Playing with 1,750 friends at SaltCon!

Last weekend was a blast.

For a couple days I was able to step away from everything else and just play games. It’s something I look I look forward to every year.

And once again, SaltCon hit record attendance. This was the 10th year of SaltCon and attendance clocked in at 1,750!

Without further ado, here’s my recap of this super fun event.

SaltCon 2018 runs for 4 days (Thursday – Sunday) and while I was able to be there on 3 of the 4 days, if I look at clock time, it was more like 2 solid days for me. That’s because I arrived on Thursday evening after 6:00 pm and left Saturday evening about the same time. And in that close to 48 hour block, I was able to play 23 different games and see tons of friends.

Here are some quick thoughts on each of the games I played.

1. The Quest for El Dorado
2. Bunny Kingdom
3. The Pirate’s Flag
4. Cornerstone
5. Red7
6. Divinity Derby
7. Bob Ross: The Art of Chill (2x)
8. Dice Forge
9. Azul (2x)
10. Flamme Rouge
11. Century: Spice Road
12. Unlock! Squeek & Sausage
13. 5-Minute Dungeon
14. Ancient Terrible Things
15. Taluva Deluxe (2x)
16. Dream Home
17. Imperial Settlers
18. Professor Evil and The Citadel of Time
19. Five Tribes
20. Dice Throne
21. Head of Mousehold
22. Indian Summer
23. Deckscape: The Fate of London

The Quest for El Dorado

The first game I got to play this year was The Quest for El Dorado. It’s a new game I’d recently received from Miniature Market and was anxious to try. So I met up with a couple buddies and dove in. The game is a deck-building game that also includes a variable tile map set up where players have to traverse different terrain in a race to the final space of El Dorado. I really enjoyed the game and look forward to playing it again with my family. Which means we also post a full review of it soon.

Bunny Kingdom

Then a buddy and I made our way to the Hot Games tables to try out Bunny Kingdom. I’d heard mixed reviews of Bunny Kingdom and wanted to find out what it’s all about. Since the games in the Hot Games area are always full of players, we made sure to get there early during SaltCon to be sure to get a chance to play.

In Bunny Kingdom players draft cards that allow them to place their bunnies in different spaces on the board. Players score points based on connected spaces that generate resources. Additional points can be scored at the end of the game from cards collected along the way. The final view is one of the busiest looking games boards I’ve played but I definitely enjoyed the game.

(See our full review of Bunny Kingdom.)

The Pirate’s Flag

The next game we played was a prototype of a game coming out soon by CardLords called The Pirate’s Flag. This pirate-themed game is a game of capture the flag played with pirate ships. Players race to grab the flag and be the one to get it across the end line. Along the way players battle for control of the flag by stealing it from the other players and racing off with it.

While there’s dice-rolling involved, most of the game play comes down to playing a variety of cards that throw twists in the game which move players different ways, force the flag to drop, or change the die results, and many other things. I enjoyed it so much that we’ll post a full preview of it shortly.

Cornerstone

Cornerstone is a game that’s out of print but so beloved by one of my SaltCon friends that he made his own copy of the game. He had just recently made his copy and brought it to SaltCon. So we broke it out and dove into it next. In Cornerstone players have 24 different shaped colored blocks where the alternate between the player color and neutral. Each player has 4 blocks of different sizes ranging from 1 to 6.

On a turn a player rolls a die and then has to place the size block matching the die result. For example, if I roll a 5, I must place my size 5 block. Once placed, the player moves their meeple as high as they can. The catch is their meeple can only step on either their color or neutral as they climb. Once the game ends, the player with the highest meeple wins. I was happy to see my blue meeple end up the king of this mountain.

Red7

Since it was closing in on midnight, we decided to play another light game and I pulled out my copy of Red7. It’s a short game where players take turns playing a colored card in front of them or changing the central rule or both. The catch is that whatever they play must make them the current winner at the end of their turn or they’re out. The the next player must play a card that makes them the current winner according to the rule currently in play or they’re out.

