This year for the first year ever I attended a formal BGG (Board Game Geek) event. I was able to snag one of the last tickets ($75 if you’re wondering) and got connected to someone with a hotel room for me to crash in for a few nights. What is BGG Spring?
Fun. Squared. Fun Squared Squared. In other words, a bunch of fun.
It’s basically an event where you can see some new games, shop at the exhibitor hall, but most importantly you can play games. New games, old games, complex games, simple games, it doesn’t matter. Board Game Geek provides a bunch of games from their library, or you can bring your own. (I did some of both.) During the four-day event I played a couple dozen games, some of which went for hours and hours.
I played Merchants of the Dark Road twice. Tekhenu and Everdell were two other games on my list that I wanted to play, and I managed to do both. I had three goals for the event: Play some games I knew (and could help teach), Play some games I own but haven’t played yet, and Play some games I have never heard of. I did all of that.
Games I knew (and taught) included Chai, Whistle Stop and Merchants of the Dark Road. Games I had in my library but had not played included Tekhenu and Everdell. I had hoped to learn one Lacerda game (he’s notorious for designing complex games) and I didn’t manage to do that. But I did play several games I picked up at the Virtual Flea Market including Crusaders and Fae.
Yes, the event cost me $75 (plus some hotel costs…I brought my own food). But as a door prize I got a copy of Zapotec and as a first-timer a bonus copy of Wingspan. The first is roughly a $35 at most online game stores, and the second is $45-ish so basically I paid for two games and got to use the game library and hotel facilities for free! Woo!
BGG has a fall event as well. It runs a few days longer, is a bit more expensive ($150), and takes place just before Thanksgiving. Since I normally reserve my vacation time for family at that time of year, I don’t think I will plan on going to the fall event. But I am already thinking about what games I might try to play next Spring.