Tag: convention

Top 10 Cooperative Games To Play At A Gaming Convention!

As RichieCon 2026 approaches, we are reminded that not all cooperative games are created equal! A convention hall (or equivalent thereof) usually has a very different atmosphere than a home or a store. A convention tends to be a noisier, you may play with people you don’t know, and maybe you’ve been up too long so you are tired! In this convention environment, some cooperative games work better than others! For each game we list below, we indicate WHY we think this is a good cooperative convention game!

Unfortunately, a convention is a place where the Alpha Player Syndrome can manifest more easily (as you tend to play with strangers who you don’t know or trust), so we choose games where the Alpha Player is kept at bay by something! Each game we choose will also somehow address mitigating the Alpha Player!

The order for this list matters less than other top 10 lists; these games are mostly just good cooperative games to play at conventions! Here’s my current Top 10 Cooperative Convention Games! Every single one of these I would be happy to play with you and/or teach you at RichieCon 2026!

All of these games will be at RichieCon 2026!

#10 Kinfire Council + Winds Of Change Cooperative Expansion

Ok, this is a weird one, but follow me here! So, this is a long game! It’s kind of complex! The base game is nominally a really good worker placement game, but it’s just too chaotic and fragile as a competitive game. There are a lot of rules, so if you are playing competitively, it makes it a lot harder to ask questions and address issues! The cooperative expansion (Winds of Change) makes the game more interactive and a lot more fun! The complexity is not nearly as overwhelming because players are all working together to play! The game is a lot for a convention, but if you can get someone to teach it to you, the game is more tractable (which is why it’s only #10 on this list and not higher).

The Alpha Player is kept away because the game is very multiplayer solitaire! Each players has their own set of workers and upgrades that, frankly, are too much for others to follow! This game has a lot of choices, and players tend to negotiate to help each other and not get in each others’ way too much. We also strongly suggest that you play with the house rule that you may also share a resource as an errand. See our review of Kinfire Council + Winds of Changes for more discussion of this and some house rules!

I have taught this at Dice Tower West, and to at least 4 different game groups, and it was always a joy! It also made the top position of our Top 10 Cooperations Expansions of 2025!

#9. Marvel United or Marvel United: X-Men or Marvel United:Multiverse or …

Marvel United is a great convention game for many reasons; it’s easy to teach, easy to play, but still quite cooperative! The game is usually under an hour!

The idea that each player uses the symbols of the previous player’s card is genius! Most people love this simple idea that they haven’t seen elsewhere!

Another reason this is a great convention game is because anyone can play the hero that they want! Who’s your favorite Marvel Hero? You can probably play them! The three Seasons of Marvel United have almost every hero from Marvel that you might want to play! Play the quirky Ant-Man! Or the powerful Venom!! Or play the baroque and mysterious Dr. Strange! Or play Wolverine!

The only reason this is just #9 on the list is that Marvel United is slightly susceptible to the Alpha Player since everyone can see each other’s hands; this makes it slightly easier for the Alpha Player to slide in and tell everyone what to do. I personally haven’t had any issues like that, despite having probably played 50 or more games! Each player is generally playing multiplayer solitaire, so that tends to keep the Alpha Player away!

Marvel United had made so many top 10 lists here at CO-OP Gestalt: here’s just a few! Top 10 Cooperative Games of 2024! Top 10 Solo Games of 2025!

#8. Good Dog, Bad Zombie (2nd Edition)

Good Dog, Bad Zombie is a light game that’s easy to jump into at a convention! It’s easy to play, easy to explain, and people can jump in and out very easily as the game is playing!!

Players play as dogs keeping the dumb humans away from the zombies! The dogs are adorable and will probably immediately bring you into the game!

This is a pretty light game with a touch of randomness, but when you are tired and just want a light game (where you can easily add people or take them out), this is a great choice! It’s quite cute too! See our review of Good Dog, Bad Zombie here to see if this is something you want to play at a convention!

#7. Tembo: Survival of the Savanna

Tembo is a very cute game about moving elephants along in the Savanna! The players work together to move the elephants to different watering holes, eating trees along the way, and keeping the herd away from the Lion and Lioness!

