Dice Tower East 2026 Vlog

0:00 Hello everybody and welcome to Dice Tower East 2026. What an amazing con this is going to be. We're at the Caribe Royale here. Walking in, it's beautiful, gloriously hot outside, but very cool inside.

0:21 Wednesday morning at the registration desk before things open, things are going to get exciting over here. And there are some happy volunteers, bright faces. Look at these Look at these people here. Look at them, especially this guy. Especially him. In not much time, definitely a crowd of people has has built up. People excited to come on through. They're all waiting for me. Everyone is here is in line to say hello to me. Hello everyone, your wishes are granted. I am here. Dice Tower! I should probably take out that awful awful voice over that I just did.

1:00 The gates are open. Here comes the people. There's There's a steeple. I don't know how the rhyme goes. Woo! Dice Tower East is officially open for business. Monday morning, 10:00 a.m. No, what time is it? 8:00 8:00 a.m. The con just opened. It's 8:00 on Wednesday morning and people are coming to the library to check out games. Let's see what games get checked out first. They're walking, they're not running. They know that there are so many tables, so much to do. They're going Most of them are going right here. Right here. This is the first stop, I think, for almost everybody. This is the hot games area. So, we're going to see these hot games start to fill up.

1:47 People are looking in. Where are the games? What's the one I want to play? People are on the way to go to to hot games, but no, distracted by one Joey Evans, very rudely.

1:58 I stopped everyone. He was trying to go game. I'm like, you have to talk to me first.

2:02 Absolutely, as is the tradition.

2:05 Look at Sir, are you going to go game?

2:06 the way I'm getting to curling.

2:08 No, you can't stop Eric.

2:09 There's an energy, I can feel a palpable energy, but no one is racing, scrambling. I've seen no checking into the boards, even though people are wearing hockey jerseys. They're not checking people.

2:20 Oh, you want one?

2:21 No, no, I'm good.

2:23 I bet you could check me right into a board, too. This is one of the new features here uh for Dice Tower, is Eric a Wonka Whaler, or whatever it's called. I don't know curling terms. Skiff a whiffle, dude. Oh. Oh. Oh. They're looking. They're contemplating. They're perusing. They're palpitating. They're perspirating? No, it's too early to perspire.

2:53 Oh. Here it comes. HERE IT COMES. BOOM.

3:01 I called the first game being checked out. I am a winner again. I did.

3:07 Look at that official Dice Tower broom, manned by official Dice Tower man Eric Summerer. I truly believe, Eric, in a different life we could have been mortal enemies.

3:17 What?

3:17 It's been maybe a half hour since the doors have opened, and you can see many, many of the hot game tables are already filled in, just hot table of people down up. See both Flip Town with its expansion and Flip Voyage over here, filled in pretty quick, and not a surprise. Uh this is Eternal Deck. This is actually uh given to us by uh Portland Game Collective by Leo over there, and this is his like fancy little upgraded edition, and it looks great, and it's super cool that we're able to have it in the hot games area. Two copies of Campania already filled in. These were the first tables I saw filled in immediately.

3:56 As I stepped out, this guy Mike over here, he had Sweet Land and he needed a teacher. So, very first game of the con I got to teach, one of my favorite games.

4:05 With a donated copy of Mechs vs. Minions here, Eric showing these people the ropes. Eric, how many times have you been destroyed yet?

4:14 Uh well, you can't die in this game, so zero.

4:16 Yes. Okay, well, that's disappointing.

4:18 many, many minions. I have stomped them. I have skewered them. I have burned them to a crisp. They're delicious.

4:26 He's a good teacher, so it makes it easy.

4:28 For the first time in my life, I'm proud of you, Eric.

4:31 Thank you.

4:33 All right, it's a little later on Wednesday, still day one, but you can see it's picked up from when I shot earlier. And uh we got the demo area that's looking pretty well attended, and the hot games, which now you're not really finding many of any empty tables. I personally am wanting to play these. I have not played these yet, and if I'm just chomping at the bit chomping at the bit to play this game. Look how cool it looks. Got the classic Aqua Garden, but this is the updated version. And then I went right past Sky Garden. This one has birds. This one has nests. This one has eggs. It's Sky Span. No. Garden Span. No. Sky Garden, baby.

