Top 25 Board Games to DEMO at Gen Con 2019

0:00 you know there is more to life than just buying board games there's also playing them which is why I'm gonna be taking a look at the top 25 games to demo at Gen Con 2019 because these are games that are gonna be available to purchase at the upcoming convention so the top 25 games to try out at Gen Con coming up welcome to this list of the top 25 games to demo at Gen Con 2019 now these are games that are listed in the BoardGameGeek Gen Con preview as only being available to demo and not purchase that may of course change by the time with the convention comes around but I'm not not going through this list again because over 500 different games are listed in this preview and going through them took the better part of an afternoon now to avoid saying the same things over and over again like some sort of YouTube idiot I'm going to avoid games that I have discussed in my top 30 games to see at the origins game fair video from last month and other recent top tens top fives in other videos that I have recently put together for the most part I'm sure a few repeats all speak in because I'm really excited about those games as excited as I am about getting this intro done and getting into the list so with that said I'm gonna keep this as brisk as possible giving an overview of the game and a few quick thoughts on why I'm excited about it and the only thing keeping us from starting the list is the fact that I'm still

1:30 talking but no more let's start with number one number one is adventure games monochrome Inc now this is the first item on the list and right off the bat I'm already already cheating and breaking my rules because this item on the list isn't just one game but it is an entire series of games that's being introduced adventure games is a new series by cosmos who also make the exit series little escape rooms in a box and in each of these adventure game titles players are going to be presented with a mysterious story that they must unravel and working together the players will explore common areas talk to people look for clues and combine various items to reveal the secret of the story now depending on what decision the players make the course of history is gonna change and there's gonna be like no going back as you go through developing your own unique tale as you play through the game now unlike the cooperative exit game series titles in this adventure series are going to focus on the storytelling and the discovery of the story with no time pressure that said a lot of different paths that can be experienced during the game and there's gonna be more than one correct solution to the story that's just sitting there waiting for the players to discover so you got puzzles you got storytelling you got replayability to some extent which is a pretty cool amount of stuff to be packaged into each title in this adventure series number two on my list is aftermath pretty much just for the sole reason that this list is in alphabetical order so surprise

3:03 anyway aftermath is an adventure book game in which players take on the role of a small group of critters who are struggling to survive and thrive in a big dangerous world now this world has been made a little less dangerous because humans have mysteriously disappeared I say good riddance now the remnants of civilization are quickly being reclaimed by nature and the animals who still remain and the critters that the players represent known as the providers are a misfit ragtag group there's a there's a guinea pig with anger issues a hamster that talks fast and drives faster because apparently there's DMVs for hamsters in this game there's a small mouse with keen eyes a lot to prove and a mysterious vole who's borderline feral when can i play this game now these characters venture out into the abandoned world and one of 20 plus story driven missions and side missions so whereas in number one he had meat puzzles us to solve while you're telling a story here's a story presented to you to play out so again with the really interesting character descriptions of the different animals that you can play you know that's no no surprise why this one is on my list at number two well know it's off my list at number two because it's an alphabetical order but it's no surprise why this one is off my list at all number three is a game called arch Ravelry now I a preview of this one at origins and I instantly was hooked by the theme hook arch revelry gives you your chance to

4:37 make a splash in the crafting community players will be given the chance to compete against their friends and rivals to craft patterns fulfill special crafting requests and complete projects projects based on yarn so manage your textile stash effectively to avoid paying a hefty price for your basket of Shame complete the most projects and become the envy of crafters everywhere even for mont now our travel rediem weight competitive board game about crafting with a euro style victory point system the description on BoardGameGeek mentions that this game wants to kind of have the vibe of Scovel but while being set in the colourful and crafty world of knitting and crocheting it's designed to be approachable to families and non hobby gamers but includes the competitive edge of direct interaction point scoring and decision-making poppy gamers crave now I personally have an interest in this game mostly because my wife is a knitter see and that's why when I heard that there was a game coming out that was themed about knitting especially competitive knitting I absolutely wanted to make sure to keep this game on my radar and find out as much as possible because as every gamer knows if you can find a game with a theme that intrigued your spouse all the more Oh get that game a number 4 on the list is big cities 20th anniversary jumbo edition this is a game coming up from Mercury games that I have had my

