Granite Game Summit 2024 (plus Boston and Salem)

My husband and I took a trip to New England earlier this month to attend Granite Game Summit in Nashua, New Hampshire, which is an hour north of Boston. The convention was on March 7-10, 2024. I had never been to Granite Game Summit, but Chris had and enjoyed attending a few times when he lived on the East Coast.

The convention is held at the Doubletree Hotel in Nashua every year, and attendance is capped at 525 people. We also got to explore Boston and Salem, Massachusetts, before the convention. More on that at the end of this post! And before we begin, this is probably one of the longest convention recaps I’ve written. I played 30 different games — mostly card games and trick-takers, with a sprinkling of euros and party games — over the course of 3.5 days, which made my little gamer heart very, very happy.

Thursday

We checked into the convention Thursday night after some sightseeing in Massachusetts, and yup, I did get a chocolate chip cookie — the best! First and foremost, Granite Game Summit organizers required masks in the main rooms of the convention hall. Upon checking in, you sign the giant convention poster and at the end of the convention, organizers flip a coin onto it and one person gets a free badge for next year.

There was also Granite Game Summit backdrop, which of course I took photos in front of, and there were raffles for lots of games, as well as a convention library and gamer library. 

It was so good to see our friend Kimberly, whom we hadn’t seen since before the pandemic. She’s one of the organizers of Granite Game Summit and is a wonderful person all around.

All along the main room are tables with gamers’ games situated on them and numbers. You are free to play any game that’s on those tables as long as you return it. There are also little paper numbers next to each pile of games to take with you so you remember where to return that game. The main room closes each night at midnight but the room with the convention library is open 24/7, as well as other rooms and areas that are mask optional at the other side of the lobby.

After grabbing a late dinner, we attended the Getting Tricky With It & Newcomer Meetup, which was all about trick-taking games (mostly).

First up was Scout, one of my top 10 games of 2023. Love Scout! It’s a very solid ladder-climbing game and not technically a trick-taker, but it has an added twist that you can’t rearrange your hand of cards. The cards have numbers on the top and bottom of it, and when you get your hand, you must decide right then and there if you want to play it that side up, or turn the entire hand upside down and play with those numbers. As you pull cards from the middle of your hand, you can potentially line up pairs, triples or runs.

We then played Cat in the Box, a true trick-taking game that takes the genre, dare I say, out of the box! The cards in your hand are in black and white, and as you play them, you declare what suit they are and mark it with your token on the main player board. You also need to declare when you’re out of a specific colored card to play a priority suit. As cards get played to win tricks and tokens fill up the board, there comes a point when no cards can be played – as there’s only one card of each suit and number in the deck – thus creating a paradox where everyone loses. The cat artwork is too cute. 

Next up is Inflation, also a trick-taking game played out over 12 rounds where you’re trying to win the exact number of tricks you bid on. Tricks are won by forming the highest number from your cards played. But with each round, you play each subsequent card to the left of your previous card, adding another digit to your overall number. The cards go up to 10, but as soon as you play your 10, the 1 of the 10 is covered, turning the card into a zero. 

Up next was Chicken!, a game I reviewed on The Five By. This is a quick push-your-luck game where you’re trying to roll more chickens than foxes. But your roll can also lay eggs, which adds dice to your roll. As more dice get added to your roll, it’s likelihood of getting more foxes increases, but then so do the rewards. I dig the retro orange artwork of the game. And it comes in a little tube.

We then played Nokosu Dice. Oh man, I still totally regret not backing the Kickstarter for this! It’s a trick-taking game where you also draft dice, which then count as cards during game play. The last remaining dice after drafting will then become the leading suit color and number. Such a fun game, and I hope to find one in my upcoming trip to Japan later this summer. 

Charms was the next trick-taker we played. There are two decks of cards, charms and numbers, and they are shuffled together and dealt out. On your first turn, you play two cards, one number and one charm. On subsequent turns, you play one card, either changing a number or the charm in order to win tricks. A charming game! 

