SaltCon 2022 Recap – 22 Games Played

SaltCon Games — So many people having a great time learning and playing games at SaltCon Spring 2022!

I had a fantastic first weekend of March because I was hanging out and playing tons of games with my friends at SaltCon Spring 2022!

I look forward to this 4-day gaming event with much anticipation every year. And it was especially great this year because the air was finally clearing around the Covid pandemic. Which means we could see the smiling faces of the 1,700 or so people who came out to play all sorts of games.

This year I was once again able to attend 3 full days of the event and it felt great. Plus, the bonus this year was that 2 of my good friends were able to come for the full experience as well. Which meant we had an easy time diving into game after game because we already had 3 players set. And another good friend that I only see at SaltCon was also there and joined us for most games.

If you’ve followed our reviews for a while, then you’ve probably already read all about the great portions of SaltCon:

The wonderful Game Library with 2,000+ games where you can check any game you’d like to play.
The Hot Games tables that have 10 dedicated games set up with instructors to teach the latest games most people are wanting to try out.
Game Tournaments where you can play your way to the top.
The Game Swap and Math Trade where you can purge your games and come home with different ones.
The every-growing rooms for Roll Playing Games.
Play-To-Win Games where you can play games that will be given to lucky winners at the end.
Miniature Painting instruction and experience.
And much more.

To dive into the fun as soon as I could, I took both Thursday and Friday off of work. And since it’s about an hour drive away from home, my friends and I grab a hotel room near the convention center to make playing late into each night easier. Which all means that once the doors open Thursday morning, it’s time to set regular daily concerns aside and just have fun playing games.

Here’s the quick list of all the games I played – with my thoughts on each of them described below.

After breezing through registration Thursday morning, I met up with a couple of friends I’ve played a lot of games with over the years at SaltCon and we dove into New York Zoo. I’d seen good reviews of it and since it’s a tile-laying game, it caught my interest. It’s one we checked out from the SaltCon Game Library and dove right into it. Players add differently shaped tiles to expand their zoo areas and then populate them with animals. I really like the way tiles are drafted by moving the elephant around the central board. And as it crosses different places around that board, different animals breed – adding more animals to those enclosures if you have 2 or more of that animal already. So even though each player is building out their own zoo, what one player chooses in the center can have a big impact on the next player’s options. I can see why it’s been a hit.

We then dove into a board game where every player sort of played their own game – Merchants Cove. It’s a game with a central market board where each player sells things they’re making in their personal play area. There are many different roles and each plays very differently. For example, I was the Blacksmith and I was rolling dice to fire up the smelter to make weapons to sell. Another player was the Captain who had a spinner and would send ships out to find goods to bring back to market. Another player was the Alchemist who was dealing with marbles to make potions to sell. And another player was the Dragon Rancher who was raising dragons for market. It has fantastic components and looks so cool on the table. However, with so much happening individually and independently, it was just too disjointed for my gaming tastes.

Then it was time to head to the Hot Games tables and try out some of the latest games. The first one we dove into was Dice Miner. It’s a unique dice game where players draft dice from the mountain to score the most points. It’s played over 3 rounds and at the start of each round, the custom dice are rolled and placed in the mountain. The game name is appropriate because it feels like you’re mining down to the good stuff because on your turn you can only take a die from the exposed edges (unless you have a special ability to do otherwise). Because it’s such a quick game, we played it twice before moving on to another hot game.

We may not know how to pronounce it, but we had a great time playing Nidavellir. It’s a bidding game where players simultaneously choose their coins to bid with. It’s also a bit like pre-programming because you slot all your bids in at the start of the round. Then row by row, they’re revealed and compared. The player who bid the highest is the first to recruit a character from that row to their growing clan (draft a card from the center). Each type of character will score differently so players need to balance the types they add to their clan. One really cool aspect of the game is that players are also able to upgrade their bidding coins over the course of the game. We all had a great time playing and definitely want to play again.

At that point, it was nice to take a break, walk around a bit, peruse the exhibitor area, and chat with friends. Then we found a new game table to play at and we broke out some of our own games that we brought with us. The first of those we played was the new Valeria: Card Kingdoms. The game first came out in 2016 and I played it at SaltCon that year. I’ve had it on my wish list since then and then this year Daily Magic Games published a brand new edition with only slight changes. In doing so, it also hit store shelves at a much lower cost while still maintaining the great quality. So I quickly bought a copy. It’s a lot like Machi Koro but with a fantasy theme. And I like it a lot more than Machi Koro because players get to use abilities for each die that’s rolled plus the combination of the dice. So if I roll a 3 and a 4, I get to take the actions of the 3, 4, and 7 cards that I have in my group. Plus, even when it’s not your turn to roll the dice, you still get the benefits from the results. So everyone is engaged in playing the whole time and you can build up resources quickly. Very fun.