6:08 eye on for oh my goodness over a year at this point now this 20th anniversary edition of the game increases the size of all of the plastic buildings in the game by 33% and revises the property trading rules and streamlines a few other things about the game so what is Big City well in this game players are gonna acquire cards and eight different neighborhoods and then use them to layout buildings of various sizes some are ones number two some are three spaces large now the points that receive for a given building is a base score plus bonuses for the buildings that are gonna surround it for example one player may play the city hall which incidentally scores no points for themselves so good job big city is a game that used to exist and is being brought back so I'm really interested to see if the rules have been updated modernized and streamlined while the components also have been improved with the new technologies and everything that have come into being over the last 20 years now earlier this year Mercury games did a similar treatment with container and I really really enjoy what they did with the presentation and the jumbo off' occasion of this game that's why I'm really excited to see them do a similar treatment with big city how will it turn out well the only way to find out for now is to demo the thing at GenCon number five is calico which is a puzzle II tile laying game of quilts and cats in calico players compete to sew the coziest quilts as they collect and place

7:39 patches of different colors and patterns each quilt has a particular pattern that must be followed and players are also trying to create color and pattern combinations that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also able to attract the cuddliest cats ha plot twist at the end of the game you score points for buttons cats and how well you were able to complete your unique quilt pattern a Catholic oh I will admit partially catches my attention because of its art style and and also because it is just a different unique theme you know is this gonna be like patchwork plus or is this going to be completely different the way it plays than patchwork or is this actually the game patchwork and I've just been mispronouncing the title as I read it no one knows it can't be known and the only way to know for sure is to demo it a gen con' number six on the list is Catan star ferrars now much like big city which has been revised after 20 years and jumbo fide Catan star fares is based off star fares of Catan from two decades ago the difference being that twenty years ago the settlers in this case stared into the depths of the galaxy and said I wants to go there and discover stuff and then they did they discovered unknown planets and a whole vast universe lying before them some planets had or carbon deposits and other goodies available to them other ones are covered in ice and were barren and just not fun to hang out on on a Saturday

9:10 now these settlers might encounter alien folks as well and start a lucrative trading empire with them avoiding the Pirates and the wormholes that surprised are also present in this wide universe Catan star ferrars is a new version of star fares of Catan which was originally released in 1999 that's quite well as 20 years ago this game now completely revises the graphics and the game materials it revises the rules and most importantly says the marketing blurb that I copied this sentence from a variable game board that brings even more variety to exploration of space the marketing blurb thought that that was the most important part but to me the most important part of being able to demo this Catan star ferrars is that I never got a chance to play star fares of Catan so this is gonna be my first introduction to the game at all which is why I'm really looking forward to seeing it in more depth at GenCon number seven is Crystal Palace in Crystal Palace players take on the role of a nation at the time of the First World Fair in London in 1851 players will attempt to create a buzz with their inventions using a dice placement mechanism in which the players themselves determine the stats of their dice at the beginning of each round and the higher the number the better but it comes of course at a price okay of course the game dice are placed on eight action locations like the

10:41 Patent Office or the Reform club or the London Times or the Port of London Waterloo station British Museum Bank of England comma Westminster just off the top of my head and all of these wonderfully listed spaces are going to be used to compete for the best resources patents and brains that are available to put to work for the players now I'm a big fan of dice obviously and so really interested in what this marketing blurb said about this dice allocation system where the players get to choose where they put them but it comes at a price I love games where you have to make a decision that well everything I do that helps me the bohr helps the more it also hinders me in some way mmm I'd really dig that which is one of the reasons why I'm really looking forward to taking a look at this particular game number eight is deranged which is a gothic semi cooperative adventure survival game in which players will fight rivals horrific monsters and their own personal inner demons yeah this game is scenario driven and at some point during each of these scenarios some player is gonna turn into a monster and by that I don't mean they're gonna have an existential crisis were they what would they doubt their own being they're gonna turn into an actual bloodthirsty rampant beast and unfortunately the only way for them to turn back into a human is gonna be to kill another player however as disappointing to be on the