This game has amazing art from Vincent Dutraite, and the elephant meeples (elepheeples?) just pop on the table! My friends all adored the cute vibe this game exuded!

But this is still a fun little game for 1-4 players. I am actually expecting to teach Max and Cassidy this game at RichieCon 2026! They will really enjoy this I think! As will you; it’s a quick, cute game that’s easy to teach and you can be done in under an hour.

The Alpha Player is kept in check because there’s a notion that each player’s perspective informs how the tiles must be played on the board, and the Alpha Player can’t necessarily see all that! Each player must play tiles along their perspective! This is a unique way to keep the Alpha Player away!

See our review here to see if Tembo is the right convention game for you!

#6. Aetherspire

Aetherspire is really great at a convention because it is looks so interesting on the board!

The structures you build look so cool! Each player’s turn is fairly multiplayer solitaire, so the Alpha Player can’t sneak in. The game is easy to describe, but it moves well and has some interesting and unique ideas. In the end, it’s the 3-D structures you build that make this game pop in a convention!

Take a look at our review here to see if Aetherspire might be a game you like to play at a convention!

#5. Boaromia: The Cooperative Festival Game!

I can almost guarantee you’ve never heard of this game! It had a very small Kickstarter, and it’s a little rare! But the boisterous energy of this game matches the boisterous energy of a convention!

Players move around a music festival, trying to make sure they see their favorite bands, but making sure to eat enough, pee enough, and drink enough! Along the way, players will stop and see other bands with their friend and just have a good time!

This is a game about having fun together as you traverse a music festival. It’s goofy, the names of the bands are goofy, the characters are goofy, and the game is just goofy. But this is a great game that works for 3 to 8 players! It’s rare to get a game that works for so many players!

I know the Alpha Player can’t really invade this game; I tried playing it solo and there’s just too much going on for the Alpha Player to tell you what to do! Everyone has to see their own favorite bands, and that scheduling can really only handled per player! See our review here to see if this might be a game you are interested!

#4. The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine or Mission Deep Sea

I have played The Crew (either one) in so many environments, and it has always worked! Missions are short, and it’s really easy for people to hop in or out of this game! You may start with 3 people, add 2 more, then drop to 4! This is just the nature of conventions; people come and go, and The Crew can easily accommodate that! And the game is fun the entire game, even with people coming and going! And you can play as long as you want!! The Crew is also a cooperative game that works well at 5 people, and sometimes it’s just harder to find good cooperative games that work at 5! What a great game; it’s never failed me! The Crew has also made our Top 10 Cooperative Space Games, and the Top 10 Cooperative Trick-Taking games!

The Alpha Player is kept at bay because this is a game of hidden information; the Alpha Player can’t tell you what to do because he can’t see everything! While I personally like The Crew better than most trick-taking games, I can’t deny there was a more popular trick-taking game that works so well at a convention … see #2 below!

#3. Fate: Defenders of Grimheim

There are multiple reasons Fate: Defenders of Grimheim works so well in a convention! For one, the rules are simple to teach and easy to internalize: it’s a tower defense game! Defend the homeland in the middle!

For another, the board is so well-labelled! Everything you need is well-labelled on the board with big enough fonts to read!

For another, the game feels very multiplayer solitaire, but in a good way. Every player is upgrading their own character with their own rules and their own cards, so everyone feels like they are getting powerful! The Alpha Player is kept at bay because each player is too busy concentrating on their own deck; the Alpha Player can’t see what everyone is doing with their own very different deck!

A game of Fate: Defenders of Grimheim starts off very multiplayer solitaire, as each player defends a different direction, but as the game progresses and more shared area is threatened, the game becomes much more cooperative! This is a great dynamic for a bunch of strangers because they can slowly get to know each and slowly become more cooperative as the tension increases!

See our review here to see if Fate: Defenders of Grimheim might be right for you! Oh yes! I have also taught this at Dice Tower West and it went swimmingly!

#2. Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, Trick-Taking Game. Also, The Two Towers!

