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One game publisher I spoke with at Spiel 2015 dismissed the design as being 504 mediocre games and wondered why anyone would pay attention to what seems more like an experiment than a finished design — but I'd argue that the experimental nature of the design is one reason why people are paying attention to 504 in the first place. Creating a game from what's akin to a child's flipbook each time you play is a cool concept, akin to the cut-up writing technique of dadaists and William Burroughs in that you're never sure what the output is going to be until you're experiencing it firsthand. Such work isn't going to be to everyone's tastes, sure, but I've enjoyed my first encounter with the game and am eager for more.
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In this case, however, I was headed to the press conference early on Wednesday during the final set-up day, so I stopped at the booths of the first half-dozen speakers on the way in order to remind them of their demo slots — which was a good thing for Aporta Games with its Automania title from Kenneth Minde and Kristian Amundsen Østby as Østby was already in the press demo room since he thought his demo time was later in the day. Crisis averted!
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