In this series of videos, Dave and Chris are going to go in depth covering this wonderful game system and all of the maps available to date. Check out this first episode where they talk the original Ticket to Ride.
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Discussion
In this video, Dave does an in-depth comparison of the new 10th Anniversary Edition of Railways of the World and a previously released version of the game. He shows off and talks about the updates and changes made to the new Anniversary edition.
7 Wonders is a game that has been hitting our gaming group’s table on a more frequent basis as of late. For the longest time we played just the base game, but we finally introduced the Leaders expansion into the mix. Briefly, the Leaders expansion for 7 Wonders introduces a new card type: Leaders. It adds a new drafting phase at the beginning of the game where players draft 4 Leaders for use during the game. The Leaders have different powers and help guide strategy for drafting cards during the ages and may give some direction in building up a player’s civilization. At the beginning of each Age, there is a Recruit phase where players may either pay the recruit cost of the Leader and put it in play to gain its ability, or use the Leader to build a stage of their wonder, or discard the card for 3 coins. During Age 3, the final leader is discarded and not used.
With 7 Wonders celebrating its 7th Anniversary, there were 2 Anniversary Packs released in the later part of 2017. One of them is the Leaders Anniversary Pack.
The Leaders Anniversary Pack comes with 15 new Leaders that are incorporated into the existing Leaders deck. An interesting thing is all of the Leaders in the Anniversary Pack are women, adding to a balance of gender representation of the Leaders in the 7 Wonders game.
15 women join the ranks of the Leaders in 7 Wonders
Each of the new cards has a special 7 icon at the bottom of the card to distinguish them as the Anniversary Pack cards.
The Special 7 icon on the new Leaders
And the new Anniversary Pack cards have spot UV on them so there are certain places of the cards where the images pop more and make them look really great.
OVERVIEW OF THE NEW LEADERS
So, these women mean business and they add some interesting elements to the game. First, there are 5 Leaders that increase the level of competition between players and their immediate neighbors. These Leaders are: Cornelia, Eurypyle, Phryne, Theano, and Makeda. At the end of the game, these Leaders award victory points if the player has more cards of a corresponding color, or coins in their treasury than each of their two neighboring cities (counted separately)
Added competition is something the new Leaders bring to the game
There are some cards that have a new Age-based cost, designated by an A in the coin cost of the card. This means that the cost to recruit that leader is based upon what Age they are recruited. For example in Age 1, the cost would be 1 coin, whereas in Age 3 the cost is 3 coins. You can see examples of the Age-based cost in the images above.
There are some leaders that have you take a gamble on end game scoring if you can meet their requirements. Cynisca‘s ability is: At the end of the game, she is worth 6 victory points if the player has no Military Defeat tokens. Her cost is Age-based, so she is cheaper to recruit early on, but that player is exposing a potential strategy to go strong on Military.
Agrippina will reward a player if he or she essentially denies themselves recruiting any other Leaders. She is worth 7 victory points if she is the player’s only face-up Leader at the end of the game.
There are a few Leaders that will affect a player’s Military strategy. Nicotris will immediately grant a Military victory token corresponding to the current Age. So she is really powerful in Age 3 compared to Age 1. Telesilla can help a player who decides to ignore Military. When she enters play, the player who recruits her discards all of their Military Defeat Tokens. Each other player discards one Military Victory Token of their choice. Gorgo is another Leader who can work with a strong Military Strategy by rewarding victory points to identical pairs of Military Victory tokens.
Roxana is a Leader that is very useful if recruited in Stage 1. Once she is in play, she grants the player who recruited her 2 coins each time on of the two neighboring cities builds a Wonder stage.
Aganice and Enheduanna are two Leaders that contribute to the Scientific Strategy. One grants an additional scientific symbol matching whichever symbol the player has the most of, and the other allows a player to change one of their scientific symbols into one of their choice. And this can affect green, white, and black cards.
Finally, there are 2 Leaders that can cripple other player’s treasuries.
These Leaders hit other players in their treasuries.
