Wellycon XI

Last weekend, J and I went to Wellycon XI, a very popular board game convention in Wellington. Our friends Christophe and Anaïs told us about it, and I'm so glad, because it was a interesting and enjoyable experience. Lots of people come and bring their favourite games to share with others, and game designers come with prototypes (not sure if that's the right word when it comes to a game, but I'm going with it) and people can try them out, give feedback, and potentially support the game on sites like Kickstarter. There are also lots of games for sale at discounted prices.

When we got there, we went into the main room, and saw lots of people looking like they were having a great time playing all kinds of games. They put up signs if they were looking for more people to play with them, so you knew where to join in.

We decided to try a new game ourselves first, and chose Kodama, because it was beautiful.

In Kodama, you create a tree, and get points for the various objects (like caterpillars, clouds, and mushrooms) on the branches. It was quite fun, and lovely to look at, and I think would be good to play with children.

J pointed out that I needed to take a picture of his creation, as it was the winning tree, and therefore more impressive.

Next, we joined two nice ladies to try out Flaming Pyramids, a very fun game that is in the design phase and raising money on Kickstarter. The husband of one of the ladies created it, and we were very impressed, as it was simple to understand, but had lots of strategy built in. I highly recommend it, and am considering donating to the Kickstarter, as I think it is a worthwhile game to support. You can click here if you'd like to learn about it.

We then tried Alchemists, which we soon discovered is the most complicated game in the universe. We spent well over an hour just trying to figure out what in the world we were supposed to be doing, slogging our way through the multitude of steps to get through our first turns, only to discover that many of the rules change as you progress further into the game, at which point we gave up. It had some great aspects, and was pleasingly scientific for J, but it seemed to us that the creators put in every cool or interesting idea or twist that occurred to them, and the result was an unmanageable mass of complication. It might be a great game once you have put in the many hours it would take to understand it, but I have to say, I'm not sure it's worth it.

After a quick return to Flaming Pyramids to clear our heads, we had a go at Hey, That's My Fish! which was delightful, simple, and included adorable penguins, so that's a win.

Some people then invited us to play Camel Up with them. It's based on a camel race, in which you bet on which camel will be ahead each round, and it was actually lots of fun. We were lucky to play with a group of people who were committed both to playing well and having fun, and weren't too worried about winning or losing, which is a hard combination to find. We played two games, and then noticed that somehow it had gotten to be rather late at night, and it was time to head home.

Wellycon is an annual event that runs for two days, and I think that next year, I'd like to spend more time there, as playing board games is one of my favourite things, and it is wonderful to have lots of people ready to spend hours doing so. Plus, it is great to be able to try out games before buying them, so you know what you're getting into. There are also tournaments, but we didn't participate in them, and I think I'll stick to just exploring.