PAX Australia 2014

Hello F:ATers!

I am the Tabletop games manager for PAX Australia in 2014. The Tabletop area includes boardgames, collectible card games, miniatures and role-playing games.

PAX Australia is a massive festival of gaming. You've heard of PAX Prime and PAX East, well PAX Aus has now joined the stable. Find out more here: www.paxaustralia.com.au/ - dates are October 31 to November 2, at the Convention & Exhibition Centre in Melbourne. It's a great venue and we have more than 50% more room than we did for Tabletop in 2013.

One of the big successes of the Tabletop area in 2013 was that it "converted" people - we had some great feedback from people who came for the videogames but ended up spending hours (days) in Tabletop because it was just fun.

So why am I posting here? There are two reasons:

1. To make sure that as many gamers as possible know about PAX Aus. It's an inclusive event for all styles of gaming, and it's pretty amazing.

2. To ask for your help. We're building a boardgame library to appeal to all types of gamers - new to tabletop and the tabletop lovers - whatever style of game they enjoy. In 2013, some of our most popular games (everything with >10 checkouts from the library) were

Small World 89
Lords of Waterdeep 37
Carcassonne with The River 33
Star Wars X-Wing 28
Ticket to Ride 25
Tsuro 25
7 Wonders 24
Forbidden Island 24
Ticket To Ride: Europe 23
King of Tokyo 23
Dominion 21
Power Grid 21
Race for the Galaxy 21
Battlestar Galactica 19
Lords of Waterdeep: Scoundrels of Skullport 19
Zombies!!! 19
Android Netrunner 16
Sentinels of the Multiverse 16
Penny Arcade the Game: Gamers vs Evil 15
Cards Against Humanity with Expansions 15
Space Hulk 15
Shadows Over Camelot 14
Fluxx: Cthulhu Fluxx 14
Zombie Dice 14
Summoner Wars 13
Galaxy Trucker 13
Flash Point: Fire Rescue 13
We Didn't Playtest This At All 12
Fluxx: Monty Python Fluxx 12
Settlers of Catan 12
Killer Bunnies Blue Starter Deck 12
Cash n Guns 11
Carcassonne 11
Mice and Mystics 11
Alhambra (Ventura ed) 11
Stone Age 11
Ascension 10
Formula De 10
Seasons 10
Elder Sign 10
Red November 10
Fluxx: Pirate Fluxx 10
Alhambra 10
Puerto Rico 10
Pandemic inc 10
Terra Mystica 10

Additionally, we had multiple versions of games like Munchkin and Fluxx which may not individually show up here but collectively should.

What games - whether listed here or not - would you recommend we put in the library, to make sure we have good representation of the AT genre? We're especially interested in games that can be played in a fairly noisy room, and that take under an hour to 90 minutes to play - because people don't necessarily want to commit longer than that to a game they haven't tried.

Thanks for your help!

F:ATties Melissa, not FAT ers! Sheesh!

Everyone, meet Melissa...Australian gaming LEGEND! She is also the reason you can read your Agricola cards in English!

Now be nice and help the lass

ozjesting wrote: F:ATties Melissa, not FAT ers! Sheesh!

I'm kinda liking FATers now. Let the Trekkie versus Trekker debate commence!

NEXUS OPS for sure. It was on blowout at FFG this holiday season, so some copies should be available on the cheap. Hits all the sweet spots: quick to learn, looks awesome, plays fast.

I imagine some folks are going to play TI:3. I would try to have someone knowledgeable nearby to explain to spectators what is going on. The game looks fucking huge and insane on the table and will draw a crowd, even if only a select few actually play.

MAGICAL ATHLETE (né ATHELETE) would be good to have as well. Total chaotic mess, but again, easy to learn--can encourage gambling (NOT THIS THIS WOULD EVER OCCUR!)

Also in the gambling mode (NEVER!), try to find WIN PLACE & SHOW or better, THE REALLY NASTY HORSERACING GAME. Folks can sit for a race, place side bets, &c. Good times.

Temple of Chac is a great choice for a couple of reasons.

Battle Cry or Memoir '44 would be a nice pickup,

Vival El Presidente,

Leaping Lemmings.

Heroscape would be killer, but that's a few buckazoids.

Let's hold her hostage until BGG pays to get her back.

S.

Either of the Adventurers games (Temple of Chac or Pyramid of Horus). Those are perfect short trash, easy to learn and teach.

Wiz-War and Cosmic Encounter, the grand old men of Ameritrash.

I'll second Nexus Ops and Magical Athlete, both are excellent games as well.

Spartacus and Firefly.

ozjesting wrote: F:ATties Melissa, not FAT ers! Sheesh!

Jeeze ... first post in and already I've put my foot in it. Sigh.

Sagrilarus wrote: Let's hold her hostage until BGG pays to get her back.

They might pay you to keep me, Sag.

I did manage to get some games for this year's PAX which are now in the permanent library. We're not quite starting from scratch.

Of possible interest here are:

A Game of Thrones: The Card Game
Arkham Horror
Battlestar Galactica
Battue: Storm of the Horse Lords
Clue: Dungeons and Dragons
Mansions of Madness
Mice and Mystics
Risk: Legacy
Sentinels of the Multiverse
Star Wars: X-Wing
Summoner Wars
Wiz-War
Zombie Dice

* Disclaimer: Some of these things may not be entirely like the other ones.

I'm not super worried about cost, where it's a game that will get lots of play and/or look fantastic.

Nexus Ops was the first thing that came to mind too.

Descent looks great on the table.

DungeonQuest would be perfect for PAX (short and brutal!), but it appears to be OOP again.

Merchants & Marauders, while a bit longer than what you asked for, is definitely great Ameritrash and without a doubt the best pirate game out there.

Nexus Ops: No brainer. Should totally be there.

Cosmic Encounter: Again a poster boy for the genre. Classic

Clash of Cultures: Probably the best "Civ Building" game available. It is longer than 90 minutes but is a great game and looks fantastic.

(Send me a plane ticket and I'll be happy to demo/teach/play any and all AT games)

Upon further reflection, I'd add

Chaos in the Old World

On that list definitely Sentinels of the Multiverse, X-Wing and Wiz-War. All are fun, short and look good on the table.

I think you're gonna want like 40 copies of Glamazons at a minimum.

Nexus Ops is absolutely a no brainer. Try to get the AH/Hasbro version if you can for a similar price, it looks way better.

Mike and Jerry talked about KrosMaster: Arena not long ago and it looks amazing on the table and is pretty easy to play.

Get some ostentatious dex games like Hamsterolle or that weird one with the pirate ship. A Loopin Louie tournament is always a ton of fun.

I always see a ton of stupid stuff and whatever is hot/new getting played at PAX here. I think other than some classic staples, you'll get more usage out of 1. stuff that's new 2. stuff with an iOS version and 3. stuff that has crossover appeal via theme.