12:13 receiving end of that as it may seem there actually is no player elimination in this game instead each death increases the level of doom going on in the game with the player receiving a curse or other bad stuff possibly happening to the entire group as a whole so you got to balance that well we don't want you to be a terrible monster anymore but you know what are we gonna lose in bringing you back to the realm of humanity or will we the monsters now the players may have a better chance of surviving at all if they're able to put their squabbles aside and form temporary alliances but really good luck in keeping any of those in place when you have other players secretly backstabbing and trying to kill each other you know also known as playing any game at all with with Rodney Smith now deranged includes deck-building elements and each player has their own hidden agenda at a modular board which includes miniatures to represent the players both as their human and deranged versions and as anyone who's watched this channel for more than 17 seconds knows I'm a sucker for any game that introduces a little bit of secret alliances negotiation a little bit of treachery and backstabbing so I'm really looking forward to deranged and hoping that leaves my sanity intact number nine on my list of games to demo at Gen Con is dominations road to civilization in this 2 to 4 player Domino based civilization building game

13:44 players take on the role of a primitive tribe which they will seek to grow into a nation whose influence will echo through the ages players are gonna do this by placing triangular dominoes carefully to expand their population and obtain the knowledge that will determine how their society is shaped over time you know you can do you can use this knowledge to build cities and master skills thus creating the legacy for which your civilization will be remembered throughout all time and space what's more each time a player masters a skill it becomes one of the pillars of their society opening doors to new possibilities and increasing their power I dig me civilization games in all sorts of different flavors and varieties so I'm really looking forward to this one even though its name is really long and scrolled off the screen I'm having trouble placing it but it was that one that one right there that one it looks really really interesting I'm gonna demo it if I can at least look at it number 10 is an expansion for this game right here down force the down force Wild Ride expansion which consists of two totally new tracks on a double sided game board along with 3d ramps and wild animals probably little plastic representation as a wild animals I doubt you're going to open up and find an opossum in your box but wild animals that we used over on the tracks as well one of the new tracks is called Aloha sands and it features water jumps cars can use these little ramps I mentioned if they're moving fast enough and they'll use the

15:15 ramps to pass other cars and move more efficiently so managing your hand speed cards to take advantage of these ramps is gonna be crucial the other map is called savanna stretch which features wild animals that are just wandering around traversing the track blocking the way these animals move ahead after a car passes them making the track more difficult to navigate for the lead car and opening up through the trailing cars so it can pay to hang back a bit before making your move I'm keeping that take because even if I said it poorly it doesn't change how that rule works and how neat it is and why it's on the list so continuing on to number 11 furry foodies in furry foodies each player plays the part of a hungry cat who wants to sneak a snack all the pesky human isn't looking so with a little cunning and bad in the paw players will push plates off a grid to collect them what gotta watch out and beware of broken plates because a broken plate may crash and attract the attention of those clueless humans preventing new the cat from getting more of those tasty morsels that you want to put in your little cat mouth this game does seem to be designed for an audience that's a little bit on the younger side but it did kind of intrigue me and I do want to find out a little bit more about what's going on in this game at GenCon which is why it's added on my list number 12 is iron forest now iron forest is a new flicking game from the authors and publishers of

16:46 I school and using their patented box within a box flicking system iron forest introduces the next level quite literally in the flicking game evolution yeah this game unfolds over a series of scenarios that make up an entire campaign and in each scenario the players control like unique mech and try to complete various tasks before the other players can these tasks and goals differ from scenario to scenario really adding a lot of variability and hopefully replayability to this game and thus making this game one that hopefully makes all of those sore fingertips from all that flicking hitting totally worth it that's iron forest hopefully the the pieces aren't made of iron though because that yeah that would that would hurt real fast flick oh no that's let's not do that alright can can we put like a little special graphic up for this one or something because number 13 is lawyer up which is a two-player asymmetrical card game in which players take on the roles of attorneys one for the defense the other for the prosecution facing off against each other in a courtroom now I saw a preview of this one at origins and it was still very much in a prototype mode but it really caught my attention there along with several other people that were in the BG booth doing doing the previews each case of the players will encounter during this game introduces its own unique mechanisms and story from from murder to racketeering charges the