To wind down a bit, we shifted to some very light card games before dinner. The first was Control where we played in teams. Players try to reach 21 with the cards played in front of them. On their turn, players can either draw or play cards. Each card also has a special ability that may activate when played in front of a player or when discarded. The mix of choosing when to play to build your own area or disrupt the other players makes for a fun time.

Then we played a quick game of Love Letter: Batman. Well, I shouldn’t say “quick” because it actually lasted a bit longer than usual because there wasn’t a runaway leader and we all were close to winning in the final round.

After grabbing a late dinner we headed to the hotel where we played one final game for the day – Titan Race. It’s a game I actually got in trade at SaltCon in 2017 and had never played until now. I’ve had great intentions of playing it for game night over the years since up to 6 people can play. But we just never got it to the table until this year. It’s a very simple race game where players roll a set of dice and then draft one to use. The next player then gets to draft and use one of the remaining dice and so on. Players each have a special ability and can gain cards that grant more abilities. There are plenty of double-sided race boards too so there’s lots of replay value in this quick game.

We know that the Hot Games tables stay pretty full on Friday and Saturday so we jumped right into them as soon as they opened on Day 2. And the first one we played was Cascadia. It’s a puzzly tile-laying and token-drafting game that I really enjoyed. Players build out their own area made up of different habitats and wildlife of the Pacific Northwest. They do so by drafting a tile and animal token combo on their turn and then adding both to their growing area. Players earn points for having the largest connect areas of the different habitats as well as by different animal patterns. For example, the elk score by being in groups, the hawks by being separated, the salmon by being in lines, bear by being in only small groups, and the foxes by being surrounded by a variety of animals. Not only does each animal score differently from the other animals, but each animal has multiple scoring cards with slight variations in their scoring. A random scoring card is chosen for each animal each game. For example, elk still score for being in a herd, but the shape of the herd will be different. This reminded me a lot of Kingdom Builder (still one of my favorite games) where in each game players must work towards different scoring conditions. It offers a ton of replay value. And, yes, all of us quickly added Cascadia to our wish lists.

We next jumped over to another Hot Game I’d had on my “want to play” list, Witchstone. Now that I’ve played it, I find it a tricky game to describe. There’s a central board where players are placing their witches and building their network. And players have their own personal cauldron board where they add hex tiles to get the actions that allow them to do things on the main board. There are plenty of choices to make at each step of the way that our first play took a couple of hours. We’re sure that with repeat plays it would go faster due to familiarity, but it’s still a longer game. While I did like elements of the game (like the adding hexes to our cauldrons to take more powerful actions as the game progressed) it was hard to choose one strategy and stick with it throughout the game. If I wasn’t drawing the right hexes for my personal board, then I couldn’t progress on the main board the way I had planned. So, unfortunately, Witchstone was a let-down for me.

Since that game had taken a couple of hours, we decided to grab lunch before diving into another long board game, Terraforming Mars. I had only played Terraforming Mars once before, years ago. So I knew the general flow of the game. However, it was the first time play for the other 3. The good things was that we had someone who knew the game very well teach us. As we played through the game, I was reminded of my thoughts about the game after my first play–that I didn’t care for it. I know it’s a super popular game. However, I have also now confirmed that it’s not a game for me.

The Crew: Mission Deep Sea is and even better game than the original.

After 2 long games, it was time to jump into a lighter game for a while with The Crew: Mission Deep Sea – which is a fantastic follow-up game to The Crew: Quest for Planet Nine. In one sense it’s a reimplementation of the game since it’s a standalone game with the same basic gameplay and goal. It’s a cooperative, trick-taking card game where players must jointly complete specific objectives each game. We loved the original game and enjoy this new version even more because of how the missions are decided. See our full review of the game here.

Then we dove into another game I’d brought along that I had last played at SaltCon 5 years ago – Quadropolis. In the game, players acquire building tiles from a central board and then place them on their own growing metropolis board. The catch is that players must place the new tile on a space on their board that matches the number they used to claim the tile. Players score points for the various types of building tiles (shop, park, harbor, apartment, etc) and how they’re arranged in their city. I like games with a puzzle-type element and Quadropolis definitely fits that bill.

After city-building, we played a game that I’d just picked up that day in the Math Trade – River Dragons. The game has a very simple goal – to be the first player to cross the board to your target home on the other side of the board using stones and planks. However, each turn, players simultaneously choose which card to play. Everyone has the same set of cards that include placing and / or removing stones and planks, moving, jumping, or canceling another player’s card. Which means it’s a mix of choosing your own good moves as well as guessing what the other players are going to play that might ruin your plans (and work to ruin theirs). It’s a light and fun game that plays up to six players – which can be a bit chaotic as everyone is trying to cross paths.