Arsinoe is a Leader who can be quite deadly in Age 3. When she enters play, she grants the recruiting player 4 coins and then causes each other player to lose a number of coins corresponding to the current age. So in Age 3 players would have to lose 3 coins, which can affect the ability to pay to borrow resources from neighbors or at minimum, cost 1 victory point for coins in the treasury. Since Leaders are revealed simultaneously, Arsinoe’s ability should not prohibit another player from being able to pay the recruit cost for their chosen Leader. Octavia is another useful Leader of recruited in Age 1. Whenever the recruiting player builds a Wonder Stage, she grants them 2 coins and causes each other player to lose 1 coin.
IMPRESSIONS ON 7 WONDERS: LEADERS ANNIVERSARY PACK
I thoroughly enjoy using the Leaders expansion and to me adding the Anniversary Pack is a no brainer. I really like the abilities that each of the new Leaders brings to the game. They integrate well with the existing expansion and add some new combinations for recruited Leader synergy. In my overview of the Leaders, I made mention of some strategic uses for these new Leaders.
I have always enjoyed the artwork in the game and I like the contributions for different artists for this project as well. I really like the spot UV treatment on the cards, however, it makes me wish that the whole game got that treatment. Also, the cards in the Anniversary Pack are slightly thicker, but it is not noticeable from looking at the cards as the backs are all identical and there is no color variation to distinguish the new Leaders.
FINAL THOUGHTS ON 7 WONDERS: LEADERS ANNIVERSARY PACK
For 7 Wonders players who have never used Leaders, I recommend picking up that expansion and the Anniversary Pack together. Leaders fits so well with the base game, and the added potential of the 15 Leaders in the Anniversary Pack make it a worthwhile addition. For players who have been using Leaders for a while, The Leaders Anniversary Pack adds some fresh new abilities for players to consider when drafting Leaders and choosing to recruit them. First, with interesting combinations that Leaders can now add to each other, this pack makes the Leader Phase at the beginning of the game very even more mindful, and you need to be aware of what Leaders you will be passing to your neighbor. Second, the Age-based cost for some of the Leaders is something I really like because it challenge players to risk laying out their strategy earlier in order to save a few coins. Third, many of the Leaders in this pack are quite useful in Age 3, so it makes the Leader phase more interesting as players will need to weigh options when drafting Leaders as to where they hope to be two-thirds of the way through the game.
This is a well done mini-expansion that adds a lot and it is something that will be used whenever we play 7 Wonders.
Once you get into the board game hobby, the sheer number of games available can be overwhelming. They all look good! For most people, trying them out before buying can be difficult unless you have a board game café or friendly game store with demo copies available for play, or maybe a friend with a big collection. Even then, the choices may be limited. So how to decide whether a game might be for you without playing it first?
One way to decide what you like is to know basic game mechanics. Knowing how a game will play can help when deciding if it should go in your collection. For instance, I don’t care for card drafting all that much, so if that’s what a game is all about, I am less likely to want to play it. On the other hand, I love deck builders.
Most games are based on a familiar design concept. Then designers add innovation, theme, and maybe a new twist or two.
One thing you will notice is most games are a combination of two or more mechanics. A single game mechanic is uninteresting and too simplistic to keep people’s interest. On the other hand, some designers can go overboard, putting in every mechanic they can think of, making a game just too overwhelming. The best games are a perfect balance of mechanics. A game will usually have one dominant design element, so you can use a favorite or least favorite mechanic to make your personal choices.
A decision of whether a game fits your preferred playing style or not may depend entirely on how much aggression between players a game might have. Sometimes attacking other players is exactly what a group wants, but for other occasions gentler competition (or none) might be more enjoyable. Certain design mechanics will naturally lead to more player competition or “take that” play.
Let’s take a look!
Roll and Move
Everyone knows this one – think Monopoly. Roll the dice and move that many spaces, then take an action as a result (or maybe not). There’s no changing what you rolled. It’s entirely luck based. Much of the time spent playing is just rolling dice and moving around the board. Modern board game designs have developed beyond this mechanic for the simple reason that players want to be able to influence what they do on a turn. Random rolls can be frustrating and spoil any plans a player might have made to win the game, which isn’t very fun. Thus all the house rules and cheating in Monopoly!
