We get Ryan Gutowski, Erin Gutowski, and Ric White from One Board Family on the show this week; they went to Origins Game Fair and they’re going to tell us about it.

We compare GenCon, Origins, and PAX Unplugged, based on what we know.

Highlight of the show?

Their favorite game was Pioneer Days – “it does what Oregon Trail could not do” – the newest offering from Tasty Minstrel Games. The suggested age range is 14+, and there are a lot of things going on. The youngest appropriate age is probably around 10.

There’s a take-that mechanic that they avoided using much when playing with their kids, but found it very enjoyable when playing with other adults. They also tried Chimera Station (which we saw at PAX Unplugged), which is probably a bit more complicated than Pioneer Days.

What is Origins like?

Ric says: Origins looks like any trade show… except demonstrating the product involves sitting down to play the game. Could take an hour or more! He only saw 60% of what he wanted to get to. It was really crowded, especially at the beginning of the day: “Black Friday shopping, but nicer.”

Erin just barely made it to the Deepwater Games booth, who only had 25 copies of  Welcome To available each day. She got the last ticket and had to hold a sign stating “End of the line”.

At the Plan B booth, they had limited copies of their new games Reef, and Century: Eastern Wonders – those games were super-hot and the line was SO LONG that security had to come and re-work the line so it wouldn’t block the aisles.

They had a fun run-in with Tom Vasel of the Dice Tower.

Fear of missing out is a real thing! It is hard to focus/prioritize where to show your attention.

Surprises: Senshi (Arcane Wonders) – a short, compact card game.

They had bought a “Board Room” Ribbon – $20 for unlimited access to the board game library of a Columbus-based game society. It was fun, but not really worth the money unless you can’t go to local game conventions. Some publishers had games out/available in the free play area as well.

Things to remember:

For anyone else attending Origins: Rio Grande gives out food!

It’s a great place to meet other gamers.

Be careful where you stay. The One Board Family tells us an anecdote about the Air BnB where they stayed.

Be prepared and know what you want to see. Divide & conquer if you’re part of a group.

Mom advice: Pace yourself! Take breaks.

What were your top 2 games from Origins?

Ryan: Reef and Welcome To (Your Perfect Home)

Erin: Senshi and Pioneer Days (and Dragon Castle)

Ric: Spy Club and Subatomic (coming soon to Kickstarter)… (and Caper)

 

How to find us:

Check out the website for One Board Family and more of their coverage of Origins and lots of family games.

And find The Family Gamers on our website and on social media:

Facebook: @familygamersaa

Twitter: @familygamersaa

Instagram: @familygamersaa