Arizona Game Fair happened last weekend, and I’m seriously still on a high from all the whirlwind weekend of gaming, hanging out with old friends and meeting more new ones. This is the second year of Arizona Game Fair, and I already can’t wait to see what’s in store for next year. Save the date, folks — March 29-31, 2019! …
February always sneaks up on me. Often I haven’t quite recovered from the holiday pandemonium, and, in a blink of an eye, January is over and it’s February — which is littered in ALL THINGS PINK. Don’t get me wrong — I love romance, love and all that wonderful stuff, just not when it’s forced down your throat at every single corner of the world. Plus, aren’t we supposed supposed to show our love and appreciation year-round anyway?
I always feel very lucky to have found such a great gaming community here in Phoenix. There’s seriously never a shortage of folks to play with, and getting around the Phoenix area isn’t a huge ordeal. (I’m looking at you, LA.) In an effort to turn Phoenix into a gaming-industry destination, Andrew Long created the Arizona Game Fair. This year will be its second year, to be held on Feb. 9-11, 2018, at the Mesa Convention Center. I can’t wait to go there and game!
Two thousand seventeen was wonderful, eventful, insanely busy, sometimes rage-inducing, and now peaceful and calm because I’m really looking forward to 2018 — on to better and bigger things, right? I’m grateful for the support of my friends and family, and the board-gaming love from all you guys! Thanks for being amazing and for letting me share my board-gaming adventures with all of you.
But before we get started on my top 10 list of games I played for the first time in 2017, I do have two honorable mentions: Whistle Stop and Fire in the Lake. Both were worthy contenders — for different reasons — in a year very full of gaming. Whistle Stop is a pick-up-and-deliver train game that is strategic yet won’t burn your brain, like with some other train games. And with Fire, it’s a gorgeous and highly strategic war game that’s my new favorite COIN by GMT Games. So now on to my top 10 list …
Even though I played Azul twice at BGG Con 2017, I didn’t buy it until I saw it at my local game store back at home. It’s a great puzzly game with fantastic components. Judge me if you want — I love, love pretty games. But I’m not going to love a game just because it’s gorgeous. It has to have some substance, too. I’m not that superficial. Sheesh.
I was out of town last weekend for a wedding and of course, I had to stop by the local game store. I popped into Great Escape Games in Sacramento and picked up Lorenzo Il Magnifico. My guys and I got it on table this past week, and they all thought it was great. It’s a crunchy and tense euro, and can be played in about two hours, perfect for my group on a weeknight. I’m so glad I bought it!
About three hours north of Los Angeles is Hanford, California, home to GMT Games. GMT Games has been making quality strategy games for over 26 years. Twice a year, they hold a convention called “Weekend at the Warehouse,” where gamers literally sit for four days in the company warehouse, among rows and rows and towers of GMT cardboard gloriousness.
I went to RinCon for the first time last weekend down in Tucson and had an amazing time! I drove up Friday night to spend the night there so that I can game early in the morning. For those who know me in real life, I am so not a morning person and didn’t want to bother getting up early Saturday to make the 2-hour drive from Phoenix. I only got a day pass for Saturday. Next year, I hope to make it for the whole weekend!
I recently got a copy of Cthulhu Wars, a game I’ve been obsessed about since BGG Con 2014. Only one of my gaming friends owns this game and unfortunately he lives quite a distance from me so I don’t get to play Cthulhu Wars as often as I like. The last time we played it was at Friendship Con, our annual mini-convention in which we play Cthulhu-theme games and others. If you look closely, our T-shirts were even designed with official art of the different factions from Cthulhu Wars. For those of you guys unfamiliar with this game, it’s seriously epic.
Happy Fourth of July, America! The guys and I gathered last weekend to play Liberty or Death: The American Insurrection, designed by Harold Buchanan, who I met at Strategicon in Los Angeles at the end of May. My friends and I love playing war games, and this is the third in the COIN series that I’ve had the chance to play. The previous two are Falling Sky: The Gallic Revolt and A Distant Plain.