Inside GenCon Where Hundreds Of New Board Games Hit The Table

The biggest four days in board gaming are finally here. GenCon in Indianapolis offers everything there is to do in gaming and more.  A dealers' room, playtesting, events to learn new games, art and crafts, LARPing, cosplay, and more. You name it, GenCon probably has it.

Table Talk, WJON's bi-weekly show about board gaming, is at GenCon for three of the four days. William Pankratz of Games by James and I will post an update each day with highlights from what we did and a couple of interviews with gaming insiders or fans.

Thursday was a little bit lighter a day for us, events-wise, because when you go to GenCon you have to save ample time to check out the dealers' rooms with literally hundreds of publishers showing off what is new. We allowed a few hours to roam the dealers' area and check out what they have.

The days started with playing a game of Everdell Journeys. It is the latest in the Everdell line but plays differently than the originals with no game board.  You draft cards, build a path for your Journey, and activate special powers.

After Everdell Journeys, we hit the vendor/dealer room and picked up a load of new games to add to our collection.  After 2 hours of shopping, we played a new quick area control/deck building game called Pond.

We hit a demo of Elizabeth Hargraves' latest "Wingspan Pocket" at 1:00 pm.  It is a really fun, faster version of the original "Wingspan."  It is kind of like "Wingspan" meets "Point Salad"

William and I got to sit down with a representative from Ravensburger games and chatted with her about some of the titles Ravensburger had at GeoCon.  We will have that interview for you when we get back on the next Table Talk on August 8th.

Wrapped up the day playing the game Austrailis.  It is an easy-to-learn, fun-to-play dice drafting game with some area majority mixed in.  You can see some pictures of the games we played and some of the event rooms below.

If you are not at GenCon or can't get here, you can get a taste of it right at Games By James in Crossroads on Saturday. The store is having the "Asmodee Sidequest" on Saturday. You will be able to play a few of the GenCon new releases, actually pick up a copy of the game like you were at GenCon without going there, and more.

The three games you can check out are Gunsen: The Battle for Toshi Ranbo, Azul Kids, and Forest Shuffle: Smokey Mountains.  The Ridgedale Games by James location will be doing the same as will The Source Comics and Games in St. Paul.

Paul Habstritt, WJON

Paul Habstritt, WJON

Paul Habstritt, WJON

Paul Habstritt, WJON