Origins Gaming Fair - 2008

Summary
Origins is a great gaming convention. I mostly go for the board gaming, but they have many types of games: roleplaying, card, miniatures, war games, collectible card games, and even LARPing (Live Action Roleplaying). This year I spent two days up at Columbus playing as many games as I could get my hands on. Here is a summary of my experience and games played.

Vendor Hall
This is the vendor hall where the main part of the convention is held. Go here and you can spend hours walking around looking at hundreds of booths of everything you can think of from dice to games to T-shirts to kilts. Spend a lot of your time here just taking it all in and play lots of games that people are trying to sell you (the Rio Grande and Mayfair booths are really great). Most of the major vendors are here and you can find all the new releases and even get to try them out.

Events
Sign up for some events for any specific games that you want to play. I played a 18xx train game where they taught me the rules to one of the more advanced board games that I have played. This is a great way to make sure that you get to play something you have been waiting to play. This does seem to be a more serious side of the convention and some people take the games much more serious than they do in the board room.

Board Room
This is a room run by the CABS club and they offer a library of hundreds of games. You buy a ribbon and you can go here and play as many games as you would like. It’s a bit nerve-racking to go and start up a game if you are the shy type, but well worth the effort. People are always looking for new players for games. Just hang around long enough or start your own game. This place was packed Saturday, but was a ghost town on Sunday. Sunday was pretty much a waste for the board room and I spent most of that day in the Vendor Hall.


Games played

1830
Train game from the 18xx line where you buy and sell stock in train companies to make the most money. This game was interesting and fairly complicated to learn. I found the counting of money very tedious and that definitely hindered my enjoyment of the game. I can see that it could be very strategic, though.

Eketorp
This is a new game from Rio Grande about building up your castle walls. You have to decide whether to spend your time building up your walls, defending your wall, or trying to knock down other people’s walls. The game just wasn’t that interesting. I won, but didn’t feel like I accomplished much. Not great.

Mimic
Mimic is a fairly weak card game about laying down animal cards to make pairs. I did get to play the developer of the game, but that didn’t help it enough.

Race to the Galaxy
I was really looking forward to playing this game. I had read the rules to get somewhat familiar with the game’s mechanics before the convention. I couldn’t find anyone starting to play it, so I checked the game out myself and could only find one person to play with. He didn’t know how to play, so I had to read the rules and teach him, right there. I could not believe how difficult the first game of Race for the Galaxy is. The game is a moderately simple card game that is made very difficult by the symbology on the cards. To make the game more international, there is no text on the cards. They use symbols for everything. After muddling through the first game, I understand how to play, but in that first game, a new player is going to be lost for most of it. I also didn’t think that it was a very deep game. You just seemed to play a few cards and before you know it, the game is over. I was not impressed. This has now dropped off my “go to have” list.

Cuba
This was a very good game from Rio Grande. Cuba is about buying and selling products from a market so you can use those goods to buy new building or ship them off and earn points. Cuba is a very good game that has a Puerto Rico feel, but seems to be much more intuitive. I like this one a lot and it is high on my “must have” list.

Cluzzle
This is a simpler version of Barbarossa. In short, you have to sculpt items from clay that people will be able to guess, but not right away. Good sculpting is not rewarded in this game. This would be a fun, easy version of Barbarossa, but I don’t think Barbarossa needed to be that simplified. Plus, I already own Barbarossa and it is essentially the same game.

Say Anything
This is a cross between Apple to Apples and Wits and Wagers. I would say it is for anyone who likes Wits and Wagers, but doesn’t want to play a trivia game. This is a great party game for people who just want to have fun and laugh at what people come up with. What is the scariest thing you could find in your parents sock drawer? Everyone write down your answers, the host will pick his/her favorite, and laughter will follow.

Hey, That’s My Fish!
Hey, That’s My Fish is a simple game where you hop your penguin from iceberg to iceberg trying to get the most tiles and trying to trap the other players on a small iceberg. It is great for young kids and adults.

Warhammer Online
I know this is not a board game, but they had a demo of the MMORPG at the convention. If you have played World of Warcraft, then you already know how to play this game. It didn’t seem to be that big of a difference from WOW, though; so I don’t know if it will drag people away from WOW. It was amusing for the short amount of time that I played.