5:24 And I found the sweetest and cutest little convention guest. Say hello.

5:30 See, that's a that's a full zero points right there.

5:33 points.

5:41 Oh! Yes! Oh, that's dead.

5:51 [screaming]

5:57 Ooh, Dragon Keepers, eat your heart out, Camilla.

6:09 Almost 100, but not.

6:12 The exhibit hall is about to open up here, and you can see the evidence of that. There's a There's a line of folks ready to go in, do some shopping. We're going to do some shopping, folks. So, right up front here, we got All Play, of course, along with some of the partner games and everything. So, just like at Dice Tower West, if you want to pick up some of the harder-to-find uh like Japanese titles up here, and then also we got uh Weird Giraffe Games, Cardboard Alchemy. We got Devir with the big old end cap here, right next to the demos and everything. What else we got? Let's take a look around. Let's mosey.

6:49 All right, here we are in the big room. Everybody's out. Everybody's playing. Uh there's a few tables left in the back over there, but for the most part, this space is hopping. But, as you can tell, there's a lot of room between the tables. Not crowded, so you have plenty of uh room to play all the games you want to play. The Sea Cow Games booth always has some sort of draw. I wish there was something that was like more eye-catching this year, though. Something that just really really looked awesome. The best flicking game ever. Hear that? Came up with that on my own, off the noggin. Oh, just like that. Perfect execution. Kung Fu Hustle great.

7:49 I'm here at the Peacekeepers booth. This is uh these magnetic lid boxes for various games. They stay on there real good. It took me literally three attempts to show that I could actually pull it off with one hand here,

8:01 but these are slick and in the box magnetic. Jason, how did you do this? Explain magnets to people. Here we see this is rare. It's just rare to catch this in the wild. But, we have Eric Summerer looming. Oh. Look at him loom. Oh, he's been spotted. He's been spotted. This is new this year, the Adrenalin Creative. This is the What are you calling it? The the cool games This is the cool kids room, right? Yeah, that's why you're fanning yourself. This is a booth that they had over at Dice Tower West with all the upgrades and all the deluxe stuff. You all went the extra mile here.

8:44 Yes, we always do that with the games that we love. So, whenever we find our favorite games list, that's what we've upgraded. So,

8:52 This is awesome, man. This is This is phenomenal. But, why do you look like that?

8:56 West, we're in the Wild West.

8:57 I bet you wish the air conditioner were blowing just a few degrees colder.

9:00 This thing is a little moist. I'm not going to lie.

9:04 So, this table of Western Legends just wrapped up as well as that one over there. These folks are finishing up because the next lineup, the next uh assigned group of people are signed up people are going to be playing through this. And then each day Adrenalin Creative is going to be swapping out what games they show off with what upgrades. And so, it's a little preview of some future stuff that we're going to be seeing here.

9:26 We just organized our bookshelves like craziness, and I have to say they look terrible. You know, I I don't think we're going to organize anything.

9:35 9:00 Wednesday night, and tons of gaming going on. This is during the US team is playing in the World Cup tonight. So, I know a lot of people are out watching that.

9:45 So, it's Thursday morning. It is about 10 minutes till 8:00. This is the virtual flea market. These are the people that are going to be selling games. People in about 10 minutes are going to be coming through in waves. The virtual flea market is happening here. People are heading in there. And I just saw Zee coming this, so I guess I don't need to. But, I'll film it anyway. So, they've got different waves with time periods that tell them when they can enter. That way we can have a little bit of crowd control in here, which is really a great idea. But, you can see there's plenty of space.

10:20 So, this is the most organized virtual flea market meet up I've seen because there are table numbers, letters here for the standing tables, numbers for these outside tables, and people were told through the virtual fleamarkets.com system a time to meet up and locations.

10:35 There's nothing people like more than used games. Except Bruce. Look how unhappy he looks.

10:42 I didn't catch all the obscenities you're throwing at Steven's direction. What the

10:47 this game played without getting cursed at, being called a

10:50 wasn't part of the plan. We had a plan and you didn't stick to it.

