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.

NH Game Jam

Back in May, I decided to make a brand-new game with 2 strangers in 36 hours. Crazy, you say? Just a tad. The inaugural NH Game Jam sounded like a good idea and if not, at least a lot of fun. Even WMUR stopped by for a visit.

I work in software but not a start-up. That means some late nights or early mornings, but I have yet needed to work an all-nighter. And for that, I am very grateful. But even someone who loves sleep can get a bit jealous over tales of Hackathons or a least a bit curious.


So I signed up. 

The first night we were informed of the theme, the number 13. The video game designers can prepared with teams, but the board game folks draw names from a hat to determine with who we would be spending our next 36 hours. That's when I met Tony and Charles and got to work.

Through the night and day and the next night, we crafted what we thought was a quick, fun monster mash-up game. There are several kinds of monsters such as Bogzilla, Giant Ants, Werewolves and Dragons. It was important to us that it be playable by all ages. 

In the end, we wished we had more time and possibly a little more sleep. None of the folks on my team had ever designed a game before and I have to say I'm proud at what we were able to pull off. Also, a sweet touch was that all three of us hand drew the cards for our play-test deck. 

Although it had it's quirks, I think the first NH Game Jam was great. There are a few logistical tweaks, such as a more formal time for everyone to play test each other's games, to work through, but that's just first time event detail work. 

As for me, I'm hoping another one's somewhere on the horizon, now that I've had a chance to catch up on my rest. 

This past weekend, I attended my second PAX East.

I spent a lot of time trying new tabletop games in the Demo area and hanging out in Indie Games. I have friends with massive game collections so I can try games easier than most, but picking and choosing randomness that even they might not have/want, is priceless.

Shouts out to all the people who played games like Shadowfist, HexHex, Legend of the Cipher, Food Fight, Lords of Waterdeep and that cool magnet game with me.You all helped rock my PAX! None of that girls drool and fake geek girl nonsense here.

I do have to get better on the “let’s play more games” together bit though. Seriously.

Surprise surprise that the support-local-support-small-business girl loved Indie Games. I am especially in love with Color Sheep. I heart Woolson the sheep. He is now one of my desktop backgrounds. Oh and a non-digital indie note, I picked up Freemarket. That game was created for me. I may have thrown my hands in the air and shouted “YES!” as it was described for me. Post-apocalypse, sci-fi, non-killing ‘cause everyone’s mostly immortal RPG? Bring it on! Ridiculously excited about this game. If only I could pull myself away from that damn sheep.  

I didn’t move around the con much this year, no panels, no concerts, no classic console gaming, etc. So on the whole, my experience seemed a little disjointed or maybe unbalanced. I’m still trying to figure it out. But I have a theory and why yes, it does revolve back to that good ole Consumer vs. Producer balance. So glad you noticed.

Maybe I’m spoiled.

PAX isn’t the only convention I attend. Don’t be too jealous, I started my con going late in life. Well late-ish since I was at the tail end of my twenties. I make the rounds to sci-fi conventions, comic-cons and this year, the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) which was held in Boston. At those, I always find something that inspires me to create something or explore ideas, such as writing that short story idea I’ve been noodling, reading a new books or trying new costuming elements.

I’m not sure that attending panels or the QAs or more concerts would help this sinking feeling. I could be wrong, and feel free to point it out to me, but those seem to boost and foster that sense of community.  I definitely dig the “people here get me” community that happens at cons. That in and of itself is a big part of why I attend. But it’s not my sole purpose for going.

Of course, again,  I’m might be spoiled.

At home with I have a solid circle of friends is just as geeky and creative as me. Granted it isn’t 24/7, but anytime I want to hold a Grill Friday or attend a Games by PlayDate event or shout out on Twitter, they’re there.

None of this will prevent me from attending more PAXs, on the contrary I’ll keep going, having fun and exploring. I guess this is my own personal Dead Dog party back into the introspection of post-con reality.