Another SaltCon Success

Last weekend wasn’t what I’d expected.

But SaltCon still made me smile.

That’s because every year, I look forward to attending SaltCon — an awesome board game convention in Utah.

As you can see from my anticipatory post last month, SaltCon has tons to offer.

However, this year turned out to be much different for me.

As I’d just finished gathering up all my games that I’d be trading away in the SaltCon Math Trade and the games I’d be setting out in the Game Swap area, I got a call about a death in the family.

It was unexpected, and I needed to jump in and help take care of many things. In times like that, there’s no doubt where our priorities lie.

It was nice to see the many hands that help when a family member is in need. The care and concern is heartwarming.

After a few days putting everything on hold to help, I was told to head to SaltCon. Yep – I was told not to return to help on Friday, but to take time for myself and enjoy some time with friends. So, of course I did what I was told.

 

Game Playing Time!

I arrived at SaltCon Thursday evening and quickly saw many friends that I only see at the event. And that’s easily the best part of being there — catching up and doing fun things with friends.

While I had a lot of games on my “want to play” list beforehand, with only a day to spare this year, I knew I’d have to prioritize.

So, after getting a couple friends together, we headed straight to the Hot Games area. This is an area at SaltCon where tables are dedicated to just playing 11 identified “hot games” (games most people are anxious to try). Volunteers are assigned to teaching those games and it’s so helpful in learning and playing the games.

Paladins of the West Kingdom

The first game we played was Paladins of the West Kingdom. It’s a new game by Renegade Game Studios along the same lines as games I’ve enjoyed before like Raiders of the North Sea and Architects of the West Kingdom (played at SaltCon 2019).

It’s a worker placement game with plenty of options. In addition to recruiting workers that players place in different sections of the board to take different actions, the workers are different colors. And only certain colored workers can be used at some locations. Which means there are plenty of decisions to be made. In fact, I felt like there was too many options. So, even though I ended up winning, I walked away disappointed. We had a fun time playing, and I’m glad I got to play it as my first game. But I also learned that it’s not a game for me.

Dungeon Drop

Then a couple of my friends and I played a light game — Dungeon Drop. It’s a game with a bunch of colored cubes that players drop on the table to form a dungeon and then try to gain the most valuable loot. Each color of cube has a different purpose and value and players must find the best loot for them. After the cube drop each round, the grey cubes are dungeon walls. Players choose 3 dungeon walls to form a “room” by the straight line between those walls. Then they collect the cubes within that room.

Players also have characters that grant them special abilities and unique objective cards that value cubes differently for each player. For example, for me the pink cubes had the highest value followed by blue and clear.

 

It’s a Wonderful World

After that light game, we headed back to the Hot Games area and played It’s a Wonderful World. I’ve heard a lot of good things about It’s a Wonderful World so I was excited to dive into it.

It’s a card-drafting game that reminds me a lot of 7 Wonders. And 7 Wonders has been a family favorite since our first plays. However, the game has its own flavor that still makes it stand apart from 7 Wonders.

Like 7 Wonders, players get a starting hand of cards that they choose 1 card from and then pass the rest. So everyone makes choices simultaneously then passes cards. But rather than doing something with the card right away, players just set it in their area and choose their next card and pass again.

Once everyone has all their drafted cards, they decide what to do with them. They can discard them for the designated color cube shown on the card or put them into their play area to work on building into their growing empire.

Each card shows a required number and color of cubes needed in order to add it to an empire. Once added, the card will now produce resources. In addition to the card choices, players also need to pay attention to the order in which resources are produced because that may help them immediately.

The game is played over 4 rounds and it seems to end just as I’m getting excited for the empire I’ve built and all the resources I could get in the next round. But that next round doesn’t come.

Which actually makes for a fun game, because you want to play again right away. And the good news is that I did get to play the game again on Friday morning. And each game played out differently because of the wide variety of cards in the game and the choices made on which cards to keep and build.

With those couple of plays, It’s a Wonderful World jumped onto my games wish list. Very fun game.

 

Fertility

The next game in the Hot Games area I played was Fertility. And I must admit that I was initially not interested in the game because of the name. What a strange name for a game. And when I mentioned the name of the game when I got home, I got a bunch of odd stares.

No, it’s not a game about birthing lots of babies.

Instead it’s a game about the fertile lands along the Nile in Egypt.

It’s a tile-laying game where players collect resources based on where they place their domino-style tiles. I felt a little like Kingdomino since each tile is a rectangle with 2 types of terrain. But you’re adding to a central board instead of a personal play area.

When you place a tile, you’ll collect a resource if the type matches a previously placed tile. Then you spend those resources to complete areas on your personal player board for points.

Fertility isn’t a game I had on my radar at all. But after I noticed it on the table and sat down to play it, I was quite impressed. And it’s also a game I wanted to immediately play again. Plus, it’s a game I could see going over well with my family. Simple rules, variable set up, interesting choices, and fun.

And thus, another game was added to my games wish list.

After that, I called it a night.

My first game Friday morning was my second play of It’s a Wonderful World with a couple guys from the Meeple Nation podcast — who I also only get to see every year at SaltCon. A great way to kick off the day!

Then a friend and I decided to play a couple of the games we each got in the math trade.

 

World’s Fair 1893

The first was a game he’d received in the math trade that was also on my trade want list — World’s Fair 1893. It’s another game I’ve been interested in since hearing good things the last few years. So I took advantage of having him just received a copy to play it.

