This past weekend, The Family Gamers attended Granite Game Summit in Nashua, NH. We give you an overview of what we played, plus three interviews with designers and publishers!

Giveaway

But first, congratulations to the winners of our survey giveaway!

The Ecret Family (CA)

The Nelson Family (OR)

Elena in Southern California

The Mercer Family (GA)

The DeVries Family (central MA)

Thanks to everyone who participated in the survey. Your feedback has been enormously helpful.

Granite Game Summit

Nashua NH is about a 1.5 hour drive for us. We left right after the kids got out of school on Friday and stayed through Saturday evening. We played a ton of games. Some of the best games at G2S were not part of the “official library”, but brought by other attendees for anyone to borrow.

Asher wanted to play familiar games and sought out strangers to play with him. Claire wanted to try new games but with familiar people. Both of them did leave their comfort zones on a few occasions.

Games that were new to us:

* Indulgence – a trick-taking game with variable goals (Restoration Games)

* King of Tokyo – we liked how big this game felt and the fierce competition without a direct take-that mechanic. Great for families, since it’s approachable by kids without feeling like a “kid” game. (IELLO)

* Lazer Ryders – fun, but better for teenagers or detail-oriented kids (Greater Than Games)

* Ice Cool – super fun dexterity game. We discuss whether trick shots give it more replayability. (Brain Games)

* Card-chitecture / Deck Construction – a prototype from Mark Corsey

* Stir Fry Eighteen – only 18 cards, cook the best stir-fry while deceiving your opponents (Yanaguana Games)

* Pirates’ Blast – dexterity game that uses air puffers to move pirate ships and fire cannons (HABA)

* Sparkle*Kitty (Breaking Games)

* Pallina – like the classic game Kerplunk, but with a bit more strategy (HaPe)

* Super Mario Level Up (USAopoly)

* Bonk – chaotic game of rolling marbles to knock a larger ball into the goal (not Gigamic, sorry – actually Buffalo Games)

* Sundae Split (Renegade Games)

* Anomia Kids – we played right after G2S. Same mechanics as Anomia, but totally accessible for kids. Loved it! (Anomia Press / Everest Games)

Shout out to The Castle (in Beverly, Massachusetts), who ran the Geeky Trivia competition.

Shout out also to Jeff Johnston! He showed the kids both his prototype games (Asher had previously seen them at TotalCon), as well as Deep Sea Adventure. They taught him Sundae Split.

Andrew mentions our experience with damage to our copy of Ancestree. It could have been unpleasant, but the staff at Granite Game Summit and at Calliope Games went out of their way to make it right. Thanks!

Sponsor

The Family Gamers Podcast is sponsored by Wild East Games.