10:54 I had in my hand a 1 2 4 and 9. I could have won there. Obviously, I'm wrong again.

11:02 So, at the end of the day, it's not really Dice Tower East

11:04 unless Eric Summer is busting out Merchant of Venus and showing it to unsuspecting fools.

11:13 I'm not winning this game right now.

11:15 No one's winning. Tell them what it is, Vasel. Tell them what it is. We got some folks here who do not choose what games they're going to play at the con. What do you do instead?

11:25 We randomize it with this here spinny wheel, Wheel of Fortune style.

11:29 And I get to spin it for that's

11:32 okay. Wheel. Wheel. Wheel. Wheel. This is a long wheel. Wheel. Unconscious. You got A GOOD ONE. OH, YOU AVOIDED MONOPOLY. GOOD JOB.

11:43 SO, the other thing to add to this is that Tyler and I we we watch reviews and things like that. We see games we like and we add them to a list. And so, that's where that list comes from.

11:51 And I hacked the list. So, your next game is going to be Twister.

11:55 Twister. Done.

11:56 Big games, little games abound. Old game, new game, brown game, blue game. This person's my hero. Here we have the hot games room. We got the demo area here. Hot games in the back. But then also, you'll see people lining up around the outside of the room for the top 10. Look at them. They don't even know what this is about to happen to them. They're about to be hit with a blistering hot fire of a top 10. Here is Joey, Wendy, and Chris doing a top 10. Kids. Good ideas, bad execution. And Joey knows I'm videoing him right now and he's pretending not to see me. Look. As you see his eyes cross me. And over here is the most important part of a top 10 list, the audience.

12:44 Yeah. You thought you were here to watch us. We're going to watch you. They're just pretending to talk quietly. Joey's looking at his fist. Can you read his lips? What's he saying? Is he saying something bad? We don't know.

12:58 It's Wendy Eason's husband.

12:59 That's him in setting up all of the games for the flea market here. You want a first look at what stuff you might be able to come in here tomorrow and buy? Too bad. You're watching this in the past. There is all of the heroes hard at work. Let's get stacking. You know, Joey, what's fun about setting up all the flea market stuff here is that there's a lot of memories. Some good ones, some not as good ones. And some truly terrible ones that we made along the way.

13:24 We wanted you to like it.

13:26 I didn't.

13:27 Friday morning it's about 7:30. I needed this. And here we go. So this is the Grand Siena Ballroom. Get ready for a little ride. Probably going to be gone over with music and sped up, but that's okay. This is the line for the Dice Tower flea market. And as you'll see, this is very well attended and anticipated. Are these the official first people in line? So I have I do this every year. I hope you don't mind. If you do mind, I'll cut it out. What time did you get here?

14:03 About 3:00.

14:05 3:00 a.m. Okay, that's that's pretty good. Uh the record I think was the one year someone was the night before. Uh but 3:00 a.m. Was it last year? Oh, there we go. Wow, okay. Well, this year you were a slacker apparently.

14:21 Well, no.

14:23 You're you're going to get plenty of shots, I'm sure, at all all of the copies of Monopoly that are inside.

14:29 It's not crowded. Even though there you can see a ton of people playing games everywhere, there's plenty of open tables. So room for you next year.

14:43 Look at that puppy. Look at that face. You just want to bring him home, don't you?

14:56 Ramps. The ramps. The ramps. You're looking a little too friendly and smiley for the mouth cage. Thank you, Furiosa. Thank you um what mankind, I think. Mick Foley. This is the single coolest thing I've ever seen in my life.

15:27 I am here with Eric Summerer, the curling champion of the universe.

15:32 Universe.

15:32 How does it feel to be that amazing?

15:35 It Well, it's a it's a struggle every day, but I try and take it hour by hour, accolade by accolade, as people fawn over me. But, I get through.

16:16 And so, here we are hanging out at the Paint and Take, as you can see. It is sponsored by Two Thin Coats. I picked my mini. I'm going to be painting it, and with me is Jenny, who's who has not painted a miniature yet. We're going to be What are we tackling that? And then, you got your little dwarven fellow there.