Players start with 7 cards and don’t draw any along the way. So pretty soon there will only be one player remaining and they win the round and score points. Then you play another round in the same way until a player achieves the target amount of points. Not everyone enjoyed the game, but I still really like the quick and puzzley way the game plays. You can also check out our full review of Red7 from a few years ago.

Divinity Derby

Our last game of the night was a new game from Ares Games called Divinity Derby. I’ve played it a number of times over the last month and thought it would go over well with the friends I’d meet up with at SaltCon. And since up to 6 players can play, it was a great game to play at the con. In Divinity Derby players place various bets on the mystical creatures racing. The cards that move the different creatures are shared between neighboring players.

On a turn, a player will pull 1 card from the rack between the player on their right and 1 card from the rack between the player on their left. They also choose the order in which they play the two cards. The first card played uses the top number on the card for movement and the second card uses the bottom number. In this manner players influence how the creatures do in the race. At the end of the race, the creatures are put in their final order and some may be disqualified. Then players reveal their bets and score points.

Then the creatures reset for race #2. The catch is that players don’t get the bet cards they used back. So for race #2 and #3, they’ll only get to bet with the betting cards remaining in their hands. It makes for some fun final races. After 3 races, the player with the most points wins.

At this point it was 1:30 am and my buddy and I decided to head to the hotel for some sleep.

Bob Ross: The Art of Chill (2x)

I was diving back in to game-playing fun around 8:30 where I met up with a couple other SaltCon buddies to try some new games. The first game of the day was Bob Ross: The Art of Chill which turned out to be my most-surprising game of the whole weekend. When I first heard about this game a few months ago, I thought it would be ridiculous. After all, it was a mass-market game sold exclusively at Target based on a PBS art show from the 80’s. How weird does that sound?

But I was curious to give it a try since I remember watching the show when I was young. I like drawing and recall watching with wonder how quickly he’d turn a canvass into a sweet landscape. In the game, players race to paint features of a painting before the other players and before Bob Ross. They do this by collecting and playing paint and brush cards that match the different features on the landscape.

On a turn players can use 3 actions to either gain cards or play cards to their palette or finish a feature. But they first roll a die which either gives them an extra action for their turn or moves Bob Ross along his painting track. Each time he moves, a card from the Bob Ross deck also gets flipped which adds another element to the game.

Overall I had a great time playing the game. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I played it again later with other buddies. It’s also one of the games I played at SaltCon that I added to my game ‘want’ list since it’s a good family game. Yep – I went from skeptic to fan.

Dice Forge

Next I pulled out the copy of Dice Forge I’d brought along because one of my SaltCon buddies had told me before hand that this was a game he really wanted to try. I won’t dive into details of this game since we did a full review a few months ago. It’s a fun dice game where players actually change the faces of their dice along the way. Very cool dice! You can check out our full Dice Forge review to see more.

Azul (2x)

The next game I played was another game at the top of my ‘want to play at SaltCon’ list – Azul. I’d heard rave reviews about Azul over the last few months and I’m happy to report that I completely concur! Azul is a tile laying game with beautiful mosaic tiles that players collect from central boards and play to their own individual boards. But players can’t play the tiles directly to the scoring areas of their boards. They must first be loaded into a feeder area of their board and then move into the main spaces. I think I loved the game because there’s a huge puzzle-like aspect to collecting and placing/scoring tiles.

One play was not enough and we immediately dove into a second play of the game. I also quickly added Azul to my game ‘want’ list. The downside is the game is currently out of print and it’s hard to find because no one is putting their copy up for sale. (Note: Just before posting this recap I checked the Miniature Market website and they show Azul is back in stock!)

Flamme Rouge

Then we wandered to the SaltCon Game Library room and checked out a few games to play. The game library has over a thousand games to choose from so there’s never a shortage of potential games to play. The first we played from the library was Flamme Rouge. In this game players control 2 cyclists with a limited deck of cards for movement. Players simultaneously choose one card for each of their cyclists. Then they’re all revealed and the cyclists move ahead that many spaces – with some restrictions based on the track (hills) and other cyclists. Since the cards are limited players must be careful when to play their big and small movement cards. I had a fun time playing and pulled out the win by breaking away at just the right time.