And I really enjoyed it!

Players place influence in different areas of the fair to gain exhibits, tickets, and person cards that will help earn points. It’s an area-control game where majority influence in each area matters for completing exhibits to make sets and gain more points over 3 scoring rounds.

It’s a fun theme with easy to understand rules and interesting choices. And the ferris-wheel style layout adds to the fun.

Area-control games with just 2 players can be tricky, but this game worked well and our final scores were very close. And it made me want to play it with more players to see how play out differently. I’ll definitely be looking to play World’s Fair 1893 again. (Too bad it’s also a hard game to find a copy of.)

Update July 2021 – See our full review of World’s Fair 1893.

 

Mr. Jack in New York

Next we pulled out a game that’s a 2-player only game — Mr. Jack in New York.

We have a copy of the original Mr. Jack board game and I love the cat-and-mouse, head-to-head deduction in the game. Although the name of the game hearkens to a non-family friendly theme (Jack the Ripper), the game itself doesn’t have any murder in it. It’s essentially a game about one player (the detective) trying to discover which character is Jack in disguise.

And Mr. Jack in New York adds unique game elements that keep the game interesting while still maintaining the deductive fun.

In each round, players take turns choosing which special actions to take. Mr. Jack tries to remain undetected and escape while the Detective tries to whittle town the potential suspects.

It keeps you thinking throughout and I’m happy I now have a copy.

 

Parks

Then it was back to the Hot Games area to play the game that was at the top of my want to play list — Parks.

And it delivered the goods!

In Parks, players have 2 hikers that move along a trail gaining resources which they can exchange to visit US national parks. Each park requires a unique combination of resources that players will have to plan for.

But that’s not the only planning.

Along the trail, hikers can’t move to a space where another hiker already is (without paying a cost). And they can’t move backwards along the trail. So players have to carefully plan which of their hikers they’ll move and to where. Which means players can block others from spaces as well.

Players can also purchase Gear and fill Canteens with water which will help them in various ways along the journey.

After trekking the randomized trails over 4 seasons, the player with the most points wins.

I can totally see why Parks is receiving such high praise. Of course, that also means it’s hard to find a copy of. It seems to be sold out almost everywhere. And when you can find it, prices are super high.

The good news is that one of the friends I played Parks with is a friend that lives nearby and he wants a copy of it. So I’ll hold off on getting Parks myself and will look forward to borrowing his copy once he gets it. Isn’t that what friends are for?

 

Rune Stones

Another Hot Game I had near the top of my list was Rune Stones by Queen Games. I’ve enjoyed every Queen Games game I’ve played and one of my most-played games is Kingdom Builder, which is also published by Queen. So I had high hopes for Rune Stones.

Rune Stones was introduced as a deck-building, deck-deconstructing game. Which means that you spend part of the game building up your personal card deck by adding more cards. But when you use cards to take actions, you play two cards and one of those cards will be tossed from your deck.

It’s a very unique mechanism and makes for thoughtful play throughout the game. Of course you’ll want to play cards for the good things you’ll get when you do. But when it also means one of those cards will be lost to you, you’ll think twice about when to play each card.

I enjoyed my first play of Rune Stones and look forward to playing more — because I came hope with a copy of this one!

Update July 2020 – Our full review of Rune Stones is here!

 

Chronicles of Crime

While it wasn’t on the Hot Games list, Chronicles of Crime could be considered a hot game because I’ve been seeing a ton of high praise for the game.

So when a friend told me he had a copy and could bring it to SaltCon, I told him I’d be all on board with that!

And it didn’t disappoint.

Chronicles of Crime is a cooperative board game that bridges the gap between board games and digital games.

Each card in the game has a QR code on it and players scan the codes with their phones to interact with the thing depicted on the card — locations, characters, and items. In addition, when at a location, players can enter a VR scene to look around for evidence.

The game comes with many scenarios that present different crimes to solve. And with the technology integration, every card will present something different in the various scenarios. For example, the Food item card in one game may be a piece of poisoned cake while in another something completely different.

Very cool game.

 

Welcome To…

The last game of SaltCon form me was a Welcome To… It’s a “roll & write” game without the roll.

Roll & Write games have become extremely popular over the last couple years. And we reviewed one recently that we’ve played tons of — That’s Pretty Clever. But in Welcome To… players choose among numbered cards to add house numbers to their growing neighborhood scoresheet. They also take the corresponding action next to that card.

It’s a quick game to play and I can see why it’s become very popular. I’d happily play it again, but I didn’t find it as fun or as long-lasting as other roll & write games I’ve played.

 

Other happenings

While Welcome To… was the last board game I played at SaltCon, it wasn’t the last game I played.

I capped off the night, and my whole SaltCon experience this year with a Family Feud game hosted by the Meeple Nation podcast folks.

We packed a conference center room with about 11 teams of 4 to face off in a Family Feud style game for prizes.

The topics were fun and the hosts are fantastic.

Unfortunately, I had to leave before the final round, so I didn’t get to be a part of the final scoring build-up over the last few categories. But it was a great way to finish off another fun SaltCon for me.

While other things were definitely occupying my mind through my time at SaltCon, it was a fun respite to get together with friends and do something fun.

(Plus I’m really glad SaltCon was last weekend and not this weekend or the whole thing would have been cancelled! And that would have been a real shame.)

And like usual, I’m already looking forward to doing it again next year.