There are still roll and move games that are popular with gamers. Talisman is a good example of a roll and move mechanic that has stood the test of time. Monopoly Gamer takes the idea of roll and move and adds player powers and monster fighting with familiar video game characters.
Card/Dice Drafting
Card or dice drafting requires a player to pick and choose from a group of cards or dice. The idea is you choose what you need, and give the rest to the next person or discard it. Drafting adds a lot of competitive tension and strategy to a game since players have to decide what to keep that will help them, but prevent passing on cards or dice they know will help other players win (thus the term, “hate drafting,” which means taking a card you don’t need just to thwart someone else’s plans.)
Drafting is a mechanic that rewards players that know which strategies will help them win the game, and requires that all players understand the cards or pieces they are choosing from.
7 Wonders and Sushi Go are two games that use a drafting mechanic. Sagrada is a dice drafting game.
Dice Rolling
Roll and move may be scorned, but rolling dice certainly isn’t. Dice are used as part of a larger strategic plan in games that want to add an element of randomness to the gameplay. Dice are now colorful, custom made, in all shapes and sizes, and are often rolled by the handful.
Dice rolling is most often associated with games that “push your luck.” For new gamers, the addition of a dice rolling mechanic can ease some of the pressure of pure strategy. It can also mitigate your circumstances in the game, for good or bad. If you like a little luck in your gameplay, a dice rolling mechanic might be just the thing to give you some excitement.
Often “real-time” games, where players are under time pressure to complete a task, involve rolling dice (very quickly!).
Elder Sign, Qwixx, Roll for the Galaxy, Machi Koro, Roll Player, and many others include dice rolling as a main mechanic. Real time dice games include Flatline and Space Cadets.
Deck Building
In a deck building game, players start with a set of cards (or pieces) and add to them by acquiring new and more powerful ones over the course of the game. Each person’s hand will be different by the end of the game depending on the choices they have made. New cards or pieces are acquired from a common pool by spending currency integrated into the cards players hold (in some games, like Rune Age and Nightfall, there is also a personal pool to choose from). There are a great many variations on the deck building mechanic, but the core idea remains the same in most games: a hand of cards that is cycled through each turn, building up a more powerful deck of cards that leads to a victory condition.
Deck builders on the whole do not have a lot of player interaction, so some variants have included attacks on other players. The core idea is to make powerful combinations or chains of cards to gain victory points, which can be very fun.
Dominion is the most well-known deck builder. Other deck builders include Ascension, Puzzle Strike (which uses chips instead of cards), Arctic Scavengers (which has an element where players attack each other directly), and Marvel Legendary – just to name a few!
Role Selection/Variable Player Powers
Variable Player Powers is a very popular mechanic found in many, many games. In this mechanic, on any given turn — or throughout the game — each player has different individual abilities or paths to victory. This design choice relies heavily on each person determining the strategy they need to take to win depending on the role they have. Roles and powers can change throughout the game, or be assigned at the beginning of the game randomly or through a draft (see above).
If there are game balance issues in the design, variable player powers will often be the culprit –some elements might be more powerful than others giving one player and advantage.
Puerto Rico, San Juan, Cosmic Encounter, Scythe, Terraforming Mars, and Terra Mystica are just a few of the top rated games that use variable player powers. Designers will often add player powers in expansions to increase the depth of a game.
Route/Network Building
As the title says, it’s all about building chains and connecting areas on the board through route building, usually though roads or train tracks, but it can be anything that connects one point to the other.
This mechanic gives players a chance to block others, which can lead to aggressive game play.
The two most well-known network building game are of course Ticket to Ride and Catan. Power Grid is a route building game. Other examples include the 10 Days series, Thurn and Taxis, and Brass, one of more complex games to play.