18:18 lawyer up is a game of arguments influenced and strategies players are going to start with a discovery phase where they will go through all the evidence of the case and draft cards that kind of showed what they think is important for them to use to win the case then the players are going to take turns calling and questioning witnesses building arguments by chaining together cards with the same symbols and earning influence then attorneys will spend their influence to sway the biases of the jury to their side to win the argument this games theme and gameplay both seemed pretty unique and I'm really looking forward to hopefully seeing it in more detail at GenCon to really find out if they can actually pull this all together and make this work so that's why I lawyer up here not only makes it onto my list of the top games to demo at GenCon but also is one of my top picks on this list and now that we have reached the midpoint of this video an M had not more than a fortnight ago I was awoken from my slumber by a nightmare a nightmare in which I lived in a world in which people who watched this video did not subscribe so please awaken me from this nightmare I live okay that was kind of dumb but number 14 on the list is meccanica in meccanica Inc players will make the world spotless

19:49 with their tiny BOTS and vicious little vacuum robots made for global domination and cleanliness see the problem is humans are messy okay we're going around just being pigs and it's time that we got some health the health comes in the form of mechanicus little tiny BOTS this is a game of tile laying and engine building in which each player buys puzzle shaped pieces and then slots them together to form their own little factories now the different machines all improve the tiny BOTS for your factory and let you build new things you upgrade them copy them and do all sorts of other little stuff with your BOTS that all there is to it no because there's many other little strategies that you can put into use for putting your tiny BOTS to good use this game utilizes the box itself to actually let puzzle pieces drop in as they become no longer available and have some other kind of interesting elements that go along with it now just a few weeks ago I actually saw this sitting on a table at origins and I was really intrigued by the way the box was used and all the other pieces kind of laid out and worked together so I'm really looking forward to seeing it in more detail at GenCon to really find out if I actually understood what I was seeing or if I'm just totally off-base and last minute and a half should be totally disregarded I'll find out more and perhaps you should too before you really take take what I just said about the but the game into consideration but but regardless

21:20 what's really important is I'm moving on the number 15 number 15 is Mystery House Adventures in a box imagine this if you will experience the thrill of an escape room in mystery house adventures in a box with me in this game you will find a mix of Technology and tradition ok whatever in this game you imprisoned in this house and the only way out is to solve all of the riddles that you will find inside of it you're gonna have to search for clues in this box which features multiple different doorways on all of its site that the box itself is like a character in this game at the beginning of the game you insert enigma cards into the box top and these cards will tell you a story as they're revealed and resolved throughout the course of the game and it's also an app Oh whole thing I just said way hon yeah a mixture of Technology and traditions see it's not just hyperbole that's actually the way this game works culture so continuing on an app will drive the players through the game and will maintain the progress of their team and their time that they do to solve it the base game includes two adventures there's family portrait and the Lord of the labyrinth is also future expansions which will use the same base game box as a game system so obviously app integration using the

22:53 elements of the packaging on the box and everything itself to also use as a foundation for expansions and variations on gameplay yeah I'm really interested in seeing how this one comes together which is why it's on my list okay number 16 on my list kind of breaks my rule of not talking about a game that I've already talked about but but come on this is nemesis a one to five player survival science fiction game in which players wake up on this abandoned spaceship out in the middle of nowhere was something crazy going on something's not right with the ship and something's not right in the ship you see the ship's emergency Broadcasting System states that there's a critical system failure and the ship just cannot continue on its course so you gotta gotta fix that to continue on and that's that's okay however while the crew is trying to find out what is causing this failure and fix it they discover there is another problem if you listen closely other alien noises can be heard coming from various places throughout the ship one is that no one on the ship has ever heard before and ones that want to eat your face nemesis is a cooperation game combining bluffing and backstabbing with other elements of science fiction survival horror adventure let's be blunt this is as close to aliens the movie in

24:24 boardgame form as we have been able to get since the previous aliens board games that have come out but I'm ignoring those for the sake of this discussion this game has been on my radar for a quite a while and I really am interested in finding out more about it before it comes to retail this fall and that's why nemesis is definitely on my list of games to demo Gen Con number 17 is Oni Maru now Oni Maru is Japanese for demon circle I didn't know about I didn't know about that's that's scary this is a fully cooperative game where you and your allies take up arms to defend a village against otherworldly invaders probably a circle of demons but that's just a guess off the top of my head for some reason in this game you can win but you will only be able to win if you are able to destroy three villains the Oni but if you fail to win within a predetermined number of rounds a gates gonna open and all of Japan will succumb to an evil shadow so no pressure now each round in the game begins with a preparation phase where new enemies will appear from this gate which is in everybody's way and the heroes will then develop new skills to try and combat what's coming through said gate after that each player is gonna roll a set of dice and work together as a team to decide how to allocate reroll and sequence those dice that they have available at their disposal now these dice are important because they can be used to attack your enemies directly or

