Airecon - welcome to the real world.
It's been months since the last real-world con I've had the pleasure of attending. Airecon is sold as the second-largest board game convention in England (first is UKGE, or simply the 'Games Expo' to the locals). Unlike bigger cons, the amount of space available for open gaming is several times more than the space for the commercial booths / trading zone. As this is where I spent most of my time (between helping at the Playtest UK booth and meandering through the trade hall), this is where most of my attention was focused.
A great look at Library Labyrinth - a funded game that's a co-op adventure and lots of fun.
I really love these larger-than-life versions of games. With this one, Deckchairs on the Titanic, you're doing... well, just that - rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic for tips. A surprisingly thinky sort of game.
One of several open gaming zones, all of which stayed surprisingly busy even after the trade hall closed.
When not meandering, I had the privilege of trying out some games at the Playtest UK zone - this one's called Tidal Dash by Posh Pigeon Games, and had players placing cards (representing the tide going out) and removing cards (representing the tide coming in)
When it's time to eat, several food trucks were parked in a loading area mere meters from the doors. I would've liked a bit more space to eat, but there were enough nooks and crannies to not be in the way.
The classic poutine. OMG - absolutely amazing.
The raffle was one of the most well-attended events I saw... and I misunderstood what was happening... I was under the impression that you threw your tickets into the bowl, and they'd draw out numbers and the person would win their choice of the games on the table...
Nope. If your ticket was called, you won ALL the games on the table. Not bad for a 50p ticket.
Had a great time at the Longpack party, especially with this larger-than-life inflatable friend from the Throw Throw Burrito extreme outdoors edition. Actually throwing this thing would be a challenge, but kinda flinging it with two hands, sure totally doable.
Kin to the aforementioned game is Throw Throw Avocado, which changes some rules (I think) but also puts these incredibly cute avocados in the box!
A bit of Awkward Guests in the open gaming area - think Clue on steroids with a lot more circulating information and difficulty levels.
It was getting late on Saturday night, but games of Blood on the Clocktower were still going strong. I'm not sure if they were playing with the characters from the 'Sects and Violets' base set, but I'm told this is the craziest sort of setup of them all. Good guys get tons of information, while evil guys have a lot of different types of powers...
Probably my favorite game of the con - So Clover! Take one plastic four-leaf clover and place four square cards on it. Your goal is to write a connecting word for the two words along each edge... When done, take the cards, shuffle them together, then add one decoy card from the deck. Everyone else has to figure out where the cards went, but also in which orientation.
Ian Brocklebank leading a playtest of his game Protection Racket back at the Playtest UK booth.
If you've enjoyed Villages, watch out for Moon - a little more complicated by the looks of things, but a lot more things to think about.
If you've ever thought of making something with a 3-D printer, THIS is what to make. The middle section holds a standard issue can of soda, but adds the handle and the old-world style.
My favorite prototype that I saw at the Playtest UK booth, and I don't even remember its name! Each player sits across from their opponent. Your goal is to connect 4 on each side using the thin wooden dowels of your color. Insert through your side, then guide the stick to a hole on the opposing side. You can't touch your stick while in the middle area, and naturally the already placed sticks can get in the way of the stick you want to place...
AKA 'that game with the bottle, mouse, chair, book, and ghost', Ghost Blitz is a game of grabbing the right piece as fast as you can. Flip a card, which will have two items in two different colors. You want to grab the piece of the color that's not shown... but there are some exceptions to that... and then things get weird.
Overall...
I'm so glad I went. It was great to play games in the real world, having played so many of them in the virtual space for so long. I didn't go in expecting to do a ton of pitching, and there were just a couple of publishers I had been meaning to talk to (note to self: follow up with them...). UKGE's the place to do more pitching, while Airecon's the place to do some playing.
The highlight, beyond playing lots of games, was the Bring'n'Buy. A special sticker marked items donated for Ukraine and enabled you to pay what you want for them - between those and the traditional marked price offerings, I came away with a number of games to start building a little collection... or to play with some more components...
See you at Airecon 2023 from March 10-12th! For more about the con, see https://www.airecon.co.uk/.