16:38 Yeah. This is what he looks like so far. First mini I've ever painted.

16:43 This is in the large gaming room for a reason. This is Eve, based on the Eve online. Look at that Look at that die. That's like a size of a dragon ball here. And look at the box. All right, so we've been at this for about an hour, maybe. I got my little dude there. He's starting to come together. Jenny's got her demonic little uh What is his What is his deal?

17:04 This is Barzaphial, the demonic cultist.

17:09 He's got glowy hands, and he he's a bit of an outcast. Probably cuz of his fashion sense. But, we've also got

17:19 a new addition. Hey, buddy. This is Ellen.

17:24 Okay.

17:25 Ellen likes her skin to go over her armor.

17:29 Okay, that's okay. Yeah. Ellen's likes the her her boots to be slightly mismatched.

17:35 Yeah, see?

17:36 She's barely different shades of brown.

17:38 She's just ahead of fashion, see?

17:40 That's what it is. 7:00 here on Friday. This line here is to get into the All Play First Look event. So, are you going to be able to check out some of their upcoming stuff before anyone else? Now, All Play's already showing off a ton of their new stuff, but uh this is even more future stuff, which brings even more lines because people like to get that inside scoop.

18:02 So, this is an opportunity to see some of the stuff that All Play has that is coming up, and then some of All Play's partners as well.

18:08 That means there are five of that type of car in the deck.

18:12 All Play.

18:12 There are five Slinky cars.

18:14 Looking hard, teaching hard.

18:15 seven.

18:16 This is some assembly required. There's actually a life play of this on the Dice Tower channel.

18:20 We've got Mountain Goats Legacying happening. We've got River Valleys full of Jewel Crafters. We've got all sorts of unseemly and awful, terrible things happening.

18:31 Over here we have Wildberries. What do you guys have in your little rings?

18:35 So, we're trying to make the coolest breakfast cereal right now.

18:37 What? I want to eat breakfast for a game.

18:40 Committed to some more dice, some auction games, a slot machine themed card game. Uh these two are coming out from Sea Cow Games. Matt showed off some very, very early stuff over here. There's my little dude, little dude right there. And then Joey's little little warrior-esque. Yeah. So,

19:01 Nice.

19:02 we had a good time. I love I love paint and take rooms at at events.

19:05 We have a great one here at Dice Tower East.

19:08 It's a great way to get away and just kind of take a second, you know?

19:10 Yeah, right, right. Uh some people love to do that with the puzzle that we put out. We have a puzzle you put together. This is the way I like to do it. I I love to come over here, grab a little nature, and put some paint on it. Relax. And it reminds me that I like to do this. So, yeah. It's a good time. Try it out.

19:27 As you saw the first look, uh room is totally full, but also we have this lovely line of all these people waiting patiently. Oh, it's still going. That line is still going.

19:38 I know her. I know her.

19:41 I'm trying Tenzi for the first time. I'm excited.

19:44 Nice.

19:45 These guys told me it's amazing.

19:47 These guys are professional liars.

19:50 But not at this though, Tenzi is in fact amazing. It's 1:00 in the morning. It's party game time.

19:55 Party game.

19:56 Time to get some Times Up going on maybe, or maybe like a quick party game of Set it over there. That's a good thing to be setting up right now.

20:03 Right, exactly. Starting Set it at 1:00 in the morning is ambitious.

20:06 It's Saturday morning and there's already people in line to go in the library, but it's closed. But it'll be open in 4 minutes, hopefully. So, every morning people come in, put the games away, make the library look pretty, and missing pieces. Also, Desert Storm cards.

20:35 Checking out rolling deep here with Peter. Peter Vaughan, not Peter Hayward.

20:42 Standing in standing Yeah, backup Peter, I call him. So, you roll the dice, you activate whatever's on there, and then you activate bonuses and extras that you get based on whatever the sum value of all that is. So, we we rolled bad.

20:54 row right now.

20:55 Yeah, we rolled bad. Thankfully, we beefed up with mushrooms.

20:59 Right.

21:00 Beefy. Beefy mushrooms.