We played these games late into the night. Our first day at Granite Game Summit was a success!

Friday

On Friday morning, I ran into Chip Beauvais, designer of Jackpot Payout, a game I had worked on the rules for a few years back. Jackpot Payout is a light deck-building game where you flip cards like you’re at a slot machine. It’s a fast-paced game and very family-friendly!

We then played Chroma Cube, another game from Chip. Chroma Cubes is a roll-and color game. Roll these chonky dice with various symbols, and decide how you want to spend them by coloring in sections of a coloring sheet. This game was so delightful and very chill! I forget how much fun coloring is! We bought this game from Chip. 

Chris and I then took a lunch break from the food trucks outside. Wicked Tasty Trucks was there Friday through Sunday during the day through 5 p.m. This made it very easy to get food while at the con, and there were also numerous other options within walking distance from the hotel as well as the small convenience store inside the DoubleTree. 

After lunch, we played Don’t Llama Dice. My husband enjoys Renier Knezia games so tried it, with neither of us having played the original Llama game. The artwork has lots of colorful rainbows. Players are trying to shed their hand of cards. On their turn, they can roll the dice or quit the round. If you roll the dice, you can discard one card from your hand of six cards that match each die.  If you roll dice that don’t match anything they have, they must take a card from llama row. If you can’t take anything from llama row, then it’s llama drama, which forces you to take the rest of the llama row cards and the round ends. Each numbered card counts only once for scoring negative points, and llamas count was negative 10 points.

We then played White Castle (and no, it is not a hamburger game). I really liked this publisher’s Red Cathedral so I had high hopes for this game. And it did not disappoint! Players are working to become the most influential clan in Japan’s Himeji stronghold. It’s a Euro-style game where you take three actions in each round, a total of nine actions in the entire game, but of course, you may be able to combo actions depending on which of the dice you choose for your action. 

The red, white and black dice (equal to the total number of players plus 1) sit on these dainty cardboard bridges in ascending order, and you may have to pay to place a dice on an action slot or receive money depending on what dice is sitting there already. Overall, players can tend the gardens, defend the castle or progress up the social ladder of the nobility. The economy is extremely tight and if there’s a bad roll, everyone is choosing from less-than-ideal dice, but I love how crunchy the game is for a game that’s under 2 hours, even shorter with 2P! Chris and I immediately played the game again after playing it. 

For dinner that night, a group of us walked a few blocks over to Chen Yang Li for drinks and dinner, including peking duck.

The dinner was so tasty, and we had so much food! With the duck order, you get duck pancakes, a duck stir fry with veggies and duck soup. Yums!

After dinner, we played this ridiculously fun game called Himmelsstürmer, a Parker Bros game from 1991 that’s also known as the Great Balloon Race. It’s a roll-and-move game with hot-air balloons, and each player has an objective for three balloons to get to the finish line. On their turn, they roll the dice and can move any one of the balloons — and hope an opponent unknowingly moves your balloons, too. There are a few spots on the board that will make the balloon go backwards or get struck by lightning and start over. Fun times! 

We then played a big game of 6 Nimmt. This game is a classic and can accommodate so many people. Always a fun crowd pleaser.

Players simultaneously play a card and cards in sequential order get added to the row its closest in number to. Rows can only hold five cards, so the sixth  one will bust it. It’s fast-paced, easy to teach and nothing beats seeing your opponent’s agony over picking up a bunch of bulls because they busted a row. 

After that, we played Letter Tricks, a trick-taking card game that features suited cards with letters instead of numbers. When you win a trick, you take all the letter cards, and at the end of the game you try to create the largest word you can with your letters. What a clever twist to this genre! I love word games in all forms!

