Have you done a show/forum thread about Torres? It is one of my favorites. I've not had many good 2 player games, but with 3 or 4 it is really fun, and every game feels very different.
Yup. You go through three phases building castles as large and as tall as possible. It ticks many things on my "what I love about board games" list including: being fun to play with stacking pieces, the "master" game being completely non-random as all players have the same cards from the start, an easy way to score which doesn't require paper and pens, being fun to play on a "shit, I'm way behind, but can still have fun screwing over other players" kind of level and much more. Also there is a good mechanic for not letting the losing player fall too far behind.
I have many good memories of either winning by a single point or coming second by a single point. It will take too long to explain why this is so much fun, but if you play you'll end up weighing up a really cool complex move that gets a night half way across a the board and up a tower to stop your opponent getting that extra 3 points... or should you move your score up by 3 points?
Anyway, it won game of the year here in Germany which means you can't go that wrong checking it out.
How about a Geeknights mini-con where we pick a hotel for a weekend that will allow us to use a room for boardgaming? I'm not sure how many people are coming from Boston, but the Hartford area is pretty central to Albany, New York City and Boston.
This is true. I can't really think of anything centrally located that's doesn't suck. Hartford has the advantage of being easily accessible by interstate from pretty much any direction. The Mass Pike, 84, 91 and the Merrit Parkway all converge at or near Hartford.
Hotels would also be insanely cheaper than Boston or New York City. There are plenty of choices under $100. (Fairfield Inn, Holiday Inn, Clarion Suites, Homewood Suites, Crowne Plaza, Doubletree, etc.)
The Fishkill area has slightly higher rates (about 20% on average) - but I suspect it's much harder to get to Fishkill via the bus from Boston. Although to be fair, most of the hotels I quoted above are a few miles outside of Hartford, so if you took the bus into Hartford you would still need a ride.
The problem with your cunning plan is that people are talking of coming in from Philadalphia (4 hours), Baltimore (5.5 hours), and Washington, DC (6 hours and change) to Hartford. Notably, it is significantly easier for the Bostonians to get there (1 hour 45 mins). I have driven from the NoVA side of DC to Beacon before and it is painful, especially as traffic can be hellish if you leave from work to attend. I have had days where it took 6 hours to get to Philly from NoVA. Any farther north than Beacon would be really tough for most anyone in the south.
I have driven from the NoVA side of DC to Beacon before and it is painful, especially as traffic can be hellish if you leave from work to attend. I have had days where it took 6 hours to get to Philly from NoVA. Any farther north than Beacon would be really tough for most anyone in the south.
I'm from NoVA and I was hoping that it would be somewhere close to the city so I could take a train. It would be cheaper, faster, and I could just sleep on the way.
Can I stop by the Geek haus this summer? I'm gonna be going to check out RIT, purely on your recommendation. You guys are awesome enough to play some Burning Wheel, watch some anime, or play video games.
It seems to me the best (most central?) location might be north Jersey.
North Jersey seems logical, but most of the hotels in North Jersey are pretty expensive (given the proximity to New York). South/Central Jersey (Exit 11 on the Turnpike and south) are generally a little cheaper. In general just thinking about where people are coming from Jersey is in the middle of everything.
Can I stop by the Geek haus this summer? I'm gonna be going to check out RIT, purely on your recommendation. You guys are awesome enough to play some Burning Wheel, watch some anime, or play video games.
As much as we love our listeners, you can't come to our house. Sure we know you through the Internet, but you're still effectively a complete stranger. Would you invite a stranger from the Internet into your house? Also, you might feel like you know us very well because you listen to us talk for hours every week, but we don't know you at all.
If we do a boardgaming thing of some sort we will probably do it in a place that is very convenient for us, regardless of who else it is convenient for. If even five people show up, that is enough for awesome game action. If this happens it isn't going to be an entire convention, just a one-time private gaming day. If it happens it will definitely be after August.
