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Episode 84: Gen Con 2009
84: Gen Con 2009 Release Date: Aug. 17, 2009 Running Time: 101 min. Listen Now: Download: Enhanced Version - MP3 Version Subscribe via iTunes: Enhanced - MP3 See sidebar for other subscription options |  |
House call. As the Gods of Geekery descend on Indianapolis for Gen Con, we score interviews with game publishers large and small, including a chat with one of the world's most prolific and respected game designers, Dr. Reiner Knizia.
Interviews: MayDay Games, The Game Crafter, Mattel, Days of Wonder, Reiner Knizia, Caledea, Small Box Games, Bucephalus, Paul "Prof" Herbert
Complete Show Notes continue after the break.
Interviews
MayDay Games Link
The Game Crafter Link
Mattel Link
Days of Wonder Link
Playroom Entertainment Link
Reiner Knizia Link
Caledea Link
Small Box Games Link
Bucephalus Games Link
Paul "Prof" Herbert Link
Errata
I'm sure there are some goofs in there somewhere. Let us know if (when?) you find one!
What a great collection of voices, from your crisply articulate (if often defeated) guest presenter to Reiner Knizia’s warmly accented charm. Shame about Bonnie and Clyde though. I have Mystery Rummy Case #3: Jekyll and Hyde and Wyatt Earp and absolutely love both of them so I had high hopes for it. Another great accent from “Prof” Herbert (and his patient "assistant) in the fascinating conversation about artwork which singlehandedly made me want to check out Roman Taxi to see how Caesar Augustus flags a cab.
I really should finally make a convention myself one of these days.
I also noticed the great mixture of voices while editing. Call it a happy auditory accident. :)
I wish we had kept the recorder rolling when we were talking to Prof after the interview. He was giving up some great "dirt" on famous designers' color preferences. The only one I remember is Alan Moon doesn't like brown. Made me want to go look through the collection and see how little brown there is on game he designed.
Bonnie & Clyde is hurt most by the fact that you have to fight the artwork to play the game. I really enjoy some of the other games in the mystery rummy series, so I was a bit surprised at how half-baked this game seemed.
Hey guys,
I just met you last Thursday at Gen Con and checked out your show. Sounds great and I look forward to listening to more.
Welcome aboard!
Stay tuned for more Gen Con coverage next episode and then we return to our regular format.
Hmm. Mattel obviously need to study up on their languages. 'Besserwisser' is definitely not Dutch - it's German. Not a mistake you want to make with a Dutch person. :o)
We'll have to let Mattel know.
I keep wanting to call the game Beezer-Weezer.
Sort of like Ad Astra becoming Ed Asner...
Great Show, once more.
What ? Gencon already ?
Am I the only one who recalls a certain presenter of limited hair coverage promising to tattoo his head with Dice ? Or was he just going to stick them on ?
Either way - what gives ?
There is a dice head guy at Origins, which Dave has conveniently missed the last two years...
Does that guy show up at GenCon as well?
Another fun show. The summer schedule is great, but makes it all the sweeter when you return to your regularly scheduled format.
Unfortunately for us, but fortunately for Dave, the deal was we needed to get 500 Spielers to write in to the forum post and vote.
That means Dave is off the hook...
For now!
Pledge drive incentive
…that was part of a bet that was riding on the outcome of the Kosmos cage match. I could be mistaken though; that was all so long ago now. Why, this was all fields then an- and you could walk into the gen’ral store and buy th’ new Fantasy Flight game- mind you they weren’t called that then, most folks hadn’t seen those fancy aer-o-planes yet. Naw, they were still called Dreamy Drivers back then, that distinctive diamond logo with th’ two D’s in a steering wheel shape- anyhow you could go in and pop down a nickel for their new Hopalong Cassidy game- oh and that was a great game too, had options for cooperative (“Cover me”), competitive (“I thought you said you were going to cover me!”) and cooperative with a traitor element (“How’s about you go in this time and we’ll all cover you?”). A hundred little cowboys, not your newfangled plastic neither; it was all Bakelite then. Ah, happy evenings- (“Let mommy be Gabby Hayes; she’s got the whiskers!”) An’ if you saved up the box tops from all the expansions for your Dreamy Driver Decoder Device you could tune in to the radio show on a Saturday morning and decipher Kevin Wilson- Senior, of course- reading out the rules errata- anyway you could buy that for a nickel and still have change for a licorice whip! Happy innocent days.
I think your memory may be a bit dicey. I remember discussing Spiel tattoos or shaving heads as prize/penalty for winning or losing the Cage Match contest. I don't remember the dice head coming up.
Someone on the forum petition thread suggested Spielers should be able to use the Spiel points (pips) they accumulate on the site to "pay" for the signatures. I like that idea. Somehow, Dave won't, I bet!
My memory's not just dicey; sometimes it feels like digging into a bag of Scrabble tiles and finding that they're all blank. Except for a couple of strange ones that seem to have gotten mixed in from another set (possibly Spanish?) and a handful of misplaced Acquire tiles that don't connect up to each other. Terrible thing; halfway through an important conversation and- and- I'm sorry what was the question? Oh yes, yes, I was going to apologize for that error about... about... now hang on, don't tell me... something to do with cowboys...
I bet when you draw tiles out of that bag, they always spell goofball. :)
Hey, since you mention the Cage Match.... that little graphic in the lower left of the page has been sitting on 3-1 for a very long time now. You can't possibly have run out of Kosmos games yet. What gives? Is Stephen afraid to risk his lead in the series? Has Dave thrown in the towel already? Inquiring minds want to know!
-- Joe
Me? Scared of losing my lead? I think Dave is stalling!
Ah yes, the Cage Match. Truth be told, we really haven't forgotten about it. OK, maybe we did for a while, but it comes up frequently when we sit down for a play session. Problem is, we're easily distracted.
I'll try to reboot the battle this coming week when we sit down for another round of games.
Our game of Elfenland was a SIX-player knife fight, not five-player, as I had stated. Apologies to... that person I somehow omitted inadvertently. ;-)
You probably forgot yourself, you were so bleary-eyed by that point. Heh.