We are back! I (Marti) needed two days of sleep in order to get back on track from our wild and crazy Origins adventure! This year felt like a whirlwind – there was so much going on that we definitely did not get everything in that we wanted to do!

We’re getting started with our post-Origins coverage by talking about all of the cool things that we saw and played while at Origins last week (see last year’s article – this one is similar!). Here’s a quick overview of what we did throughout our time in Columbus!

Tuesday, 6/12/18

Like last year, we stayed with Sarah’s family from Monday to Monday. On Tuesday, we went and picked up Katie Aidley from Katie’s Game Corner (also a part of the Punchboard Media network) from her overnight accommodation near the airport and had adventures to Wal-Mart. We went and grabbed lunch at the North Market, and then headed to the Hyatt, near the Big Bar on 2. 

We ended up playing several games that evening, including:

• The Mind with six players. It was quite an experience – we liked it more than we thought we would. The three of us played with Katie, Eric (Games and Grub) and Chris (cmmitch2 on Twitter)
• Ghost Blitz
• Sprawlopolis
• Calimala with five players. It was excellent to be able to learn this and game with Wendy and Joyce of lattemeeples on Instagram. Check their Insta out!

Wednesday, 6/13/18

We started Wednesday by walking around to get a lay of the land. Then, we swung by CGE booth and some of the modules of the new expansion for Adrenaline were available to try out. The team part of the expansion isn’t ready – but the rest seems awesome.

After we were done with the demo, we spent much of the rest of the day in the small room set aside for open gaming on the second floor (Origins, you need more open gaming space, please and thank you. It was fine for Wed and Thursday, but the rest of the weekend was packed). While in there we played:

• Yspahan – Eric Buscemi of the Cardboard Hoard and Punchboard taught and played this with us – really enjoyed it! 
• Prowlers Passage – Marti played against Eric and lost, then played against Sarah and won.
• Crystal Clans – Sarah played this with Eric
• Majesty for the Realm – Marti and Scott played twice – once with Chris and Zach (the designer of Deathbot Derby and friend of Punchboard), the other time with Sarah.
• Let’s Make a Bus Route- Joshua Acosta of WDYPTW taught and played this with the three of us
• Starship Samurai- Scott played this upcoming Plaid Hat release with Eric Buscemi, Brian Everett of Cloak and Meeple, & Shaun of the All the Bits
• Noch mal! – Marti and Sarah played twice on different sheets (Marti and Sarah really need this game).

Thursday, 6/14/18

On Thursday, we got to go in and take a look around – the first place that we went was Plan B’s booth, to try out the new titles that they brought here. Then, we also had a meeting with HABA in the morning and Bezier Games later in the day to check out some of the cool stuff that they were bringing out. In between the two meetings, we went to the Brain Games demo area and hung out with a nice gentleman named Jonathan, who taught us some of their new games.

That evening, we went to the Greatway Games meetup for about 45 minutes, then headed over to a media event with North Star – we can’t talk about what we saw there yet, but we will when we can! After the media event, we stopped at CGE and finally got to try Pulsar – which we loved!

• Reef – Wendy and Sarah got in a full game of this beautiful abstract from Plan B/Next Move
• Century Eastern Wonders- Scott, Marti, Joyce and Jeanie got a full demo.
• HABA Booth:
  • Dragon’s Breath demo (we brought it home for a full review!)
  • Karuba Card Game demo
  • Boom Bang Gold demo (who doesn’t want to throw sticks of “dynamite” at a box?)
  • Dino World demo
  • Conex demo
  • Iqauzu demo
• Brain Games Demo Area:
  • Ice Cool 2 combined with the original Ice Cool – Marti and Sarah got to demo this awesome version of the game.
  • Pyramid of PengQueen – lots of fun with the magnet and the mummy! This one is great.
  • Orc-lympics – Marti and Sarah demoed this game
• Bezier Games
  • One Week Werewolf demo
  • WereWords Deluxe demo
  • Whistle Stop: Rocky Mountains Expansion demo
  • Got to take a peek at the One Night Legacy Box!
• Rio Grande Room:
  • Lyngk – Marti and Sarah played twice – we love our abstracts!
  • Dominion: Hinterlands expansion – all three of us
• Sprawlopolis played twice with Nicole of Greatway Games
• Pulsar 2849 – just Marti and Sarah, but we got to play a whole game of it. 

Friday, 6/15/18

Friday was a busy day as well. We had meetings with AEG and Queen to see some of the great stuff that they’ve been doing and are doing throughout the rest of the year. Then, we did a bit of walking around and checking things out for the rest of the day. We headed to the Unpub room to play a game, and then Sarah and Marti headed to the Pride Crossover Event. Lastly, we hung out at the Punchboard Media event until past midnight – definitely our latest night, but we had an awesome time.

We played:

• Thieves Den – the first play was a blind playtest for designer Alice Davis, and Sarah played at the Punchboard meetup. 
• Blood on the Clocktower – Sarah played at Pride Crossover Event with Angelus, better known as Storyboard Gamer, and many other LGBT gamers!
• Ginkopolis- Marti played with Jamie Maltman of WDYPTW, Ruth of the Five By, and Nicole of Greatway Games
• Iberian Gauge – Scott played with Joshua of WDYPTW
• Noch Mal!  All three of us played with Ken and Sam of Geek-Craft

Saturday, 6/16/18

Saturday was a little more laid back than the other days. We had meetings with Floodgate, Elf Creek Games, and Renegade (which we got a lot of great info about their focus on inclusivity in the hobby – there will be an article on that!), and then headed back to Sarah’s family’s house early so that we could hang out and game with the kids some.

We played:

• Bosk- All three of played this demo with Gates from Floodgate – this game is going to be awesome! 
• End of the Trail- All three of us played with Brent from Elf Creek, and expect a review from us by the end of the summer!
• Saint Malo- All three of us played this with Ken, borrowed it from Ruth (thank you Ruth – we loved it!)
• Sushi Go Party!- All three of us played this with Sarah’s cousins
• WereWords – all three of us played this with Sarah’s cousins five times – because it’s just that good.

Sunday, 6/17/18

We stayed up late on Sunday, with no regrets. Then, we woke up early and headed to the gaming hall in order to get some last minute deals, see some of the things that were harder to see because of their popularity, and say bye to our friends. We didn’t get too much playing in on Sunday (it was more of a social/buying day), but it was still fun!

• Sagrada- Marti and Sarah played this with Sarah’s cousins at 12:30 am
• Drop it- Marti and Sarah played this at the Kosmos booth, and it was as fun as it looks.
• Gizmos – all three of us played this at CMON, and absolutely loved it – can’t wait to add it to our collection.

For the rest of the month, expect to see some articles about our time with publishers, thoughts on some of the demos we played, and of course, the things that we enjoyed the most about our trip. Come back and check out all of the content we’re bringing to the table from Origins.

Game On!
Marti, Sarah, and Scott