Last week Wednesday, I discussed the first five games I am hoping to demo at Gen Con. Today I will be discussing five more games that have caught my eye, and next week I will share my final five games. Some of these games are releasing at Gen Con, some of these games may have been out for a little while, but they are all new to me!
The Quacks of Quedlinburg: The Herb Witches
Everyone in my family has fallen in love with the Quacks of Quedlinburg by North Star Games, this is usually a cause to celebrate because it means great time spent together. However, the base game only has enough player boards for up to four players, and my family has five people in it. Luckily, The Herb Witches is releasing at Gen Con and adds a fifth player. Additionally, it adds Witches Coins, a new mechanic which seems to allow players an additional fail-safe and another element of depth to the game. I am also interested in checking out how the new ingredients interact with game play. All in all, this is an expansion I have been excited about since first playing Quacks of Quedlinburg. I can’t wait to check it out!
Truck Off: The Food Truck Frenzy Roll & Write
Truck Off: The Food Truck Frenzy from Adam’s Apple Games has been incredibly successful in my classroom. I love that I can teach it in five minutes on open game day, and feel fairly confident that my students will under the game and have fun playing it. When I saw that Adam’s Apple Games was coming out with a roll and write version that could play up to 99 people, I was ecstatic. I am hoping that the game is equally easy to teach, and will appeal to my students just as much as the other version. I am also interested to see what changes are made to the game to make it fit this format. The other game had a lot of elements of player interaction and take that, which I see being more difficult in a roll and write. Whether the game is similar or not to the original, I trust that it will be good. Adam’s Apple Games is one of our favorite publishers, because they provide quality, easy to teach games.
Cat Cafe
Cat Cafe from Alley Cat Games is another roll and write that frankly caught my eye because of theme. I absolutely adore cats, and I am excited to see a cat theme being created with the roll and write mechanic. I have been really enjoying roll and writes because the majority are very easy to teach, but they can be relatively thinky for such short games. The art in this one is adorable, and I look forward to seeing if the strategy in the game appeals to me as much as the cats do.
Legendary Forests
Legendary Forests from Iello is a tile placement game, where each player will be building a tableau using the exact same tiles, in the exact same order. I love this concept because players will have the same resources available, but because there is specific scoring conditions that must be met in order to score. It requires players to plan ahead and rewards strategic game play. It also interests me because the game features simultaneous game play, with little downtime between turns. I love when players are engaged throughout the entire game.
Hats
Hats from ThunderGryph Games appeals to me on multiple levels. First, the Alice in Wonderland theme excites me. As I mentioned in my prior post, I am always on the lookout for a good Alice in Wonderland themed game. It is one of my favorite pieces of literature, and is something I have connected with since I was a child. Second, after reading a description of the game, I am excited about the mechanics. The game seems to mix mechanics from some of my favorite filler games, such as Fantasy Realms and Arboretum. The mix of gorgeous artwork and mechanics I have liked in prior games has me intrigued.
The Meeple Street 