We didn't get that much of a demo, but I could tell it wasn't going to be something I was going to like with the negotiation and betrayal. Each player is trying to gain control in the senate and win imperium through alliances and three card tracks for loyalty categories (I forget what they were) Could give it another chance if it pops up at GenCon.

This was a very polished prototype that everyone really liked. Josh's pick for Game of the Con. Some issues with the rules being a bit unclear. We played with someone who had play-tested the game a few times before so while the rules were in flux he had a bit more clarity on some of the actions. Players bid in secret to set workers in 6 different regions. If more than one region is selected, workers with the lower combat power card from a deck of 5 numbers would get pushed to an adjacent region. the TLDR is your gathering resources and gold tiles to "summon" gods in your tableau and gain points and power to move up each god track.

Stackable 3-hex tiles allow for building a city up, objectives based on the type of city elements on the tiles (parks, pools, Tiles cost based on the position they get overturned and the first one is always free. Specific "plazas" on the tiles multiply the objectives based on the type of city element. Considering this and will check it out again at GenCon.

Not going to lie, I was not into this game when we first started the playthrough, but I did a complete 180 after the first few rounds. Nothing made a lot of sense with how things were connecting, but it opened up really beautifully towards the end. You play different Japanese spirits on their way to transcendence through different activity areas on the board, It's the art on the board made a lot of things more confusing than it should be and it also was a bit overengineered with the number of activities to potentially do. It's a bit of a visual mess at first. Dice worker placement was maybe the focal point as it generates more objective cards for points, but then (I'd describe them as side quests) in moving workers up the path to enlightenment, building temples, and racing up a spirit track. Am looking forward to playing it again now that I understand it, but getting through the rules was kinda fatiguing.

Trick-taking game with numerical cards that can be played as any color so long as that color and number hadn't already been played. Estimate how many tricks you'll win at the beginning and you can't go over or under or will lose.

Build your own hospital by training/hiring doctors and nurses, building treatment areas, and admitting patients all while managing car parking. Healing more critical patients made you more income, but you could also choose to wait for the patients to get sicker before treating them for more money which felt icky. Also, your doctors lose experience over time if they don't keep up training so you can't treat critical patients unless you plan against it.

It had a few of the similar components to Dinosaur Island where you had to gather DNA, make dinosaurs, have security and pens built. The dice rolls dictated what resources you had to work with, and there's an area in which to build your park through drawing out on a grid. It was nice to have a bit more meat on a roll and write.

This was an interesting reserve bidding game built off the core concept of No Thanks, but with a nice complexity added with city, military, economy, and farming tiles that use devastation cards you're bidding to not take to activate for more bidding resources, more points or multipliers.

TBH this was a game very much in the prototype. The objectives didn't actually seem super possible with the "won" bets. because they were more randomized than strategic placement. You were placing 1 of 4 humors on cards and potentially winning different towns on the board. It has promise but needs a bit of polish, which sounded like the designer is working on.

I picked this one up after this demo. It played heavier than the art style would elude to. It's a worker (bee) placement as you build up your honey comb for resources and complete tiles in order to activate honey production to sell. The honeycombs are super clever and activate specific types of nectar based on the placement of markers on the tiles. Also purchased the upgraded components because the bees are fuzzy and it comes with the cutest honey pot!!

Really liked this one and will keep an eye out at GenCon for the prequel of the Fall of the Mountain King as it was described as a bit more robust in the movement. You draft dwarf cards with resources and stack them pyramid-style in your tableau to activate their properties. This drives the tiles you can place in the hall with the objective of building a tunnel to the middle and moving as many shrines as you can to the center sacred ground. Casting spells also helped take your actions further.

