We are finally back into the normal routine (more or less) after a month of con-related craziness. We’ll talk about highlights from Anitra’s trip to Origins and Andrew’s trip to Dice Tower Con.

What We’ve Been Playing

Ticket to Ride New York

Suspend Junior

Constellations – check out our review and check out the glowing stars!

For Independence Day, we played Rolling America, and Battle Sheep (with red, white, and blue sheep)

Quacks of Quedlinburg

The Grimm Masquerade

Dirty Pig – which we’ve already reviewed – enjoyed it at an outdoor concert.

Backtalk!

Michael S. met Andrew at Dice Tower Con. He emailed us to tell us about Brain Chase – an interesting 5-week online adventure for kids to solve a mystery and locate a real hidden treasure! Find out more at https://brainchase.com/the-treasure-hunt/

Seth Overdeer, a new fan, is excited for this episode – we met him at Origins and shared to our FB group that Origins is the “best convention of them all!”

And of course, Andrew ran into a fan at IKEA when looking at shelving units.

Giveaway Winners

Barnyard Roundup playmat: Kelly VanAuken

Sagrada promo winners: Joseph Reninger, Amala Anand, Kristin Troska

Munchkin CCG pack: Alexi Dikos

Congratulations to all our winners. Contact us with your address, please!

Convention Wrapup

We talked in episode 148 about FOMO and how that affects our individual relationships with conventions. Ironically, Anitra went to a convention much more about the business side and meeting people, and Andrew went to a convention primarily about playing games.

Origins Highlights with Anitra

Anitra got to meet Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon and be a book nerd in addition to lots of games at Origins.

SHOBU, Lanterns Dice, UNDO, Die Hard: Nakatomi Heist, Dungeon Academy, Spy Master, Ship Shape (so excited!)

The Climbers (from Capstone Games)

The 3 Laws of Robotics (party game from Floodgate)

Arch Ravelry (coming to Kickstarter this fall from XYZ Games)

The Alwaysgreen Garden (coming to Kickstarter soon from Splattered Ink – check it out!)

Honga (action selection from HABA)

Smash City (from WizKids) – perfect if you like giant monsters and attacking each other.

Kibble Scuffle (from WizKids)

Brain Waves (from KOSMOS)

Dice Tower Con Highlights with Andrew

Started right off by making new friends.

Koryŏ – card game where abilities are assigned based on who has the most cards of a particular type.

Bang! The Dice Game – roll dice to gain life or shoot people.

Village Pillage – from Jellybean Games

Brikks – Tetris-inspired roll-and-write from Stronghold Games (mentioned in