The next game we played was Don’t Drop Your Ring. Players are trying to complete their bids for winning a number of tricks or else the ring will fall off their finger, which is represented by a clear card with a ring on it placed over a card of a hand. This had some cool components but it kind of fell flat as the bidding and drafting mechanism made this game more fiddly than it was worth.

The last game we played on Friday night was Trump, Tricks, Game! a trick-taking game with  bear, wolf, wild boar and mouflon cards . A different animal is the leading suit in one of four rounds, and the cards you gain from the tricks you win will create the hand of cards for the next round. 

Saturday

On Saturday morning, we decided to stop by Designer Alley. Granite Game Summit set up a few tables for designers to showcase their up-and-coming games. We played Chip Beauvais’ daughter’s game Peep Over, and it was so cute! She hand-drew teenage peeps trying to have a sleepover, not get into arguments with mom and provide the right type of snacks. The movie posters were excellent. Chef’s kiss! 

Chris and I then played Surrealist Dinner Party. The Edward Gorey-esque artwork of surrealist characters in history drew us in as did the components, including a silver platter where resources for the multi-course menu are placed. The Surrealists are invited to the table where they can socialize, dine and then leave when satiated. In the end though, the game did not have as much substance as we would’ve liked. 

We then learned Crisis, a game I actually own but have never played. I really enjoyed this one! It’s a crunchy economic game that plays in about 2 hours where players assume the role of business leaders trying to rebuild their companies and create value at a particularly challenging time in Axia.

If players fail to prosper or meet certain benchmarks, the game gets incrementally harder. Our game didn’t get punishing at all thought since we were playing at the basic level but I cannot wait to teach this to my gaming group at home on hard mode! Thanks Gil Hova for teaching the game! 

I then got a chance to play the most adorable push-your-luck game ever Spots! Players roll dice to place on their spotted dogs (and one cow) but if you have too many dice pips buried in the doghouse that you can’t place on your cards, all your progress on your animal cards get wiped. You can also collect bones to reroll your dice. Super enjoyable!

We then played Nana, in the original Korean version and animal artwork, and people have described this game as a combination between Go Fish and Memory. The object of the game is to win three sets of three cards, or two sets of cards that equal seven, or a set of 7s. On your turn, you play your highest or lowest card, or you can ask your opponent to play their highest or lowest card. As the round continues, you’ll start to deduce which cards your opponents have and force them to play so that you can complete your sets.

Maskmen, a ladder climbing game from Oink Games, is also a neat puzzle game. Players play one to three cards on their turn of the same type of wrestler and resolve the strength of the  wrestler. At the start of the round, we don’t know which wrestler is the strongest, but as cards are played, more information is declared and sorted, which can help you shed more cards quicker, if you have the right cards in your hand. So basically, you’re seeding the strength of the wrestlers with the cards you play in the hopes of being able to shed your entire hand.

Up next was Billabong, a racing game in which kangaroos are leaping across the board to cross the finish line. Kangaroos can move one space in any direction, or leap over a single kangaroo and land an equal number of spaces on the other side of that guy. If you line up kangaroos, you can keep jumping over them to get ahead. So fun! And just found out it’s available to play online on Yucata.de. 

I then played An Infamous Trafic for the first time. This game was brutal. Players are creating supply chains to conduct opium trades in 19th century China. The economy is so fragile as players rely on smugglers to get their product onto land while ensuring  that the region doesn’t become a failed state, which will affect your company’s investments and bottom line. I honestly had no idea how to succeed in this game.

Next up was Towers of Am’Harb. The rulebook for this game was substantial and in the end, we realized that it was just a Tower of Hanoi game where you activated sectors in this manner to place pieces for area control. The artwork looked great, but the font on the box cover was hard to read. This was a miss for me. 

We then played NMR9, a very fun spatial puzzle game where you stack polyominoes higher and higher without leaving gaps underneath. The polyominoes are number shaped, and on each turn, a card is flipped over to determine which number everyone simultaneously places onto their tableau.