Worker Placement/Action Point Allowance System
The heart of many Euro games, worker placement and action point allowance systems give the player a choice of taking a piece and assigning it to a space to perform an action. In most cases, once a piece has been placed, another player cannot occupy that space and take that action, which is where the tension lies. There are literally hundreds of worker placement games, with all sorts of mechanisms and mechanics to change up the game play. “Point salad” games, an expression coined for many different ways to score points in a game, is a term often associated with the worker placement mechanic (but not always).
Worker placement games have the reputation for being multiplayer solitaire, which some people like very much. Others want more player interaction, which some designers try to deliver with more “take that” elements in the design, allowing players to interfere with their competitor’s plans. The classic game Caylus is one of those, where the provost piece can be moved to block someone’s actions, which can get nasty.
Well-known worker placement games include Stone Age, Lords of Waterdeep, Agricola, Champions of Midgard, Russian Railroads and Terra Mystica.
Set Collection
Although the name says it all, set collection games come in all shapes, sizes and complexity. It’s the go-to for most lighter games and you will find it everywhere. It sets up competition for scarce resources, which makes it a core mechanic.
Set collection is often combined with another mechanic, such as drafting, route building, or deck building.
Some examples of games with set collection elements include Pandemic (a co-op), Sushi Go (drafting), Ticket to Ride (route building), Fabled Fruit, and the Castles of Burgundy.
Betting/Wagering/Commodity Speculation/Stock Holding
That’s a lot of mechanics in one title! But they all have a similar idea: players wager or bet on certain outcomes in a game. Of course, the best games allow you to “hedge your bets” or manipulate the outcome, but in the end, each player is gambling on whether a stock, commodity, or other game element will rise or fall, win or lose. The winner in these types of games usually has the most money at the end.
Gambling can include a heavy psychological element, be more or less contingent on luck, or be mitigated by player strategy. It’s all about predicting an outcome with the imperfect information you are given in the game. Which makes it…fun!
There are many great games in this category: racing games, such as Camel Up, stock games such as Acquire or Stockpile, train games like Chicago Express and Union Pacific, even social games like Wits and Wagers. And let’s not forget Poker, of course!
Auction/Bidding
As it says, this game mechanic calls for each player to place a bid on items in a game. It can be a hidden or an open bid, ending in the winner taking control of the item(s).
Auction games can be polarizing, as the competition to win the item can be stressful. Game designers have implemented various ideas to make it fun, but in the end, it’s all about not paying too much for something you need. This is one of a handful of mechanics which can cause some players to turn away from a game (hidden traitor mechanics and negotiating games are two others).
Power Grid, Downforce, Aladdin’s Dragons, and Medici are just scratching the surface of games that feature this mechanic.
Negotiation Games
There are specific games that call for negotiation among players. Rather than kill your competitors, you make deals with them.
The progenitor of all this bargaining was Monopoly, but now there are games that specifically have players freely negotiate terms and prices for commodities with each other without the roll and move. Some negotiation games make it so good negotiating helps the other players. Others just reward the best deal makers with victory.
It can be a very fun gaming experience with the right crowd, but for those who don’t like discussion and arguing, it can be an unpleasant experience.
Diplomacy, the game with the reputation of table flipping friendship ending negotiations (you must betray your allies at some point), is probably the best known in this category.
Chinatown, Sidereal Confluence, Merchants of Araby, Flea Marketeers, and New Angeles are other examples. New Angeles adds a hidden traitor mechanic, and Sidereal Confluence has variable player powers.
Programmed Movement
Instead of taking turns moving, in a programmed movement game players decide secretly or openly what moves they will make in advance, and then execute those moves. Obviously, the best laid plans can go spectacularly awry.
This mechanic can be divisive, as some people don’t like the inability to react to an outcome.
Well known games that use this mechanic are Mechs and Minions, Colt Express, RoboRally, Lords of Xidit, and Dungeon Lords.
Area Control
Think Risk, and you’ve got this one. Players score points by having the majority of units or influence in an area. Combining this mechanic with other game play designs makes for interesting play.