Billed as a "lighter" version of a Smartphone, I kinda felt like that wasn't accurate. It's very similar with a few core mechanics changed but I see it as just as crunchy, but more elegantly laid out. There is a lot more opportunity for technological advances and a larger customer base to sell phones and complete the contracts. Also, eliminated was the area control aspect and replaced instead with actions cards at the various stages with conditional abilities. If it were between playing Mobile Markets and Smartphone my opinion wouldn't be strong on which is better TBH.

Not really my bag. I usually like deck builders, but I wasn't super into the co-op contract filling and negotiation to resolve the action cards. It's a very pretty board and I like the idea of acquiring ship parts with special abilities to help your deck.

Bidding with coins for a chance to draft dwarves into your army. Felt like some of the heroes were more OP than others when activated. Really straightforward drafting game, but has a unique coin bidding system that allows for certain outcomes to scale up your coins and get more bidding power over time. I think some of the "Heroes" you can win also help with the more advanced rounds of the game but we didn't make it that far.

Cool "bridge" tile holder for each player to add in the building based on card bids. Must be built in numerical order or else you have to "overbuild" and you short yourself a building. Placing parks do reset the numbers so you're not completely stuck. Each building has a colored shield that has multipliers.

I really liked this one and might also pick it up at GenCon. Gamebrewers looked to have a few titles worth looking into that we didn't demo. I liked the art and feel of this one, you play keys in different banks in districts around the arc de Triomphe and gain control of the real estate (tiles you place each round) by having a presence in the area.

Describing this as Terraforming Mars meets Tetris. I probably would like this game more had the objectives been more balanced in the demo. The shared neighbor objectives sometimes were the exact opposite or completely disincentivized utilizing a powerful track. There's a lot of satisfaction in placing the tiles together. meteors come with certain tiles and you have to build them around life pods or risk destroying them and losing points. The tiles come on a lazy susan and turn based on the player's choice. All other players then must take a tile from the section in front of their marker.

This was a game very much in prototype but the sample items caught my eye and of course, pirates! You're sailing around the treasure map plundering and obtaining resources and the more you collect the bigger the bounty on you when the Navy shows up. I like the combat phase of pulling your pirates vs the navy crew out of a bag and rolling the dice on which way the wind is blowing for more or fewer points was clever. You could also bury treasure to keep it safe by placing coins in a tiny treasure box. Felt like the collection of activities told a nice story.

This was my pick for "Game of the Con". I'd describe the aesthetic as cottage core occult. You have a coven of witches that's trying to avoid suspicion while simultaneously choosing actions. If two or more players’ actions match or match the Septima (which those actions are randomly selected) your suspicion rises. You move your primary witch marker (tied to a card on your tableau with special abilities) across the board area to avoid being caught by the witch hunters and help recruit or heal others to lower suspicion on you. Each player has a set of 6 witch meeples that can be added to the "trial pool" through specific movements on the board. In the event of a witch being caught, the trial will commence with randomly selecting neutral townspeople, other witches, and unfriendly townspeople. If you lose too much credibility, you may lose the primary witch in your coven. I believe there was a lunar cycle for rounds for the end game, but I'm not 100%.

Sobek: 2 Player (we don't believe the "2-Player" call out implies the existence of a "4-Player" Cute tile drafting game where you place an ankh based on tile markers and gather the next tile in either direction. Character tiles randomly placed on the board gave you abilities when played on your turn. The objective was to place sets of 3 or more down for points and different cards contained different multipliers. I enjoyed it a lot, but not enough to pick up.

Also really liked this one. Tableau was a theme park you built and sold concessions and souvenirs at. The property has trees you need to see an arborist remove and attractions could not connect other than diagonally by the corners. I loved the carousel component that sits in the middle of this board and spins to adjust the discounts and additional costs for rides.

I had considered getting this one but actually got it free in a giveaway on the 3rd day. Standard roll and write but I just really enjoyed the different mountains on different grid sheets for different difficulties. The cool part about this one is the several "legacy" packs to open as the game is played more and more over time to unlock different additions like special objectives cards and a bonus mountain grid.