I have driven from the NoVA side of DC to Beacon before and it is painful, especially as traffic can be hellish if you leave from work to attend. I have had days where it took 6 hours to get to Philly from NoVA. Any farther north than Beacon would be really tough for most anyone in the south.
I'm from NoVA and I was hoping that it would be somewhere close to the city so I could take a train. It would be cheaper, faster, and I could just sleep on the way.
The train is awesome--if you take the Acela. The non-Acela train is painful if you cannot sleep on a moving vehicle.
Can I stop by the Geek haus this summer? I'm gonna be going to check out RIT, purely on your recommendation. You guys are awesome enough to play some Burning Wheel, watch some anime, or play video games.
You do know that RIT is quite the distance from Beacon, right?
Whatever you do, I'd just recommend finding a neutral place for it. That's just better for everyone involved.
I really do believe that you guys could start with a mini-con and turn it into something bigger over the years. Of course I would want my 10% for coming up with the idea! ;-)
It would be absolutely no effort to find a hotel nearby, and get them to offer you a room for boardgaming, etc. Since this would be over the weekend, I can't imagine that the meeting rooms would be in much demand. I suspect you could get the space for free if the hotel knew that some of the attendees would stay at the hotel. And that would be all the work required. Just tell everyone to bring boardgames, RPGs, etc.
The problem with Beacon is that it's not terribly convenient to most people. (Just the New York and Albany folks.) I suggest something accessible by Amtrak and/or inter-city buses. (Stamford, Jersey, Hartford, etc.)
I live too far away to make it worthwhile, but I suspect there are enough people who live close enough to the New York metro area for you to pull it off. And if nobody goes, then you just cancel the thing. It's not like you'd be out any money.
As for keeping it close to you guys... I don't have a whole lot of sympathy. You're talking to a guy who lives 2 hours from the nearest mall. I drive an hour each way to run errands all of the time. Site it at a place where people will go. It won't kill you to drive 45 minutes.
I know this wasn't the original intent of this thread, but I really do believe that a Geek-Nights mini-con could be the start of something big. (and accordingly something you could make some money off of in future years)
If it's not in Beacon, the only realistic alternative will be to have it in NYC proper. That will most likely mean we will have to charge everyone to get in. Without huge attendance it will be quite expensive, unless one of you rich lawyer people wants to pay for it. If it's in Beacon, it will most likely be teh freeness.
Call me naive, but wouldn't a Courtyard By Marriott (or similar) hotel be more than happy to let you use a conference room if you told them that you would also bring 10 or more rooms of occupancy on a weekend night?
If I ran a hotel, I'd jump at the opportunity. Assuming it's not a hotel that does weddings, those rooms aren't exactly in demand during the weekend.
Completely tangential to this discussion, but is anyone from around here going to the Origins convention in Columbus this weekend? If so, definitely get the Board Room ribbon and get your boardgaming fix there.
As for a Beacon/NYC area event, I would love to go, but it's too far for me.
Here are four hotels within a short walk from the Stamford Train Station. I chose Saturday 9/20 with two adults per room for a sample rate. Hilton: $125 Courtyard by Marriott: $129 Stamford Marriott: $139 Hampton Inn: $109.
That's easily $125 cheaper than anything decent in the city. Since space is an issue in the city, hotels there are much less likely to offer you a free conference room. Stamford is accessible by Amtrak and Metro North, as well as the bus. Even if someone was crazy enough to fly into New York, they could get to Stamford fairly easily.
The Poughkeepsie Holiday Inn Express has a shuttle to the train station. They are a disturbing $180 per night, though. Amtrak service is an issue for Poughkeepsie.
I should also point out that by saying "mini-con", I don't really mean a convention. That's a term that a lot of boardgamers use when they get together and play games. It usually implies that you spend the night at the location. So basically it's a hotel (or cabin, etc.) where everybody shows up with games and plays.