Obviously, this is the most aggressive form of play so if your taste doesn’t run to killing off your opponents and taking their territory, this design choice won’t be for you.
Small World is a good example of pure area control, as is El Grande, a classic in the genre. Kemet, Cyclades, Scythe, anything by Cool Mini or Not (CMON) — all include an area control component. Tyrants of the Underdark combines area control with deck building. As we like to call it in my gaming group, “dudes on a map” is always a favorite mechanic for those who love to spread out and conquer.
Tile Placement
This one is pretty simple: choose and tile and place it down. Hopefully if you place your tiles correctly, they will score victory points. Having said that, there are many wonderful tile laying games and it is one of the more popular game mechanics.
Examples include the classic Carcassonne, Kingdomino, Cacao, Lanterns Festival, and the Castles of Mad King Ludwig.
Pick Up and Deliver
Get your stuff from one place to the next. That’s what is involved in a pick up and deliver game. How you do that depends on the game’s design.
Empire Builder is one of the first pick up and deliver games, which also include Istanbul, Africana, Railways of the World, Cinque Terre, Firefly the Game, Merchant of Venus, the hard to find Stefan Feld design Macao, and the monster Roads and Boats, which is complex and takes several hours to play.
Co-operative Play
Cooperative play games, or co-ops, encourage players to work together to win the game. There is no competition between players. The game is won by completing an objective. Semi-co-ops , such as Marvel Legendary, have the same mechanic, but allow for individual players to score points and win.
Co-ops can be played solo, which if you can’t find a game partner is a nice option to have in your collection.
Pandemic is probably the best known of the co-op games, but there are many. Others include Forbidden Island, Flash Point Fire Rescue, Magic Maze, Robinson Crusoe, and for the younger folks, Ghost Fightin Treasure Hunters (which is really hard to win even if it’s designed for kids). For love-to-read puzzle solvers, the one or two player Sherlock Holmes Detective game can be very enjoyable.
A sub-set of this mechanic is all versus one, where one person tries to outwit the other players who work together to stop the villain. Letters to Whitechapel, Fury of Dracula, Betrayal on the House on the Hill, and The Last Friday are examples of this type of game.
Hidden Traitors/Bluffing
Modern game libraries often have one or two games that include a hidden spy or traitor, whom the other players need to uncover or thwart. It adds a lot of tension when no one knows who is trying to sabotage the game.
Bluffing games require players to keep their roles or motivations secret. These games do require some ability to pretend or lie, which not everyone enjoys, limiting their wide appeal.
Secret roles are often found in social games for large groups. Werewolf is a great example of a game with this mechanic.
Other examples include Dead of Winter, The Resistance, Battlestar Galactica, Betrayal on the House on the Hill, Dark Moon, Deception in Hong Kong, Shadows Over Camelot, When I Dream, Coup, Sheriff of Nottingham, and many others.
Storytelling Games
Some games are are more social activities than competitive board play. In the storytelling mechanic, players weave narratives to guess words, ideas, and other people’s opinions. Often play is not really for points, but just to interact with a group. It’s great to have an icebreaker or two around for gaming groups, or for those times when you have non-game players in the mix.
Storytelling or social games can be difficult for those people who are shy or don’t feel they are creative. Some games have mechanics that help this issue by using a team mechanic, but in general, the introverts are going to have to speak up or it can be awkward. So, choose with care.
Codenames, where players try to guess key words from word clues, is an example, as is Dixit, Concept (guess a phrase from just icons), Say Anything, Time’s Up Recall, and Wits and Wagers.
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That was a lot of mechanics! There are more, but those are the biggies. If you play many games, you will see these appear in various forms. How can you quickly find what mechanic a game employs? Look on BoardGameGeek.com under the individual game title entry. On the right hand side of the page you will find a list of the mechanics the game uses in its design.
No matter what your taste, there’s probably a game out there that will satisfy your need for any one of these styles of gameplay. Or design your own!
Have a favorite in one of these categories? Let us know in the comments.
As a continuation of the ghosting topic I discussed earlier, safety should be a concern for con goers.