21:19 Looking at the Escape Effect Booth, this is a local escape room company in town. So, Tino, thanks for coming out, showing off your wares and everything here. I am particularly impressed with this one here. I I might need that as a t-shirt. Jomo Titan Games over here with quite a large selection of of everything going on. Hearth and Token, which was also at Dice Tower West, with lots of upgrades to take a look.

22:02 $700 flat. 660 over there for Michael. Greg?

22:07 Uh 760.

22:08 760. That's happens when you go to the casinos, try to win big, you always come out with hundreds of thousands of dollars, folks. Go to Vegas. Here at the Monolith table, we've got Colby from Plaid Hat over there teaching a couple of people. And it looks like an absolute bloodbath is about to happen. It's Saturday, the 4th of July. While some people are getting ready to blow up parts of their property, we here are preparing for the Dice Tower top 10 list. Yvonne, you're a champion. You rock.

22:43 You're amazing.

22:44 Thank you. That was a lie. We're going to get things here set up. People are seated. Andrew is over there wondering why I have not delivered the laptop to him yet for the presentation. The answer is because I was too busy filming this vlog.

22:58 Tom's shooting some footage, but it's nowhere near as exciting as the footage I'm shooting. Right, EVERYBODY? CHEER.

23:03 YES. YES, TOM'S FOOTAGE is trash.

23:09 All right, it's quiet. Mike just came in and made a bunch of noise, but we're going against America, folks. The fireworks are going off right now.

23:17 It's right, folks. The top 10 list is starting soon. We could have been letting Andrew here watch all the delicious fireworks for the 4th of July, or he could be watching the final World Cup game that happens once every 40 years or whatever.

23:31 way more exciting.

23:32 This is way more exciting.

23:33 Oh, yeah.

23:34 All right. We'll keep that in mind next time that the the What What do you like watching?

23:40 Dice Tower top 10 videos.

23:42 Next time there's a Dice Tower top 10, you're going to have to do this instead. Huh?

23:46 Dang it, he got me.

23:47 The unspoken rules are unwritten rules are you get free games when you come to my house. You get free snacks.

23:53 Yeah, when you break into Zee's house, you can take any game from his collection.

23:57 That's correct. His address is 55

23:59 The evening cannot stop the gaming. The people will play the big games like World Order, Campania, and Ark Nova, and Settee, and Peter Vaughan over here from Cardboard Alchemy showing off Whisper Wood, another upcoming game of theirs. This is one that's over in the demo area, but uh you can't get enough. You can't get enough. He's teaching these good, kind folk What?

24:24 It has minis that light up.

24:26 What?

24:29 I had to.

24:30 I'm actually speechless. All right, so these are the hot games, but as you can see, there's no one playing them. And in fact, some of them are starting to get taken down. Oh, no. Oh, no, they're being put away. Well, that's because we're giving them away, okay? All right, we're going to find out what the first game chosen from the hot games giveaway. What's it going to be? What's it going to be? I think I know.

24:52 Where are you going?

24:54 Not what I thought it would be. wow, bold choice. Bold choice. Wow, Druids of Adora the second choice. I've been very surprised. Oh, here we go. I know what Pridgen's taking. I know what Pridgen's taking. It's actually in there. There we go. There's somebody who's not flying.

25:30 Two games left. When you strong Nemesis and disease. There we go. Job everybody. All right.

25:54 Thank god I'm not the architect.

25:55 Oh boy, oh my god. That was smooth. Tons of happy gamers, tons and tons of happy gamers here at Dice Tower East and what I can only assume is a cult gathering. Um, yes, y'all have fun. I I got to go. Look at all these people right here. Look at that. Look at that. Look at all that professionalism.

26:38 Hey folks, I'm Tom Vasel. Thanks for watching this video. Check out our channel. We have a lot of videos on our channel. We have live videos that go up each week from live Q&A's to videos where we take a look at the newest stuff on Kickstarter crowd surfing to top 10 lists and more. There's lots of stuff on this channel.

26:56 We encourage you to explore it. You can find out more at our website, dicepower.com. I'm Tom Vasel. Thanks for watching another video on The Dice Tower.