I just got an email about the upcoming DEXCON in New Brunswick New Jersey. There is a potential meeting spot right there.
That would be good but I don't think I'll be going to DEXCON since I want to go to Otakon instead. Maybe we could do something with Ubercon in Piscataway in October.
Comments
I have many good memories of either winning by a single point or coming second by a single point. It will take too long to explain why this is so much fun, but if you play you'll end up weighing up a really cool complex move that gets a night half way across a the board and up a tower to stop your opponent getting that extra 3 points... or should you move your score up by 3 points?
Anyway, it won game of the year here in Germany which means you can't go that wrong checking it out.
Here is an article about them.
A similar service is Boltbus.
Hotels would also be insanely cheaper than Boston or New York City. There are plenty of choices under $100. (Fairfield Inn, Holiday Inn, Clarion Suites, Homewood Suites, Crowne Plaza, Doubletree, etc.)
The Fishkill area has slightly higher rates (about 20% on average) - but I suspect it's much harder to get to Fishkill via the bus from Boston. Although to be fair, most of the hotels I quoted above are a few miles outside of Hartford, so if you took the bus into Hartford you would still need a ride.
If we do a boardgaming thing of some sort we will probably do it in a place that is very convenient for us, regardless of who else it is convenient for. If even five people show up, that is enough for awesome game action. If this happens it isn't going to be an entire convention, just a one-time private gaming day. If it happens it will definitely be after August.
I really do believe that you guys could start with a mini-con and turn it into something bigger over the years. Of course I would want my 10% for coming up with the idea! ;-)
It would be absolutely no effort to find a hotel nearby, and get them to offer you a room for boardgaming, etc. Since this would be over the weekend, I can't imagine that the meeting rooms would be in much demand. I suspect you could get the space for free if the hotel knew that some of the attendees would stay at the hotel. And that would be all the work required. Just tell everyone to bring boardgames, RPGs, etc.
The problem with Beacon is that it's not terribly convenient to most people. (Just the New York and Albany folks.) I suggest something accessible by Amtrak and/or inter-city buses. (Stamford, Jersey, Hartford, etc.)
I live too far away to make it worthwhile, but I suspect there are enough people who live close enough to the New York metro area for you to pull it off. And if nobody goes, then you just cancel the thing. It's not like you'd be out any money.
As for keeping it close to you guys... I don't have a whole lot of sympathy. You're talking to a guy who lives 2 hours from the nearest mall. I drive an hour each way to run errands all of the time. Site it at a place where people will go. It won't kill you to drive 45 minutes.
I know this wasn't the original intent of this thread, but I really do believe that a Geek-Nights mini-con could be the start of something big. (and accordingly something you could make some money off of in future years)
Your right about the stranger thing. You guy should try to make some of the Midwest cons, Like ACEN.
Nowadays, it's just not worth it to fly to a non-coast for a convention... ^_~
If I ran a hotel, I'd jump at the opportunity. Assuming it's not a hotel that does weddings, those rooms aren't exactly in demand during the weekend.
As for a Beacon/NYC area event, I would love to go, but it's too far for me.
Hilton: $125
Courtyard by Marriott: $129
Stamford Marriott: $139
Hampton Inn: $109.
That's easily $125 cheaper than anything decent in the city. Since space is an issue in the city, hotels there are much less likely to offer you a free conference room. Stamford is accessible by Amtrak and Metro North, as well as the bus. Even if someone was crazy enough to fly into New York, they could get to Stamford fairly easily.
The Poughkeepsie Holiday Inn Express has a shuttle to the train station. They are a disturbing $180 per night, though. Amtrak service is an issue for Poughkeepsie.
I should also point out that by saying "mini-con", I don't really mean a convention. That's a term that a lot of boardgamers use when they get together and play games. It usually implies that you spend the night at the location. So basically it's a hotel (or cabin, etc.) where everybody shows up with games and plays.