Finally made it to Unity Games

I finally made it to Unity Games. This year's day long tabletop gaming jubilee, Unity Games XX, took place at the Danvers Doubletree Hotel in Danvers, Mass. A friend has been posting on Facebook for a couple years, but I would keep forgetting about it, possibly due to it's proximity to Arisia. I corralled my friend, Bobby, and off we went.

After Registration, my first stop was the Teaching area. For me, the Teaching area was smaller, quieter and had scheduled demo games. Perfect for the first timer.


I found a table filling up to play Medici, an auction-style game where you try to fill up your boat with the best goods and then sell them at market. Both the game mentor and the players encouraged me to stay. Our game mentor was well prepared with individual instruction sheets, did a great job explaining the rules and gave hints on different strategies we could employ.  The table was a mix of women and men, half and half actually, and we all had such different strategies and personalities. Very fun game with a very fun group.

We wandered back into the main hall, but still felt a wee bit overwhelmed, so both Bobby and I headed back to the Teaching area. A post-apocalyptic game that looked intriguing, sp I chatted with the game mentor. His teaching style didn't quite mesh with my learning style, but what sealed the deal, was when I realized he was speaking to my friend and not to me. Silly really as Bobby wanted to go try something completely different. 

Instead I jumped at the chance to play Pitch Car, a game where you flick cars around a track to race them, with an exuberant group that asked if I wanted in (after seeing my very excited reaction a half hour earlier.) They had set up one of the hardest track patterns ever, but well all had a blast, cheering each other on or agonizing in defeat. 

Finally, we were on our last little bit and decided it was time to tackle the main room. There's a handy area where you can stand if you're looking to play a game or if you have a specific game you want to play. A gentleman walked by with Concordia, which I had seen and wanted to try, so off we went, picking up a fourth player along the way. Concordia was long, so long in fact we had to cut it short at about 2 hours in.  It was a fun game once you learned the mechanics and I see myself trying a full game in the future. 

Unfortunately I had a late start due to some family matters. So instead of 12 hours of gaming, we got in about five; three games in five hours. Phew! To be honest, I was a little worried about how I could spend all day there, mainly would I have the stamina for such a thing. But my five hours proved to me that next year I'll be all in.