25:56 combined in specific sets to execute powerful techniques so use them wisely because then the Oni are gonna use their own dice to damage the heroes you and then they're gonna summon forth new Horde Ling's which they will command to attack their targets which if you haven't figured out by now or also you number 18 is precious cargo tell me did you know that for hundreds of years merchants sailed to faraway lands in search of untold wealth bringing precious cargo that was worth a fortune if they could find the right port at which to sell it it's true it's a fact of life and we all know that the shrewdest of merchants hailed from Colonus and crooner which I'm positive is how they are pronounced and I'm really looking forward to being corrected in the comments below are these great nations built fleets that scoured the seas for markets that were eager to buy their most valuable of goods some of their ships were quick and nimble while others were slow-moving freighters Laden down with cargo that I hate so very very much regardless in the game you are the leader of one of these countries and to start the game all you have is a single ship with but one wheel it'll sail by making clever choices though about which goods you trade and which ports you visit and where you colonize and when you invest in improving your fleet you yes you you who fought off the oni in number 17 you

27:27 could build an empire and make a fortune for your country whether it's filled with nimble little boats or these disgusting big bloated slow boats that boy i just i hope they'd sink but that's precious cargo remember 18 on the list a game that seems accessible and light and fun while still having hopefully a little bit of depth does it live up to those expectations i don't know which is why i'm going to put a it's already on the list it's on the list at number 18 way off script there number 19 is another expansion this time for the cracks of quit Lindbergh the expansion called the herb witches now this is an expansion that I am really looking forward to partly because it allows the game to play up to five players which is awesome and also because it adds just a lot of new stuff you got new ingredients books new herbs and the introduction of these herbal witches which just all work together that add a whole bunch of more variety to this game part of quacks of Quillen Berg's charm it's just how straightforward it is in its push its luck mechanism you know you got the cards that kind of affect each round you got a different different ingredients that you can purchase and add to your bag and of course you got you know you're pushing your luck to bring things out and you don't want to mess up that balance but what I've seen so far about this expansion is that it looks like it adds more things and more variety without screwing it all up

28:59 there's just more thing to do without compounding the complexity of the game which if it does is fantastic which is why this expansion is a solid entry on my list of things to damage end on number 20 on my list is also an expansion this time to racoon tycoon it's the fat cat expansion which not only adds new elements to the game but also is a delicious little pun because fat cat and only lead means animals but also sup you get it a fat cat expansion to raccoon tycoon adds new content that increases the number of players the game supports up to six adds new depth to the gameplay some new components and some new strategies that players can employ this expansion adds two wild card railroads new meeples that can be acquired for new victory point conditions and a whole bunch of new buildings that add new strategies and player boards and a new set of railroad and town cards and it's just one of those expansions that seems like that after you play with it I don't think I'm ever gonna want to play the base game without it ever again am i right or am i super right well the only way to find out is gonna be to demo it at Gen Con which if that's why I put on this list as a reminder to when I get there do that thing so it's on the list the system works number 21 on my list is the return to Dark Tower a sequel of

30:30 sorts to the original game from 1981 Dark Tower but in this new edition return to Dark Tower it's gonna be a cooperative game for one to four players who are gonna take on the role of heroes as a as opposed to something I don't know mailmen anyway together these heroes are gonna gather resources raise buildings defeat monsters and undertake quests to build up their strength and discern which foe ultimately awaits them and so far that sounds pretty boilerplate for a modern board games but while this game features traditional game mechanisms such as engine building and resource management it pairs them with a technological interface unlike anything seen before in games and I tend to believe this particular marketing blurb because what I have seen about how this game is to being developed it seems like they are integrating an app and a lot of actual physical mechanical elements of the board itself that are going to react and interact with the players in such a way that they're really trying to make the game feel alive now I think that returned the Dark Tower is still relatively early in its whole development cycle and there's a lot of work left to do on it but I think that Gen Con is going to be the first opportunity that a lot of people including myself have a chance to actually see the foundation the bones of this game in the flesh and I want to

