, and playing as one of the Big Pharms showcased how insidious those companies were. We all ended up losing as the game had a collective loss condition once so many deaths occurred. Brooks said he was going to tinker with the end-game conditions, and I’m very much looking forward to see where this game goes.

After that, I taught a game of Castle Combo, one of my favorite shorter games of late, a game that lasts a quick nine rounds. Players are buying either castle cards or village cards for their 3×3 tableau, and depending what you buy, you can combo end-game scoring and/or collect resources for purchasing future cards.

Building out your tableau a certain way in the hopes of finding a card for a specific slot is such a fun puzzly experience. Very satisfying when it all works out!

I then popped by to see a demo of Fruit, Dan Bullock’s prototype. I first played this last year at Circle DC and it’s neat to see the development of this game with each convention.

Next up was Tournament at Avalon, a Medieval-themed trick-taking game with special abilities. You’re battling players with different suits: arrows, swords, deception, sorcery and alchemy, which is wild. Each player is a character with a companion, and the goal is to take the fewest number of tricks while inflicting injury onto others. Players play cards into a melee, and if you cannot follow suit, you will be shamed and get 5 points of injury. Also, if you play the same number as someone else, you enter a feint and can’t lose in the melee. It was all kinds of chaos. 

After a nice dinner of Southeast Asian food at Laos in Town, we walked on over to Wunder Garten, where we had rented some cabanas to continue gaming. On Friday night, we ended up in the main center booth and played a few games. Naturally, the place was decked out for cherry blossom festival.

While there, we played another trick-taking game called Man-Eating House, a Japanese card game about a haunted house. There are children in the house who are trying to get out, ghosts, a dog and an old man. Depending on what’s played in the trick, some actions activate (there’s a flow chart that comes with the game), but ultimately, the old man can’t be beat – unless you’re the dog. He’s a good boy. 

The last game on Friday night was Phantom Ink. I’ve ended many long convention days with this game – and it is still a hit! Players break up into two teams and each team has a ghost and the rest of the players are mediums. The two ghosts agree on the same clue, and each team has to guess the clue before the other team does. A team does this by handing two questions to their ghost, who picks one question and reveals an answer one letter at a time. The active team at any time can stop the ghost from writing out more letters as this is all done in front of everyone. Sometimes you think you have no idea what the clue is, but when it all comes together — and it often does — it’s just so magical. 

Saturday

I started the day with a WWI – Tactics to Doctrine prototype from NB. So full disclosure, I signed up for this game because there was an opening, not knowing that this was an actual hex and counter! TIL that day that Tactics to Doctrine is one such system, and while at times I felt like that dog learning the rules in that board game meme, NB did a great job explaining the game at the Battle of Verdun. I soaked in as much information as I could, read the chits and quickly understood that yes, that is indeed a giant hill that the Germans need to travel up. Our demo did one push, which was four turns. 

After a quick lunch, I saw some convention friends, including Rodney Smith, who I have not seen in years, since BGG Spring 2018! We had a fun chat about conventions and it was just so cool to see him and catch up. 

I then said hi to Candice Harris, who, unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to game with this con. I had a great time gaming with Candice at SDHistCon last year when we played Gibberers. Last year, she also invited me on the BGG Podcast Episode #40 where we talk about our favorite board games based on TV shows.

I then got a chance to play Chalice of Poison, a prototype from Akar Bharadvaj about Iraq invading Iran in the 1980s right after Iran’s Islamic Revolution. This 2P game pits the two countries against each other, with Iraq, starting from a military disadvantage, pushing its way across the center of the board, and Iran desperately trying to hang onto their cubes before they get lost to dissident groups. The game ended in 1983, which pretty much every bystander who walked by and had previously played the game said it had also happened to them that year or 1984. 

We then played two quick games of Rainbow, first as a 2P, which I don’t recommend, but the game was so fun at 4P. It’s an ADORABLE trick-taker! It has regular trick-taking rules, with some tweaks and there are no suits. Subsequent players must follow with a higher value run or set, or they can play a single card. At the end of the trick, whoever played the biggest combo (i.e. the number of cards), they get first pick from scoring cards placed in the middle of the table. The cards they played into this trick will then become scoring cards for future rounds. It’s such a cool mechanism seeding future scoring cards, and you can be strategic in which cards you play because it might not be worth it to play double 6s if you are only scoring 2 points this turn. It was also nice meeting Board Game Apprentice who joined the game. 

After the DC History Center closed at 8 p.m., we found ourselves back at Wunder Garten, this time under the glorious fuchsia lights in a different cabana. It was as little hilarious setting up for a conclave under this environment.

Yes, we played Habemus Papam, where up to 6 players are using influence to elect the next pope. I love negotiating games, and while I did poorly in this game, it was still fun wheeling and dealing with fellow cardinals to push your agenda.

Sunday

I started the day with a stop by Pearl’s Bagels for a yummy breakfast lox sandwich. The line wasn’t too long like it was the day before when it was seriously a block long. I also love their little french bulldog logo. So cute!

Then I walked on over to the DC History Center and arrived a little before it opened at 10 a.m. Got to chat with these fun people!

I then sat down for a demo of Junfa: Struggle for China, a prototype from Carlos Felipe Sanchez. The game takes place in 1920s China when competing warlords were fighting for power.

The new game designer said he was really interested in this era and hasn’t seen a game on this topic in the historical gaming sphere. The game had area control and a political theater, as well as tracks marking influence from Soviet, Chinese, Western and Japanese powers.

Each day of Circle DC had a raffle for a bunch of board games and other cool prizes. On Sunday, one lucky person won this glorious Sebastian Bae shirt, and that person was Brooks Barber. Brooks, I better see that shirt at SDHistCon! 

Giant Diplomacy was also in full force! I think there was actually a second room for Diplomacy as well.

And with that, I left DC to fly back to Phoenix. Despite some of the chaos leading up to the convention – and my airbnb canceling on me the month prior, leaving me scrambling to find a new and affordable hotel room in Arlington – Circle DC was such a fun, intimate convention, full of games and prototypes alike. I like hearing about people’s historical interests and learning new mechanisms and projects. I can’t wait to go again next year. And maybe I’ll get to see more cherry blossoms. What a treat!

And for those wondering, the next two conventions I’m planning to go to are Origins in June (it’ll be my first time – send me advice if you’ve gone already!) and Consimworld, an annual favorite right in my backyard! Come out to the desert in July — it’s a dry heat!