It’s an unpleasant topic to discuss, and for the most part, most cons are a very safe environment with little worry about personal safety. Having said that, it is important to take practical steps to make sure your con is worry free and you come back with great memories.
Parking Garages
It was reported earlier this year that there were assaults/robberies in a couple of the parking garages in Indianapolis. There are no security guards or people watching inside the garages, so if you are going to your car late at night, be aware of your surroundings. If you can get a group to go back to the cars, even better. Be prepared for anything if you are walking alone to a car. Have your cell phone out and keys at the ready, and follow your inner instinct that says beware (don’t ignore that inner voice that says watch out!). Having some mace or pepper spray at hand is a good idea, too. If it looks dicey, turn around and walk out. There are a lot of law enforcement officers out and about at all times in the streets (on bicycles and horses), so help is available if you need it.
ATMs and Credit Cards
ATMs are really convenient, but they are a magnet for criminals to steal your information. Skimming — grabbing your magnetic information and your pin with add on devices — is on the rise, and there have been reports of modified ATMs in hotel lobbies. Criminals put fake slots on the machines, then mount hidden cameras to get your pin when you type it in. It’s really hard to tell if an ATM has been tampered with, frankly, but look to see if the slot fits correctly and isn’t loose or odd looking. If your card doesn’t fit in smoothly, try another ATM. Hide your pin with your other hand when you put in the numbers as they can’t use your info without your pin.
Check your bank balance frequently if you are using ATMs — you can alert your bank to fraud if it occurs.
If you plan on using credit cards at the vendor booths and other places such as restaurants, call your credit card company or bank ahead of time and let them know what you are doing. It can avoid your card being pinged for fraud if they know you are getting charges from stores all over the US and abroad.
Secure Your Valuables
Petty theft of badges, personal items, and money does happen. Keep your stuff close at hand, zip up your bags or backpacks, and keep things out of your pockets if they are easy to get to. Thieves are really clever and can distract you and be off with your stuff before you know it. With 70K attendees and over 200,000 people going in and out, there will inevitably be some bad apples at the con. Just be aware that you can end up being a victim of opportunity if you leave your stuff out and are distracted.
Stay organized! I have terrible trouble with this myself, but making sure you have a spot for your cash, cell phone, identification and credit cards that you can easily get to but is secure. Fumbling around and digging in bags always ends up with items on the floor, and you may not see them fall. Bring a minimum of things to avoid this problem — a bag full of stuff gets disorganized quickly. Use good backbacks or carryalls that have pockets for items so they stay in one spot and you can find them easily.
Keep track of your cash expenditures — it’s not a safety issue but if you are missing some, you will know right away.
Obviously, make sure if you get a wad of cash from the sale of magic cards or games you don’t wave it around. Most of the booths can help you be discreet about it, but be aware there are probably 100 people watching you get the cash.
Don’t leave money, your cell phone or credit cards on the counter while you transact business. Count your change! People make mistakes.
Check your bags before you leave a booth. Do you have all of them? Take an inventory often.
When you are demoing or playing games, put your items in a place where you can keep an eye on them at all times and they aren’t in the open. Wrap bag straps around your chair legs to discourage snatch and grab attempts.
Magic cards are especially vulnerable to theft, since the criminals can just grab your collection and go sell them immediately.
Separating cash into two places, one even in your shoe, can be helpful. You won’t lose it all if something unfortunate happens.
It’s never a bad idea to use a waist pouch that goes under your clothes for your valuable stuff. They sell nice ones fairly inexpensively at places like TJMaxx and other discount stores. It’s a great solution to carry extra cash or an emergency credit card.
Tickets to events should be handled as carefully as cash — since they can be used by anyone.
I don’t know if there would ever be a reason to remove your badge from around your neck, but obviously if you do, keep an eye on it! Badges are going to be a coveted item this year. Badges can fall out of their holders, so a quick check every now and again that it’s still there and secure is a good idea.