32:00 know if restoration games is really going to be able to pull off with this game what they did with fireball Island and down force and other games that they have kind of resurrected so yeah I'm really interested to see if restoration games is boardgame necromancy really pays off again with return to Dark Tower number 22 is another expansion this time for through the ages this one called leaders and wanders throughout time there have been courageous women and imaginative men who have changed history and whose legacy we carry with us to this very day of this expansion will bring a ton of new content to the base game adding new leaders and wonders and military cards and all sorts of stuff that can change the flow of history forever raising the question if you the player will become one of these courageous women or men whose tales will be retold throughout our future their future history all right load up that top pick icon again because number 23 is another one video vortex video vortex is a competitive deck building game for two to four players set in a radioactive future Earth inhabited by video obsessed mutants so I don't know much like comment yes each genre worshipping character must strategically employ their individual mutant powers while battling

33:30 opponents and navigating game effects in an attempt to seize control of the wasteland which apparently is people want it on their respective turns players will spend energy to play special cards power their deck with rentals from the local video store and eject chosen cards from play to weaken their foes now run time the measure of mutant health is limited and unique to each character and by advancing an opponent's front time beyond their limit through lo-fi and hi-fi attacks mutants collect be kind tokens as trophies representative of their conquest and once three distinctive trophies have been collected victory is declared by the reigning champion now if you're anything like me the description I gave was almost nonsensical I have no idea what it was talking about but this game's theme just blows me away this seems to have the most innovative creative theme of almost any game I have seen coming out at Gen Con and I cannot wait to sit down and find out more about this video vortex game see if it really lives up to i got'em it'd be exceedingly high expectations that it's crazy incredible description has led me to to set for this game so good luck to you video vortex meeting the unreasonable expectations that I have now set for you

35:00 number 24 is Western empires a board game for five to nine players that covers the development of ancient civilizations over 8,000 years of history this is not just a regular game this is a game that no joke can take up to 12 hours to complete and yet the marketing blurb tells us that it has simple mechanisms that are easy to learn and all right to be fair Marketing blurb has given me no reason to doubt it so alright you have the benefit of the doubt marketing blurb how do you work well in this game players lead their civilizations as they expand and collapse from the Stone Age through the Bronze Age into the end of the Iron Age market and blurb goes on to ensure us that Western empires provides a full day of fun for larger groups when combined with the future release yes there's more game coming to this because apparently 12 hours isn't enough game we also need Eastern empires which can expand the game to full eight team players known as mega empires okay big is one word definitely to describe this game now if I get the chance at Gen Con to demo a full game of this am I going to know however this game really intrigues me if this games gameplay mechanisms and you

36:33 know just fun factor I actually hit the mark it might be fun to really set up a whole weekend yet the full maybe a full weekend to actually schedule a game this epic and massive however it would really need to hit that mark which is why I'm super curious to find out if Western empires and/or eastern empires and/or mega Empire this whole kit and kaboodle of a package of a game can really deliver what it's fun little marketing blurb promises and I'm intrigued to find out at Gen Con and number 25 is a game with a theme that really surprised me zona The Secret of Chernobyl zona is an adventure board game design for one to four players to win the game players must reach the center of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant before other players because if it's one thing I want to do it's to just rush blindly into an abandoned nuclear waste site before anyone else gets there but this target location only opens when the other players have collected two secrets from underground facilities known oddly enough as secret locations oh don't you know it's so helpful when the secrets are plainly marked like that even so the players do need to hurry because there is a time limit set to this game and when the final emission strikes everything is lost which is unsurprising because I have never been

38:03 in a situation with something called the final emission in which when when it happens it's a good thing no this is a game with a very interesting theme because it's based on an actual factual nuclear disaster yeah is it going to take this theme lightly or is there gonna deal with it sensitively or is it just using it as a setting to create a nuclear wasteland I don't know but I'm really intrigued to find out how the theme is utilized in this game which is why zona is on the list also on the list nothing else because that's it we're done so let me know if you're going to Gen Con and if so which is the games on this list you're looking forward to demoing and finding out more about and which games I totally neglected and didn't put on my list and should be ashamed of myself don't tell me that in the comments below but instead tell me more about these games and the other games that you're really interested in and I will talk to you again real soon

39:08 you