Post Essen 2010 Thoughts

Well, Essen 2010 just ended. No, I didn't get to go, but thanks to our electronic age (and age of digital communication), I was able to sit in on a bit of it via Board Game Geek's live video. Of course, I also read the daily reports from Patrick Korner, Frank Kulkman, and Dale Yu. I also kept up with the gaming "polls" issued both by Fairplay magazine and by the 'geek.

It seems that the main "hits" of the show this year centered around two games - 7 Wonders and Troyes. 7 Wonders was expected, it had received by far the most buzz before the convention and I had already pre-ordered it weeks ago. However, Troyes was a surprise. It came out of nowhere from a small publisher - Pearl. More about the game later.

Here were the final polls - first from Fairplay:

7 Wonders Repos Production 1,84 126

Troyes Pearl Games 1,98 64

Navegador PD-Verlag 2,04 79

Age of Industry Treefrog 2,05 39

Olympus Stratelibri 2,11 47

First Train to Nürnberg Argentum 2,12 34

Key West Spiele-Idee 2,13 31

Vinhos Whats Your Game 2,18 40

Florenza Placentia 2,23 30

Habemus Papam 1655 DDD Verlag 2,26 61

The above shows the name of the game, the publisher, then the average rating (1 is best to 6 as worst). The fourth column lists the number of votes given to the game.

The Germans use a comma where we would use a decimal point. So 7 Wonders, produced by Repos, averaged 1.84 per vote, with 126 people voting.

Looking at that list the ones I'm most interested in besides 7 Wonders and Troyes are the next 3 (Navagador, Age of Industry, and Olympus).

The surprise is that London did not make the list. But this is due to the lack of votes. Not enough vote were cast for it to get listed. However, every copy brought to Essen sold! It will be a while before it gets released for the rest of us.

Here were the final totals for the 'Geek:

Junta: Viva El Presidente 4.3 23

Survive! 3.9 28

Phantom League 3.9 22

7 Wonders 3.8 191

Genesis 3.8 92

Troyes 3.8 78

Navegador 3.8 94

Fresco 3.8 145

Dixit 2 3.8 74

Escape from Aliens… 3.8 21

This poll was something of a surprise. Note the total number of votes. Junta got only 23 while 7 Wonders was rated by nearly 200! I put more weight on the games with the higher number of ratings. Survive is an old game being republished. Junta is a dice game similar to Roll Through the Ages. I'm interested in neither. Again you notice that 7 Wonders and Troyes are high as is Navegador, Fresco, and Genesis.

Genesis was another huge surprise. It is actually a game about the 7 days of creation! There is even a clear plastic figure in the game that represents "God." :) The game last for 21 turns - morning, noon, night for each of the 7 days. The players are "angels" carrying out God's creative commands and acts (not exactly theologically correct, but makes for a better game). I would be interested in trying it. And it got a lot of good 'vibes during the week.

As Chuck Parrot accurately pointed out, Navegador (Navigator) is the latest Mac Gertz design using the Rondel (as in Antike, Imperial, Imperial 2030, Hamburgum, etc). That alone got my interest.

Finally, a word about TROYES.

It is designed by the same guy who did Carson City: Xavier Georges, along with a couple of other guys, and is produced by Pearl Games (small publisher). It will hopefully get published for US consumption - but it probably won't show up here until next year. :(

It is a dice rolling game, but with a wrinkle. It requires some unique thinking and planning and the mechanics allow you to "buy" and use the other players' dice rolls! There are three types of dice - Red (Military), White (Religious), Yellow (Civil). Each person has a "character" card that gives them propensities in these three areas (military, religion, civic), which also will influence the type of dice you want to roll. Further, there are events and actions that you will want to achieve that require certain types of dice (both color and total number). Decisions are interesting and affect all other players. When you buy someone's die roll, they have to accept the purchase - but can then use the money made to further their own ambitions. The board looks nice and having read the rules I know it is one I will be interested in purchasing.

One more thing. I'm t-h-i-n-k-i-n-g about going to Essen next year. James indicated he would like to go as well. Anyone else interested? I can do some checking around to get an idea of pricing, etc. The convention itself costs very little (maybe $20 for the week). The main costs would be the flight over, the hotel, and food. I would probably fly over on Monday, October 17, 2011 and return Monday, October 24, 2011. Airline ticket alone currently show about $1500 including all taxes and fees for June 2011 flight - so it isn't cheap. (I currently can't get a quote for an October 2011 flight). I think you can figure another $500-$1000 more for food, hotel, and games you will undoubtedly purchase! I'm not sure I can swing it - but it might be that we can find some cheaper tickets over the course of the year, and I have friends there that could direct us to cheaper hotels that might be within walking distance of the Messe.