The BGA crew is back from Origins and it was a blast. The City of Columbus is quite the place, and the the Origins show (despite some notable organization related issues), was well put together, bigger than past years, and WAY more laid back than GenCon for first time con-goers.
As such, it was one of the best times we’ve had in a long time gaming, and that means we played a LOT of games along the way. In Episode 103 we’re going to dig in and take a closer look at those games, what we loved about them, what we didn’t, and which games were the most impressive, unique, or confusing of the show.
Introduction – Origins Awards 2016
We attended the Origins Awards on Saturday night, and all joking aside, it was actually a pretty well run little show and we had a good time. From the beautiful room to the solid turnout, to the free games that attendees went home with after the show, it was a good time for everyone. Plus one lucky fellow got to accept eight awards on the night – he looked tired.
Acquisition Disorder Corner
Anthony and Chris dig into their Acquisition Disorder choices from the show which included a lot of upcoming releases. Anthony was excited by his chance to demo out both Codenames: Pictures from CGE and Junk Art from Pretzel Games – both of which should be releasing in some capacity at GenCon (with Junk Art selling limited copies at Origins). Chris was equally excited for a couple of games we demoed including Star Trek: Frontiers and Star Trek Panic – both of which were at the show and demoing.
At the Table
Let’s just say we got a lot of games to the table this week. For the episode, we picked a handful of our favorites to cover. Anthony got a hands-on play with Imhotep, the newest games from Thames & Kosmos and a current nominee for the Spiel des’Jahres. He also got a chance to play the newest iteration of Ascension: Ascension X.
Chris talks about the guys’ recent play through of Potion Explosion, a new game from Cool Mini or Not releasing at Gencon later this summer. He also got a chance to play Mare Nostrum: Empires, the newest release from Academy Games, fresh off a big and successful Kickstarter campaign.
Feature – Origins: BGA Awards
For our feature this week, we drew from a listener’s suggestion that we point out some of the many games we saw and played with our very own awards. This includes categories such as Best Artwork, Best Concept, Best Game for a Lot of Players, Best Educational/Horror Themed Game, Best Components, and more.
Listen to Episode 103:
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