This is a cooperative trick-taking game set in the first book of the Lord of The Rings. There are 18 very thematic chapters that people play through!

I know this is a good convention game because I saw it being played non-stop at RichieCon 2025 and Dice Tower West 2025! People just seem to love this game!

Everyone seems to love the simplicity of this game! Like other games on this list, the game does scale so you can jump in and out (a little, the game is best at 3 or 4), but it’s been my experience that people just want to keep playing! See our review of Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, Trick-Taking Game here!

The Alpha Player is kept at bay because this is a limited communication and limited information game; the Alpha Player can’t tell you what to do because he can’t see everything!

And don’t worry RichieCon 2026 people; the next game in the (The Two Towers) will also be available to play at RichieCon 2026!

#1. Just One

I have never had a session of Just One fail me! I have played with gamers, non-gamers, and casual gamers … and it has always worked! This simple party cooperative game is easily to explain, easy to play, and addicting to keep playing! People can drop in and out without any consequences, and it can play small numbers (like 3 players) all the way up to 9 players (with a little cheating) and still work flawlessly! This word game has a simple premise: everyone choose one word to make the guesser guess the secret word. That’s it! If any words are the same, they are eliminated, so players must think outside the box sometimes to get thing working! Each round is quick, and people can easily join or drop!

The Alpha Player is kept at bay because players simply aren’t allowed to communicate during the word choice phase! There’s no way the Alpha Player can sneak in because he simply can’t talk! (And if he is talking, he is cheating!)

Just One has made our Top 10 Cooperative Games You Can Play Online and also our Top 10 Cooperative Party Games!


Boaromia: The Goofiest Cooperative Game You’ve Never Heard Of!

Boaromia: The Cooperative Festival Game! was a very small crowdfunding game that was on Gamefound in Dec. 2025/Jan 2026! It has only 97 backers for €7293!!

This is a game for 3-8 players (!) and it is pretty quick; 60-90 minutes feels right, but it can be quicker with fewer people.

Let’s take a look at this goofy game! Is it fun?

Unboxing and Gameplay

This is a pretty weird sized box; it’s not standard sized. See Coke can above for perspective.

Boaromia is a game for 3-8 players! Each player takes the roll of a friend going to a music festival! Each different friend has a special “gift” that helps them navigate the music festival! See above!

For example, Crazy Q (above) has the “Festival Vibe” and can push through crowds without being hindered by them!

There’s a board (2-sided) which is the festival grounds! (One side is easier than the other)

Players move around the board, going to venues to see concerts! Seeing concerts with your friends is the best way to have fun in the game!

The object of the game, and this sounds ridiculous, is to have fun! Although you have metaphysical “fun” while you play, each player has a “fun” marker (see pink cube above) which you need to get to 8! If each player has 8 fun and can end together at the same location for a final picture, you win! That’s right, to win, you all have to have fun together!!

So, when we won, we all took a photo together!! See above!

Although alternative ways to have fun come up as you play, the best way to have fun is to attend the MUST SEE bands with your friends, and avoid the MUSS MISS bands! For example, Fire Circle and Primatez are MUST SEEs and Pale Pink and Harinna are the MUST MISS bands! Now, you get +1 fun per MUST SEE bands, but if a friend is with you, you get another +1 (as does the friend!)

To see a band, you (and hopefully your friends) must all end a turn at the Concert Venue with that band! See above as all three friends get +1 “fun” for seeing a show … another +1 if it’s a MUST SEE!

There is a concert schedule showing when and where the bands all play! See above! The colors are used very well to demarcate each venue and when bands are playing!

This game is all about coordinating with your friends to try to see bands together! Sometimes you see a band just to have fun together (even if it isn’t a MUST SEE), and sometimes you have to see a MUST SE band by yourself because everyone else has their own MUST SEE bands, and sometimes you may see a MUST MISS show just to cheer up a friend who isn’t having as much fun!

This game is all about seeing shows with friends and having fun together.

You have to keep your energy up, by visiting bars and the food court! A festival can be draining, so every round, you lose energy! You gotta get beer and coffee and curry to keep moving! See the BAR above (left), where you can get beer, coffee, mix drinks, and water … and see the fry stand above (right) where you can get food!

