I spent most of my PAX time n the board game check out hall.  And thus I ran the risk of the filthiest bathroom at the Con. There may be some exaggeration in the comic, but there were floaters abound.

I did break away from my gaming to go see the exibition floor.  I would like to give you the scoop on Duke Forever and Portal 2 but there were lines, ugly long lines.  Two minutes of footage unless it’s like proof of the alien life that were video taping the big bang, will never get me to wait in a line.  Both booths also had scads of security, so these booths felt like two unfriendly soars in a otherwise happy con.  I know that sort of thing is old hat at E3 but it really rubs against PAX’s hands on gamer first approach.

I had other booths by contrast when I went over and asked about something they’d give me my own game play demo and tell me what’s going on as it happens.  Even Square-Enix was holding an ad-hoc Q&A for the gamer traffic that was gathering around the new Final Fantasy MMO Demo reel.

Ok Back to my board game addiction!

Here’s what I played that I’d recommend:

Castle Panic: Co-op everyone against the board till then end when scoring happens.

Ultimate Werewolf: Plays best at a party/when you have 11 and up, was a real favorite of the con though, laughs were had by many. I was using the silent voting with head to head lynch votes.  This seemed to work well, we’re a mean spirited crowd.

Betrayal at the House on the Hill: Now I own this game, and we still ended up playing it, that says something.  Also the new edition is coming out early October.

Neuroshima Hex: Played this twice, super competative strategy game.  Probably the most fun I’ve had with cardboard chits.

Ascension Chronicle of the Godslayer: Now this game right off the bat disinterested me based on serious face title.  The game and the lore on the cards seem boring.  That being said, the game play rivals my con favorite last year Dominion.  It’s like if Texas Holdem and Dominion fucked.  I played this on the train back about 4 times.  I was sad we all got tuckered out and couldn’t play another game.