We then played a big game of Phantom Ink. This is a great party game that can accommodate up to eight players. Players split up into two teams, with one spirit for each team. The rest of the players are mediums trying to figure out the one clue that the two spirits know. In order to deduce an answer, each team gives their spirit question cards to answer and the spirit reveals the answer one letter at a time to their table, with their team telling the spirit to stop at any time if they think they know the answer to the question. The other team may not know what question you gave your spirit but you don’t want to reveal too much for the other team to deduce. Our team was on a roll that night! 

We closed out Saturday night with Hamsterrolle, a dexterity game that involves a giant wheel. Players are trying to be first to place all their pieces onto the wheel, but as more pieces get placed on it, the wheel starts to roll, and eventually gravity will take over and pieces will fall out on your turn. Think Animal Upon Animal but with a wheel!

Sunday

Sunday was our last morning in Nashua, as we had to drive back to fly out of Logan Airport in Boston that evening. We started the day with a quick and silly game, Pirates’ Blast. It’s a kids game where you’re trying to shoot cannons to move your pirate ship into your opponent’s cove. I can see why kids love this.

We then played Dandelions, a cute area control game where you’re spreading your dandelion seeds across different gardens. Players roll a group of dice and draft them into gardens. But you can also float, puff and gust to move around the seeds.

Chris and I then played another game of Billabong. I am so bad at maneuvering my kangaroos to do combo jumps across the board. 

The last game we played at Granite Game Summit was Pick-A-Pepper, a game about collecting chiles and making hot sauces! The game is divided into two phases: the first phase is collecting chiles by playing cards in front of them. The highest combination gets first pick at the cards in the market to put into their ingredient display. This continues until the second phase where players are making hot sauces or collecting more cards in the display.

And then it was time to say goodbye to friends. Womp womp. Chris and I had a great time at the convention. Flying into Boston and heading north into Nashua was not a problem, and the hotel had a fair number of restaurants within walking distance, in addition to the daily food trucks. There are also a few grocery stores nearby, including a Whole Foods and a Target.

The convention library as well as gamers’ personal game library made it a nonstop four days of gaming and discovering lots of new-to-me games. Chris and I didn’t even bring any games to the con, and there was never not a time we weren’t gaming, unless we were getting food. We can’t wait to go back. And we definitely will, as Chris won a free badge for next year! Remember that coin flip I mentioned at the beginning? Thanks, Granite Game Summit! 

And for the touristy stuff …

Before Granite Game Summit, we flew in a few days before to explore Boston and squeeze in a day visit to Salem, Massachusetts, before heading to Nashua.

One highlight was visiting the Boston Library to have tea in the Courtyard Tea Room. I made reservations a month prior to the visit so that the hubby and I could enjoy tea, cute sandwiches and darling pastries. Pinkies up! 

We also took a look around the library itself, which had an older section and the gorgeous Bates Hall, and a more modern lively section that included a live taping of a Boston Public Radio interview.

Another highlight was walking on the Freedom Trail to visit historic landmarks from American history (and Assassin’s Creed 3, apparently!). The red-brick line across the city makes it easy to navigate! Boston is a very walkable city, and public transportation is so easy and convenient!

We then rented a car when we left Boston to drive up to Salem (but before heading to Nashua) to visit the House of Seven Gables, an iconic house made famous by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book of the same name. I even got to climb the secret staircase. I learned a little bit about the history of the area as well as how this iconic house came to be.

We also visited the Salem Witch Museum. The first half was a little hokey, with its outdated display of life-size figurines whose stages lit up when the film-projector-type voice narrated what happened in Salem in the late-1690s. But the second half of the exhibit had some interesting factoids and the connotations of being a witch.

And that sums up our trip back east. I’m so glad we got to spend a little bit of time. in Boston but there’s so much more I want to see! I’m already adding to my to-see list for next year’s trip. If you made it down this far, thanks for reading! And stay tuned for another game convention I’m going to in April (also on the East Coast).