Health Events
GenCon has emergency medical staff available if you feel sick or have a problem. They have a room in one of the hallways. It’s easy to get overheated or stressed in the crowds and all the chaos. If you feel very ill, go see them. Remember to drink and stay hydrated! Bring a water bottle you can refill from a drinking fountain or faucet.
There will be a quiet room this year where attendees can sit and get away from it all for a while (listed in the catalog). Take advantage of it if you can and give yourself a break.
As a final note, just be aware of your surroundings. It’s so easy to get distracted and lose track of your things, allow people to get into your personal space that shouldn’t be there, or find yourself in a situation that you are uncomfortable with. Think ahead, and stay as organized as you can. And of course, have fun!
Do you have other tips? Let us know!
Now that GenCon has announced there will be no more sales of four day passes, and probably a very limited number of one day passes left, the chatter has turned to the practice of “ghosting” or coming to the convention without a badge.
There are two kinds of ghosting: one is sneaking into events that require a badge, the other is hanging around in the public areas without a badge for the con. Sneaking into an event is stealing — you are taking something other people paid for. Hanging out in the halls just makes it more crowded.
This is the first year that GenCon has limited attendance. Many people in past years bought four day badges at the con the day of the convention, but this is no longer possible. Buying four one day badges is much more expensive ($270), if they will even be available.
It is prudent for GenCon to limit badges simply because occupancy codes make sure that if there is a problem, no tragedies occur with overcrowded venues. Panicked, running crowds can literally trample people to death — so there are fire codes and other regulations on how many people can be in a building at any time to prevent it from happening.
The other reason to limit badges and attendance is the sheer number of people all trying to do the same thing. Frankly, the vendor hall is already way too crowded, and if there are just too many people no one gets a good chance to demo games or browse the vendor booths. It makes sense for the GenCon organizers to say they have a capacity and they aren’t going over it.
So why not try to get in without a badge and see what you can enjoy?
First of all, there’s little you can do without a badge. You can’t buy tickets to events or participate in most things. They do check badges and ask for ID at the ticket booth.
Secondly, “ghosting” means you are crowding the halls and public areas and making it more uncomfortable for everyone else. It really is crowded at GenCon — and this year it’s going to be wall to wall people who did pay for the con. It also requires more staff to check badges at every access point to events and in the convention center, which just creates more lines and bottlenecks for legitimate attendees.
Trying to get into events without a badge, or with someone else’s badge is stealing. GenCon, and other cons like it, work very hard to organize the event. Badge fees pay for the staff, the programs, the clean up, and everything else that makes the con a fun place to be. If you don’t pay to get in, you are taking advantage of what others paid for to be there.
Edit: The Indiana Convention Center policy is that it must be open to the public, so hanging out in the halls can be done — but please, there are plenty of places to meet outside the con in Indianapolis that aren’t nearly as crowded as the halls at GenCon.
Staff always check badges at paid events, so there’s no point in even trying to get in without a badge. If you are going to try to get in with a badge from past events, they check that, too — if your badge is flipped, for instance, they ask you to turn your badge around and they do scrutinize them carefully (again, making more work for everyone because people try to cheat the system).
For those who do have badges, please keep an eye on them. Sneaking in without a pass is one thing, but stealing someone else’s badge and using it is quite another thing altogether. Let’s face it, it does happen. With the sell-out, if you lose your badge you aren’t going to be able to purchase another one at the con. So be careful!
If you didn’t get a badge, there are still ways to get a pass into the convention center. Volunteer! Vendors and GenCon need people to help out. I am sure there are still opportunities to work. AEG was asking for volunteers for their Big Game Night, for example (you will see me there). As the con gets closer, confirmed volunteers will drop out, and there will be openings. Check out the BoardGameGeek.com GenCon threads, or the GenCon Facebook page, or ask your favorite game publisher if they need people to work for them (you can find a list of all the game publishers attending on BGG). It’s a little more of a commitment, but if you are determined to go, it’s a legitimate way to enjoy the convention and it can be a lot of fun.
In this first episode, we talk about Origins, games, channel news, and a group review for Century: Spice Road.