You start the game with some money to buy drinks and food. Notice that you have a BLADDER track (see above)! All this drinking blows up your bladder … if you are ever have a full bladder, you can do nothing else on your turn but find the restrooms! Just like a real festival, this game is all about seeing shows, keeping your energy up, but also keeping your bladder under control!

You can get money by going to the ATM, but you can also share money if you are on the same space with your friends! “Dude, low on energy? Let me buy you a curry!!” This is a cooperative game, so of course you are going to keep your friends spirits up!

Like any cooperative game, this is bad news of some sort. In this game, the EVENTS unveal every round (the first part of the festitval is in the day, the second part at night). The EVENTS move the “talky” guy and the crowds around! The crowds and the “talky” guy are the things working against you!!

The “talky” guy hangs out at the bars across the festival and moves around in the game. If you ever enter a bar where the “talky” guy is, you have to immediately end your turn! “Hey Rich! Come here! I gotta tell you something!” The “talky” guy is nice, but he can mess up your movement plans if you don’t stay away from him!

The other part of the bad news EVENT cards are the crowds: see above as the DUROC venue is full of people! Crowds don’t STOP your movement, but they impede it; it takes 2 movement points to get through a crowded space! (Everyone has 6 movement points per turn, modulo special abilities like Crazy Q who isn’t affected by crowds!)

There are some side goals that come up as you play which can help you. For example, if two of you end up near the swings, you can immediately satisfy the “Blurred Lines” Goal and one of you gets a fun! Presumably, one player pushes the other player on the swing … these goals are “secondary” ways to get fun!

At the end of the festival, if everyone has 8 fun and you all end up on the same square for a group picture … you win! If not, well, it was fun to see those bands anyways!

The components aren’t great, but they work and are readable. There is one major issue we will discuss below!

Overall, the components work.

Rulebook

I liked this rulebook. First of all, it wasn’t on shiny paper! It was on ordinary paper! See above! I think I’ve come to prefer rulebooks on non-shiny paper! It makes it SO MUCH easier to read in the light! There’s no reflection! Those of you paying attention might remembers The Plum Island Horror from a while ago (see review here); it also had the non-shiny paper! I find myself wishing more companies would use non-shiny paper!

This game is an A on the Chair Test! It fits very well on the chair next to me, it has a very readable font, I can see and consult the rulebook on the chair next to me, and the rulebook is filled with lots of good pictures!

The Components page and set-up were fine! They showed the map and where to put things!

I think there were a few minor rule questions as we played, but overall this was a good rulebook! Lots of examples, well-laid out rulebook, lots of pictures; they did a good job. Did it need an Index? I don’t think so? It’s a pretty simple game.

Solo Game?

So, there is no solo mode! See above as the player count is 3-8 ! Boo for not following Saunders’ Law! … until I tried it solo!!

So, I said, “I’ll just try a 3-handed solo game!” See above for set-up! This should work, right?

Nope! I got slaughtered! This game is all about planning how each character separately moves about the map! Each character MUST SEE some shows, and tries to hook up with their friends for other shows! Sometimes there are Goals which are useful, but this game is all about the coordination and trying to get to events! Every game I have played has characters barely making events at the last minute! And that’s the fun! Trying to hook up with your friends.

As a solo gamer, it’s too much work trying to run 3 characters at the same time. “Wait, he has to be here, she has to be here, wait, he needs energy, he needs to pee… ARGHGH!” I totally understand why there’s no solo mode. Having said that, I think I would recommend trying a solo game three-handed just to see how the game works! For the purposes of having “fun”, a three-handed solo game isn’t fun, but it’s very instructive.

Play solo (three characters) once to learn the game, then never play solo again.

Cooperative Play

This game is totally made for cooperative play! There is so much to keep track of for just one character, so you pretty much have to play just one character! You have to make sure your character achieves their goals … but in order to get fun (and win), you absolutely have to work with everyone!! Part of the fun of this game is calling out to the game board:
“HEY! I MUST SEE the Primatez!! Who wants to come with me?” And you’ll hear,
“I’d love to, but I have to pee first! I’ll see you at the stage!”
“Not me! I HATE the Primatez!!! I’ll get some curry and meet you later!”