Then I took a break from game playing to try my hand at miniature painting. In addition to open game playing, SaltCon also offers plenty of other activities and panels. Since we have a number of games with miniatures, I decided it was high time I learned about painting. So before SaltCon I signed up for one of their miniature painting sessions. I lasted a couple hours and was a fun activity. Plus, I’m not more confident in giving it a shot with our Descent and Star Wars: Imperial Assault miniatures.

Century: Spice Road

Another Hot Game I was interested in playing was Century: Spice Road. It’s another game I’ve heard great reviews of for a long time and just hadn’t played. So I was happy to get a chance to play it at SaltCon. It’s a light game where players collect different spices based on their hand of cards. Players play a card from their hand to take the spice action on the card – either collecting a type of spice (wooden cube) or convert one of their spices to other spices. Instead of playing a card, players can also take back into hand all the cards they’ve played so far (so they’ll be able to use that card again on a subsequent turn).

Players get points by turning in different spices for point cards. So it’s a bit of a race to collect and convert spices to get the right combinations for the high point value cards. Since players can only take 1 action on their turn, the game flows very quickly. After playing I can see why it gets such good reviews and is a good fit for a family board game.

Unlock! Squeek & Sausage

Unlock! is a series of “escape-room” type games that are complete card driven. The deck of cards are set in a particular order to begin and players flip over the first card and do what it says. As they progress, players will discover puzzles and challenges that they must solve. As they come up with different answers, they’ll get to look at certain numbered cards from the deck that either indicate they were wrong or help them move closer to the solution. Unlock! Squeek & Sausage was a fun game we were able to solve in under an hour (and before the allotted time).

5-Minute Dungeon

After taking a dinner break and wandering around for a bit talking with other friends that I only see at SaltCon, we played another cooperative game – 5-Minute Dungeon. The game title says 5-minute, but the game is actually played over a number of 5-minute rounds. Players are working together to play cards that defeat bad guys that come their way. It’s a real-time frantic game of playing cards from your hand as fast as you can. While I like cooperative games and had fun while playing, I think one play was enough for me.

Ancient Terrible Things

A game I’ve had on my ‘want to play’ list for a number of years is Ancient Terrible Things. It’s a press-your-luck, dice-rolling game where players try to combat terrible things that come their way. So when I saw it in the Game Library, I quickly grabbed it and took it back to the main gaming hall. It was great that as soon as we pulled it out, one of the guys we’d played Divinity Derby with the night before walked by and told us he could teach us the game.

He also told us that it’s not his type of game because the game beats you pretty badly without much you can do about it. But he joined in playing anyway. My thoughts after playing are that I’m glad I satisfied my curiosity by playing, but that I won’t be looking forward to playing again. I think we were all fine with putting it back on the shelf.

Taluva Deluxe (2x)

The other game we grabbed in the Game Library before it closed for the night was Taluva Deluxe. And this was quite the opposite from Ancient Terrible Things. We enjoyed it so much, we immediately dove into playing a second time. In Taluva players expand the island by placing combined hex tiles of different terrain and place their different buildings on the growing island.

It’s a race to place a certain amount of structures before the end of the game so players need to efficiently work within the placement rules to get the most on the board and win. The Deluxe version has larger tiles and includes some expansion elements. I give Taluva a big thumbs up. (Too bad it looks like it’s also out of print.)

Dream Home

The third game we picked up from the Game Library Friday night was Dream Home. It’s a game one of my buddies wanted to try out because he said it looked like a good family game. Over 12 rounds, players collect pairs of cards consisting of a room card and an accessory card (roof, helper, furnishing or tool) and place them on their personal boards, creating their dream homes.

One catch is that you can’t place a floating room – meaning you can’t put something on an upper level if there isn’t already a room below that space. Room score differently depending on the size of room as well as what accessories are in it. It’s a light card game that families with young kids would enjoy playing.

After building our Dream Homes, we realized it was once again early in the morning and was time for sleep. Turn in time once again was after 2:00 am. 

