Tabletop Games at PAX East

Moe Fwacky

Due to the three threads floating around about various tabletop games, I have decided to retroactively create a general purpose tabletop thread for your tabletop games discussing needs. This includes all discussion of board and card games as well and D&D discussion related to PAX East. Please focus your discussions on said topics into this thread. All other tabletop threads will hereby be merged into this thread for easy reference.

On that note, I have Dominion, Munchkin Quest and Zombie Fluxx. Not sure if I'll bring all of them, as Dominion and Munchkin Quest take up quite a bit of space, but I'll at least bring one of those two plus Fluxx.

And now a word from your friendly neighborhood PAX East Tabletop Manager:

FatherFletch wrote: »

Below is the list of games we are aiming to have at least one copy of for the TT Library for East 2010. These, and more, were all in our Library at Prime 2009.
This is FYI; not a request to find out what you think we should bring. It also is to let people make informed decisions about what to bring and what to leave at home. Moe is correct that there is lots to do and you may regret bringing a ton of stuff that you are saddled with on Saturday night.

A Game of Thrones
A Touch of Evil
Acquire
Agricola
Alhambra
Android
Apples to Apples
Arkham Horror
Bang
Battlestar Galactica
Betrayal at House on the Hill
Blokus
Carcassonne
Cash'n Guns
Chez Geek
Citadels
Cosmic Encounter
Cuba
Cutthroat Caverns
Descent: Journeys in the Dark
Dice Town
DiXit
Dominion
Dominion: Intrigue
Dungeon Twister
Dwarven Dig!
EVE: Conquests
Fluxx
Frag
Fury of Dracula
Galaxy Trucker
Ghost Stories
Girl Genius: The Works
Guillotine
Hive
Illuminati
Infernal Contraption
Kill Doctor Lucky
Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot
Kung Fu Fighting
Last Night on Earth
Lost Cities
Lunch Money
Mall of Horror
Monopoly
Monty Python Fluxx
Mr. Jack
Munchkin Bites
Munchkin Booty
Munchkin Cthulhu
Munchkin Fu
Munchkin Quest 2: Looking for Trouble
Munchkin Quest: The Munchkin Boardgame
Ninja Versus Ninja
Pandemic
Pink Godzilla's Dev Kit
Pirate's Cove
Power Grid
Race for the Galaxy
Red November
Revolution!
Rorschach
Run for Your Life Candyman
Samurai
Scrabble
Small World
SPANC: Space Pirate Amazon Ninja Catgirls
Star Munchkin
Starcraft: The Board Game
Stratego
Super Munchkin
Talisman
Tannhauser
The Farming Game
The Order of the Stick
The Red Dragon Inn
The Red Dragon Inn 2
The Starfarers of Catan
The Stars Are Right
The Suicide Bomber Card Game
Thurn & Taxis
Ticket to Ride
Ticket to Ride: Europe
Tide of Iron
Tigris & Euphrates
Timber
Timestreams: Medieval vs Modern Day
Timestreams: Stone Age vs Future Tech
Trivial Pursuit: Star Wars
Tsuro
Twilight Struggle
Vegas Showdown
Warcraft: The Board Game
Wasabi!
We Didn't Playtest This At All
We Didn't Playtest This Either
Whack A Catgirl
Wits & Wagers
World of Warcraft: Adventure Game
World of Warcraft: The Board Game
Zertz
Zombie Fluxx
Zombies!!!
Zooloretto

Lord Jezo

Anyone interested in some board games after dark? Once PAX shuts down for the night there will be plenty of time to sit around a table with dice, cards, beer (or soda pop for under age folks), pretzels, and play games until everyone gets into fist fights over the proper interpretation of the rules.

Here is what I own and can bring:

Settlers of Catan (with expansion for extra players)
Puerto Rico
Carcassonne
Dvonn
Ticket to Ride
Tsuro
Battle Cry

Maybe it can be split into categories for people who want to play certain styles, there are war games, party games like Apple to Apples, german style such as Settlers and Puerto Rico, and then the hardcore war games that you might as well start Friday morning and hope to be done by Sunday when you go home.

dardor

Oh man, must have Race to the Galaxy (base + Gathering Storm + Rebel vs Imperium) and Dominion (base + Intrigue). I also have Pandemic. All of these can be finished within an hour.

Mr P Nut

I have the Apples to Apples Party Crate, that's always fun.

undead

Careful, Apples To Apples out here has been known to start full blown debates at another convention it's played at annually. Still, you'll ROFL by the end of the game.

Alas, I probably won't make the late, late-night games as I will be driving back and forth to the convention (I live two towns away), but you may want to bring a few more games:

Munchkin - always popular.

3 Dragon Ante - always a fun game and not difficult to learn.

And, for you anime fans out there, Collateral Damage is a must.

