It’s great to “get in on the ground floor” of something special.
That’s a really old saying but it still holds true. In this case, I’m referring to NerdFest. Ryan, Jeff and Natalie from the podcast The Gamecasters just hosted their 3rd annual NerdFest this past weekend in southeast Michigan. We’ve attended a day in all three and it’s cool to see the growth as they’ve moved from the upstairs of a VFW hall, to the whole hall, and now to a big hotel ballroom.
I love me a super small – but growing – local con. Personally, I’m glad for the opportunity to easily step out of the safety of my social bubble and meet new people – people with similar interests in the ready-made context of a tabletop game. Doing so in a cozy venue is much easier than at GenCon.
On this day, we joined 3 others for Unfathomable, which I had never played at a full 6. Jason B. and I were Humans and lost to Bob and his Hybrid cohort. We put up a good fight, though. Bob and Jason B. split off afterward to teach SETI to two other players while I played Xia: Legends of a Drift System. I “won” that game but, honestly, it was just a “stumble through and learn it” venture. Thanks to Robin for the teach and Larry for gracefully enduring my persistent tests of the “attack other players” mechanic.
The more I explore and experience board games, the more I realize how small my body of knowledge is. But that just means I have a lot of fun exploring and awesome experiences lying ahead of me!
We were lucky enough to also learn a new game that is in the final stages of development and not for sale yet. All I’m going to say right now is that it is a super fun, brilliantly elegant, 2-player game. And that we’ll be featuring the design team on an upcoming Inside Boardgames as well as recording a play through and review later this spring. We’re really excited about sharing those with you!
Game on!