/pic1616566.jpg)
/pic1631125.png)
In my first round-up, I mentioned that Thursday was the main day for activities, with seminars, publisher/retailer meetings, and dozens of tables of game demoes, providing stuff to do from 8:00 a.m. to midnight. Wednesday was far more laid back, with a short introductory talk welcoming everyone to the event, a buffet dinner, and a massive simultaneous playing of Queen Games' Escape: The Curse of the Temple, with roughly two hundred players seated around fifty copies of the game. An announcer gave details on how to play the game prior to starting, and each set of 3-4 tables had an assistant to answer questions – but once the thousand(!) dice started rolling, you could barely hear anything. When the first game finished, most people gave the game another try, eager to not die once again.
Queen Games had a similar set-up at Spiel 2012, with dozens of Escape games taking place at the same time in the Messe, but having everyone play on the same clock – with booming crashes on the convention hall loudspeakers sending everyone scurrying to the safety of the entrance tile – was a new experience. I won't be surprised if in the years ahead others take a cue from Escape designer Kristian Amundsen Østby and create their own somewhat involved and incredibly expandable games that last at most ten minutes. After all, from a publisher perspective you can demo the game to far more people than you can a game that lasts 60-90 minutes, thereby keeping the demo tables hopping with activity throughout a convention.
Now onto another handful of new and forthcoming games:
/pic1620212.jpg)
/pic1609474.jpg)
/pic970086.jpg)
/pic1631915.jpg)
/pic1438751.jpg)
/pic1631065.jpg)
/pic1628577.jpg)
/pic1510753.jpg)