The game is goofy! You are all trying to coordinate your actions to see as many shows as you can! You have to manage your money, your bladder, and your fun as you run around the board.

This game is so cooperative! You have to work with your friends to see shows, because the best way to get fun in the game is to see shows together, with your friends!!!! It’s actually a lot of work to have fun at the show!

The theme of the game is so goofy, that if you lean into it, you can have so much fun! We would high-five as we saw a MUST SEE show together! We’d share money so our buddy could get a curry and keep his strength up! We’ve go swing on the swings together between shows!

I have played a 3-player and 5-player game of this, and both worked so well! Everyone was laughing and having a good time!

What I Liked

So Interactive! As we played, there was so much interaction! Sometimes you’d hang with one set of friends, sometimes you’d hang with a different set of friends … and see shows together! The game was all about seeing shows with your friends, even as little groups come and go as you see your MUST SEE bands!

Goofy! I loved how goofy this game was! The band names are goofy, the character names are goofy! It makes it easy to lean into this theme and just have goofy fun! I don’t mean goofy to be bad in any way! I loved the goofy nature of this game!

Band Names: In case you haven’t figured it out, all the band names in this game as “peterbations” of real names! Some of the fun was trying to figure out who the “real” band was! Lukewarm Vanilla Snippets? We are pretty sure they are the Red-Hot Chile Peppers!!

What I Didn’t Like

Pawns and Character Colors: The worst part of this game was the mapping of the character colors to the pawn colors! Look above at all the characters! The washed-out colors all kind of blend into each other, and some character colors are almost indistinguishable! The pawns to character mappings are also very unclear, to the point where it sometimes interfered with gameplay! “Wait, why are you moving my pawn?” “Oh sorry, I thought that was my color!”

Considering how WELL they used colors to distinguish the venues, the colors for the characters pawns and character mats seemed surprisingly poorly chosen. I think they were trying to use primary colors for the venues and “off” colors for the characters to distinguish them? I applaud the effort, but it just didn’t work.

A Worry About Replayability: The game uses the same schedule and the same band names for every game. I’ve played the game at least 3 times now, and the game is still a hoot! I worry it will become “samey” after a few more games; I wish there had been another schedule with different band names.

I think this game needs a Heavy Metal expansion, with names like “Poorly Whiteless’ Prismatic Spray” (for “Richie Blackmore’s Rainbow”) and a different schedule! I kind of wish that more schedules with different theres: a “Pop” and a “Heavy Metal” and a “Alternative” festival should have all been included. But I get it; I think this is literally the smallest Kickstarter I have ever funded. It only had 97 people, so they could only do so much with limited funds.

Conclusion

Boaromia: The Cooperative Festival Game is definitely a hidden gem of a game! If you have a group of friends who can lean into the music festival theme and enjoy the dynamic little groups that form from show to show, I think this will be a great hit! If you are looking for a deeply serious and strategic game with cooperative elements, Boaromia: The Cooperative Festival Game probably isn’t for you. This game is best enjoyed by being goofy with your friends!

From this description, I think you will know if you and your friends will like Boaromia! I am surprised how much me and my groups of friends liked this! I was going to give this a 7/10, but I can still see the smiles on ALL of my friends faces as we played this … it has to be at least an 8/10!!

There are few issues to consider; the game might be come a bit “samey” as the bands and schedule don’t change, and the color choices for the pawns and characters mats actually detract from the game. I would love to see a bigger better edition with better colors, multiple themes/bands, with multiple schedules to give the game some variety! But as it stands, I really enjoyed this game!

I think this game would would work fabulously in a convention environment! The raucous energy of this game matches the raucous energy you get at a board game convention! I expect this to be on my Top 10 Cooperative Games To Play at a Convention next week! (Spoilers!)

RichieCon 2025 And Top 6 Interesting Games In The Last Year!

RichieCon 2025 had a lot of drama this year!  We had to get a new venue this year because of … reasons. 