A long but popular game that most look forward to is Power Grid.

feitocomfruta

Zombie Fluxx. It's not a board game, but you've never known lolz until you've played in public with three girls as the only guy, and having to groan simultaneously because a card told you to. The looks we got from the other people were priceless.

undead

Zombie's not bad but I prefer Monty Python or Martian Fluxx. Then again the Zombie deck has the baseball win. Hmmmm. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

And let's not forget Gloom or Guillotine.

Arco

Well, keep in mind that at PAX Prime, the convention center stays open until 2:00am for console and board game freeplay. That's pretty late.

That being said, if there was some kind of organized meeting place for games after the center closed, I'm sure people would take advantage of it. I know I was rarely in bed before 4:00am each night of PAX.

Lord Jezo

Arco wrote: »

Well, keep in mind that at PAX Prime, the convention center stays open until 2:00am for console and board game freeplay. That's pretty late.

That being said, if there was some kind of organized meeting place for games after the center closed, I'm sure people would take advantage of it. I know I was rarely in bed before 4:00am each night of PAX.

Hmm, I wonder how we can find out if PAX East will offer the same sort of thing..

undead

That's up to the con committee. I do know that the Hynes closes at 2 or 3am (whenever the shift is due to change) and I can remember one con where a lot of complaints came in because the guards were being really pushy about it as they were forcing people out.
The Sheraton, however, is 24 hours, although I have not heard at all if the convention plans on using the Sheraton's ballrooms for the convention.

Arco

Well like I said, PAX Prime at the WSCTC stays open until 2:00 (or was it 3:00?). They definitely DO close, and enforcers are tasked with getting everyone out on time. Because every area of PAX has at least one enforcer in it, it actually works really well. No pushy convention center staff who don't give a shit; just nice enforcers who are gamers, like you. PAX is definitely not open 24 hours, unless you're at hotel room parties.

Which you should be.

undead

Go to room party and play games or be beheaded by wife upon arriving home........tough decision.

In all seriousness, though, the days of staying awake for 3 days are long gone for me. I can get by with 4 - 5 hours of sleep, but that's each night, not over the course of the convention.
If you've ever heard the rule 5-2-1, my version is at 4-1-1, and for those that don't know that rule, the first # is the amount of yours you should be sleeping per night, the second # is how many times you should eat (and by eat I mean real meals, not snacks), and the last #, sadly, actually has to be said these days rather than simply be taken for granted, for the last # refers to the minimum amount of times you should take a shower per day.
In any case, though, I will be raising hell in board/card gaming as I run a hell of a Munchkin game (mix all the decks).
Speaking of particular games, if anyone reading this is planning on bringing Talisman (second edition, not the lousy 3rd or 4th editions), complete with expansions, let me know. I'd love to play that one again.

MNC Dover

What about Battlestar Galactica and the Pegasus expansion? Are they too long?

Arco

I like that three number thing. Mine would be:

6.2.1

dardor

MNC Dover wrote: »

What about Battlestar Galactica and the Pegasus expansion? Are they too long?

Some of my friends and I would probably be up for a game or two (though we'd be complete newbs.) It's a game I haven't bought yet cuz we don't have enough people to just sit down and play it.

MNC Dover

dardor wrote: »

MNC Dover wrote: »

What about Battlestar Galactica and the Pegasus expansion? Are they too long?

Some of my friends and I would probably be up for a game or two (though we'd be complete newbs.) It's a game I haven't bought yet cuz we don't have enough people to just sit down and play it.

BSG is the shit, but does run quite a long time. The mechanics are actually simple, but the strategy and the mind games are what make it complex. Best played with 5-6 people. Once I know that I'm making it to PAX for sure, I'll shoot you a PM.

undead

Played that for the first time last week. And a full 7-player game to boot.
If you break it down to basics, it's a copy of Shadows Over Camelot, but the difference is that Battlestar Galactica got the rules right for the traitors and actually have them play a real part in the game. Agreed, though, in that this one takes a while to play.

dardor

MNC Dover wrote: »

dardor wrote: »

MNC Dover wrote: »

What about Battlestar Galactica and the Pegasus expansion? Are they too long?

Some of my friends and I would probably be up for a game or two (though we'd be complete newbs.) It's a game I haven't bought yet cuz we don't have enough people to just sit down and play it.

BSG is the shit, but does run quite a long time. The mechanics are actually simple, but the strategy and the mind games are what make it complex. Best played with 5-6 people. Once I know that I'm making it to PAX for sure, I'll shoot you a PM.

Sounds good. We're fine with strategy and mind games. Just wanted to make sure people didn't mind going over the rules briefly (we'll probably read up on them on BGG before PAX or something but still better to have an actual rundown.)

Gundabad

As was mentioned a few posts up by someone else, I would also absolutely love to play a game of Talisman with all of the old expansions. Haven't played that since I went to a gaming convention about 12 years ago when I was in middle school and it was awesome.