Imperial Settlers

The next morning, a buddy and I met up with “Burky” from Board Game Theater and Game Toppers to have him teach us Imperial Settlers. Burky was in town showing off his wonderful Game Toppers so we got in to the exhibitor area before it opened and set up the game on one of his Game Toppers.

Unfortunately, the game length ran longer than we had time before people started streaming in (since it was Saturday, the crowds were picking up). So while we didn’t get to finish the game, we did get to have a good time with Burky. The last time I met up with him was at GenCon 2016, so it was nice to meet up in our neck of the woods.

Professor Evil and The Citadel of Time

Then it was time to try a new cooperative board game I’d recently seen a review of. Another friend had gotten it from the Game Library and had just set it up to play with his wife when we were able to join in with them. In Professor Evil and the Citadel of Time, players work together to turn off alarms to save valuable paintings and such before Professor Evil can abscond with them.

Too bad we couldn’t pull it off. It’s a fun co-op game that seems very tricky to win (you’ll need the dice to be in your favor along the way).

Five Tribes

The next game we pulled out was one I had just received in the SaltCon Math Trade – Five Tribes. The first (and last) time I played Five Tribes was 3 years ago at SaltCon 2015. It’s a Mancala-style game where you pick up game pieces and drop them off one by one as you pace areas on the board. Only in this case, the pieces are colored meeples. And the the color you drop off last determines what action you get to perform.

The start of the game is pretty overwhelming with a gazillion options to choose from. It could lead to serious analysis-paralysis. I think I’ll implement a sand timer in future games so game play doesn’t stall out with players looking for the most optimal move every turn. I’m happy I now have a copy.

Dice Throne

Then it was time to try our hand at a dice duel at the Roxley demo table – Dice Throne. While more than 2 players can play the game at the same time, I went head to head with the buddy I’d spent most of SaltCon playing games with. Players pick a character and get a specialized set of dice and deck of cards that grant different battle abilities (attack and defense). I was losing pretty badly until the final round when I got some lucky dice rolls. While I still lost, at least the difference in the end was a bit more respectable.

Head of Mousehold

I found out Friday night that the game designer of one of the new games I’d brought from home was at SaltCon – Adam Wyse. Since he was the one at the Roxley table who taught us how to play Dice Throne, we stole him away to another table to teach us Head of Mousehold too. You might think a card game about mice would be all sunshine and smiles. Not so!

In Head of Mousehold, each player has a family of mice racing to steal cheese from a mouse trap. The catch is that the first mouse there will be killed by the mouse trap. So you really want to be the second mouse there. We had a fun time playing because players simultaneously choose which 3 cards to play each round. So there’s plenty of guessing and second guessing about which cards the other players will play. We’ll have a full review coming soon.

Indian Summer

At this point in the day, I knew I’d only have time for a couple more games before heading home. So I sat down for a 2-player game of Indian Summer – a game I had just heard about a few days before. It’s a tile-laying game in the same vein as Patchwork, Cottage Garden, and Barenpark.

But in Indian Summer there aren’t any points awarded. Instead it’s a race to see who can completely fill there player board first. The theme is very cool with fallen leaves on the forest floor and animals scurrying about. And we had a fun time playing. But overall, I’ll pass on getting a copy for our family.

Deckscape: The Fate of London

The last game of SaltCon 2018 for me was another “escape-room” type game – Deckscape: the Fate of London. Similar to the Unlock games, Deckscape games use a deck of cards that players go through solving puzzles along the way. Since we had just played an Unlock game the day before, we were in high comparison mode as we played. And our unanimous vote in the end goes to Unlock.

It’s too bad to finish such a fun couple of game days on a sour note of a game we didn’t like too much. But I always go with the attitude of “you’ll never know until you try”. So I’m glad I got to try a Deckscape game. But most of all, I had a great time with the friends I played it with.

Whew! I know that’s a long rambling post about the many games I played at SaltCon. But if you’re reading still, you’re as interested as me in so many games – and you’d probably love a few straight days of playing games as well.

Once again I left wishing I could have stayed longer.

Every year I walk away with new friends. The downside to that is that it means I also leave each year not having played games with many of the friends I’d love to play more games with. But that just gives me even more to look forward to next year.

See you at SaltCon 2019!!