As if we hadn’t had enough of long games on Day 2, after dinner we decided to end the night with a game of Brass: Birmingham. Since I had just gotten the game in trade that day, it was a first time playing for each of us. Well, I should correct that – because just after we’d gotten it all set up, another attendee saw it and asked if he could join us and teach us the game (since he had played it a number of times and likes it). Since we’re always going to opt for someone teaching the game rather than pouring through the rules for a first play, we said yes.

However, it was also during this game that I realized how important a good game teacher factors into the enjoyment of a game. And we didn’t luck out this time. His instructions were disjointed and as such, we got caught up scratching our heads too many times during the game. With it being a long game and late at night, it wasn’t a good combination. I read the rules the following week and this economic-themed game makes so much more sense now. I hope my buddies will be willing to give it another go, because it’s a game I think I’ll enjoy much more with repeat plays.

Quests of Valeria is a light set-collection, card game.

After a good night’s rest, we were ready to dive in for our final day of games at SaltCon. We started off with one of the games that all attendees were given as they entered – Quests of Valeria. The theme of the game is an off-shoot of Valeria: Card Kingdoms which we had played the first day, so it was helpful to already be familiar with the iconography on the cards. It’s a set-collection game where players recruit characters to fulfill different quests (essentially match the icons listed on quest cards). It was a light and quick game to give us a fresh start to the day.

With our thinking caps back on, it was time to play Evolution: Climate. We reviewed the original version of Evolution when it first came out many years ago (8 years to be exact). While this standalone, latest version of the game maintains the same basic game flow, it feel more polished. And that’s a great thing. The addition of changing climate and events that occur based on the climate changes give players one more thing to consider when creating and evolving their species. And in our game at SaltCon, the event that triggered in our last round due to climate was massive! It knocked out the entire food supply which meant a bunch of species went extinct. And that, in turn, shifted the balance of who pulled out the victory and left a memorable impression on all of us.

Treasure Hunter board game — See the treasure, then draft cards to hopefully be able to claim the treasure you want.

Treasure Hunter was the next game we dove into. It’s also another game that I’d bought a while back but hadn’t yet played. So I brought it along to SaltCon to get in our first play. It’s a card-drafting game where players hope to claim the most treasure from the central board. Each round, random treasures are set out in different zones. Each player is dealt a hand of 9 cards, selects one to keep and passes the rest. After doing that 9 times, everyone now has their set of cards that they’ll use to claim (or not) the treasures and fight off the trolls. We played with 4 players and had a fun time, but I’m also interested to see how it plays with a full 6 players. Good thing it’s one I own and will get a chance to play it with that many players soon.

Since we were then in the treasure-hunting mood, we pulled out a dungeon-crawler game in the Arcadia universe – Masmorra: Dungeons of Arcadia. There are two different modes of play and we chose to play as a cooperative game. Players roll a pool of dice and then use those dice to carry out actions. The monsters are represented by chunky blue dice. Most of the times when a monster spawns, players roll the blue die to see which monster appears. We had a fun time playing, but unfortunately we were overwhelmed by so many monsters chasing us that it ended in defeat for the heroes.

At this point, most of those we had been playing with headed home. As we were then down to 2 players, I grabbed Gods Love Dinosaurs from the game library. It’s a game I played at SaltCon last year and really enjoyed. So I was interested in seeing how it played with just 2 players. And I’m happy to report that it scales very well based on the number of players. With just 2 players, each player has a lot more control on when different animals spawn and the predators go hunting. I was happy to play it again and still have it on my game wish list.

To finish out SaltCon Spring 2022, my remaining buddy and I played a couple of 2-player pure strategy games that he’s just bought from a SaltCon exhibitor, Binary Cocoa, called Bullrings and Roo. Both games look beautiful on the table and the components are excellent. And the game play of each was very unique. In Bullrings, players are trying to get all their pieces into 1 stack. The catch is that players place their opponent’s pieces on the board. Plus, each piece has a number on it that designates how many spaces it can move. It’s a tricky game as the game board itself has paths that curve and turn in wild ways. Very fun.

Roo is likewise a fun game with its own unique game play. It’s a game about jumping one of your stones over other stones – kind of like in checkers – but you can go in any direction and over as many pieces as you want. After jumping, you get to add white stones to the grid based on how many jumps you made. The goal is to make a jump such that you get your piece into the center of the board after having jumped at least one of your opponent’s stones on that same turn. With so many options in play, it can be deceptive in how to best move around the board and set yourself up to win while keeping your opponent’s options limited. Pretty cool game and we should have a full review soon.

And with that as a final game, SaltCon 2022 was a wrap for me.

So fun to play so many games over a few days. It was also nice to give my brain a bit of a rest from learning new games after that weekend.

Still not convinced? Check out the SaltCon promo video.