I might bring Last Night on Earth. I actually found it in a local Boston shop when I was there for New Years 2008. I've heard the company had supported the Seattle PAX in the past so people might be familiar with it but if not I recommend looking it up. It's an extremely fun zombie based game, and my group of friends has gotten into it enough to warrant me painting all the minis (something I usually don't do for a board game). The results are awesome and it makes the game even more fun.

dardor

My friends and I have also picked up Martian Fluxx (awesome theme added on top of Fluxx), Tichu (think Big Two, Chinese Poker, President, etc. with slightly different rules), and Endeavor (build up your colonial merchant trading company!) between us recently.

PeasantDave

Depending on official WOTC support I may be teaching people how to play HeroScape. It's like a cheaper, easier-to-learn Warhammer. It's basically a wargame where you build the board different every time and then draft armies from a variety of themes (samurai, aliens, knights, robots, dragons, etc).

feitocomfruta

I rewmember playing Cosmic Encounters when I was in high school. If someone has that, bring it!

undead

Warhammer's better but Heroscape's good. Heroscape can also be a lot faster, which is a plus at a convention.

MrT137

I'm bringing Puerto Rico and Smallworld for sure. Smallworld is great because it's visually nice, easy to learn, and plays relatively quickly.

capnjack

I'm def. bringing Last Night on Earth and Munchkin. Also, I think Mattboyslim is bringing the new Scrabble card game once he gets it, which is supposed to be a blast.

undead

I can promise you that there will be SJ Games there (especially where I'm an MIB). They'd be scheduled, though, but there's a 99.99% chance that what I call a Munchkin Brawl will take place, where all the decks are mixed. And yes, there's a reason I describe it as 'All the madness. All the mayhmem'.
If anyone has a request for a scheduled SJ game, send me an PM.

Arco

I thought that was called Munchkin Blender. I have all the expansions for the original Munchkin (not Bites/Cthulhu/Star/etc.) mixed together for my deck.

capnjack

undead wrote: »

If anyone has a request for a scheduled SJ game, send me an PM.

I'm sorry for not knowing, but what's an SJ game?

dardor

Steve Jackson games.

Arco

Steve Jackson games is mostly known for Munchkin, but they have other games as well. Truth be told I've never played any of them. I'm a pretty avid Munchkin player, though.

I even have a picture with the man himself:

undead

Arco wrote: »

I thought that was called Munchkin Blender. I have all the expansions for the original Munchkin (not Bites/Cthulhu/Star/etc.) mixed together for my deck.

Munchkin Blender is an expansion set. I came up with Munchkin Brawl as a name of mixing all the decks (I only use it at local conventions in this area) due to how the players usually wind up playing the game.
The only exception is Munchkin 6. I will not use that unless specifically asked to by the players at it makes things too complicated. I will use Fairy Dust, however, and that makes the game very, very interesting. Can't wait for the Santa set.

capnjack

dardor wrote: »

Steve Jackson games.

Of course! I should have known.

Dortmunder

I am definitely down for some after-hours boardgaming. This is going to be awesome.

ZaphodAVA

If you play Magic, what types of events would you like to see at PAX?

I enjoy booster draft, but not everyone wants to set aside 4 hours out of the day for one event. Constructed is fun, but I don't want to have to carry decks with me.

---

Some ideas:

Two-Headed Giant sealed: Two teams, one round. Should only take an hour and a half or so, and you get to play with a friend. Prize for winning team.

Grand Melee sealed: One round. As many people as you can fit. Prizes awarded according to a point system. Only lasts as long as you want.

Four person draft: Two rounds, win a game, win 2 packs. Cuts the draft time to a more manageable two and a half hours or so.



What other formats would be fun, and clock in at or under 2 hours?

atiari

Sealed Assassin is a pretty fun format. For those not familiar with Assassin, everyone picks a card to represent them and pools them together, 1 per person. Each person picks a card and that person is the only one they can target and attack. The catch is if you have your own card, you can attack and target anyone. When a player is killed, the killer gets the card that person had. Limit it to no more than 8, preferably 6 or less.

Chierin

Anyone up for Blood Bowl? Im not all that great, but I plan on bringing my box set and my Dark Elf team in a hope of being beaten up a bit.

Blood Bowl counts as a board game, right? even if it is an adaptation of a table top?

dardor

I'd definitely be up for some MTG fun. Draft or Sealed only though. I hate constructed...as in, I love deck building, but I don't like spending tons of money to get the cards I need lol.

Arco

I hear whisperings about Blood Bowl every year, but I have yet to see it. Maybe I don't believe in it enough.

angrybacon

IMO, WotC needs to give us a a less annoying booster set in the swag bags. I like the free decks though.

undead

I know the person that runs that out here but I don't know if she's planning on running it at PAX. If you attend Arisia you can find her running a Bloodbowl tournament (usually).
She's also the person that runs the Kaiju monster game for anime boston. It's a homemade board (replica of Boston complete with destructable buildings and landmarks) and you play as one of the monsters. It's as fun to watch as it is to play. Although this wouldn't be an after hours game. This one needs time to set up and these are not plain old cardboard boards with a sticker on them.

Chierin

well...hopefully I'm not the only one out there with a team in hand come march.

that Kaiju Monster game sounds pretty interesting... to bad its too large to be played that weekend.