Origins 2008 Recap

So the Origins Game Fair is over and once again it was a nerdy fun time was had by all. The CABS Board Room was, once again, the place to be for board gaming and the free games from Rio Grande attracted an even larger crowd than usual.

I played too many games to list them all: some old favorites, some new ones of interest, and a few stinkers. Highlights were:

The auction where I got the big purchase I was looking for, Battlelore along with the Hill Giant figure and Call to Arms exansion, at a severe discount and if that wasn't enough I bought a 3M edition of Acquire and a brand new copy of Reef Encounter for just pennies on the gaming dollar. I got in a game of Acquire early the next morning and Reef Encounter the next day and I had no complaints on either purchase. Speed Circuit was a mistake; not only were there many copies available after I purchased mine but I took an Avalon Hill edition and the better 3M editions were available (complete with metal cars!) at a dollar each and my copy was missing rules and components. I still have Ricochet Robots from the auction to play but at least that one is in shrink wrap so it is likely complete.

I did particularly poorly in the Settlers of Catan world qualifier. In my first two games I was completely knocked out of the competition by some spectacularly bad luck (we're talking about hitting a trifecta twice in a row level of unlikelyhood; in one game I had a better than 1 in 2 chance of getting resources on any given roll and I still went more than fifteen rolls without developing anything). By the time the third game came around I went a bit whacky and while I could have done better I didn't. The last game I won handily with, finally, a little bit of luck that went my way but it was way too late.

For the actual games I finally got to try Race for the Galaxy as the absolute last game of the con for me. It was a brilliant expansion on the mechanics already used in San Juan and I was disappointed that it was out of print. I also got to try Shogun which was marvelous as a deep euro-style game with an American design sensibility.

Naturally I had a great time and always wish there was more time to play everything. But there's always next year.