If you want the long version of why we got a new venue, I encourage you to listen to “Tales of Horror” in the Dice Tower Podcast “Where Credit is Due” (timestamp 32:41, see link below)
 
 

New Venue

For RichieCon 2025, we had to go looking for a new venue.  We ended up at Fruchthendler Elementary School!

This venue was great! It was a little expensive to rent it for two days, but it was spacious and easy set-up in!  The cafeteria had plenty of tables!

It even had a stage which we used some presentations (see below).

The best part of the new venue was the sound baffling!  The major complaint we always got from the Rec Center was how LOUD it was.   With the Sound baffles all over the cafeteria, that was not a problem this year!

Because of the cost, we engaged a Sponsor to help defray the costs: Thanks to Return From Subroutine Games for helping out!  See their website here!

Day -1: Getting Coolers

Because of the new venue, we don’t have a refrigerator any more! So, I had to put the call out to all my friends to get coolers to store drinks and perishables in!  In the weeks leading up to RichieCon 2025, I collected about 10 coolers!

We actually ended up having too many coolers, but that’s a good problem to have!

Day 0: Boxception and Sleeve-It!

We end up playing some games as we get ready for RIchieCon … but they aren’t the funnest games in the world!

The Wednesday before RichieCon has become Boxception: The Cooperative Dexterity game of putting boxes in other boxes! 

We end up putting about 200 games into 20 boxes over the night! (Some boxes have tons of games, some have just a few!)

We also spend some time playing “Sleeve-It!”  In this case, Teresa played a solo game of “Sleeve-It!” with the Lord of the Rings Trick-Taking game!

Day 1: The Secret RichieCon House

A large contingent of people rent an AirBNB and stay near Fruchthendler so that it’s easy to go back and forth: it also is a great place to game before everyone arrives!  Most of the out-of-towners end up here over the course of Friday before we have access to Fruchthendler!

Day 2:  RichieCon 2025 Starts!

Day 3, The Last Day: RichieCon 2025

 

Top 6 Interesting Games Since Last Year!

On Saturday of RichieCon, we like to do a little show to bring the RichieCon Community together! In that show, we discuss some games that drew our attention since the last year.  The purpose of this list is to give people some ideas of games to play for the remainder of RichieCon! Without further ado, here’s our 6 questions with answers from Richie, Kurt, and Sam!

#6: What game from the last year surprised you the most?  Good or bad surprise?

Richie: The Secrets of Zorro.  This fun little cooperative game didn’t have a very big Kickstarter, but me and friends really liked it!  It’s quick, it’s fun, and very thematic!  Good Surprise! See our review here to see if you might like it!
Kurt: Wandering Galaxy; disappointing given the awesomeness of Forgotten Waters & Freelancers Sam: Luddite. From watching the comic book into video on the wall in the man cave I was expecting it to be very story driven and thematic and RPG-like. It turned out to be a very fun roll and write that had none of that. See Richie’s review here.



#5: What game in the last year do you disagree with reviewers on?

Richie: Tales of Arthurian Knights.  This game went over like gang-busters in my group, getting played multiple times and getting borrowed for birthday parties!  All of my friends gave it a strong 8.5 (maybe 9), but the the Dice Tower seemed less enthusiastic and only gave it a 6 or 6.5.  We were very surprised!  We loved it!  See our Review here.

Kurt: THE GANG! Tom Vasel didn’t like this game very much, but my group (Kurt’s group) loved loved this game! 

Sam: Soul Raiders. Tom V. thought it was great end gave it an 8. I wanted to like it because it has great art and a great premise but ended up being too random and grindy for the story driven feel that it was giving off. My final score 5.5.  See our thoughts here.

#4: What game (that you paid for) did you really dislike? It’s easy to dislike games other people paid for, but what did you pay for that you disliked?

Richie: I bought and sold two games because I disliked them so much.  Corps of Discovery: in a game where one resource can mean the difference between winning and losing, the rules needed to be tighter.  It didn’t land for me (I gave it a 4/10), but it might for you.   The Dice Tower and other reviewers seem to like this game (9/10), so try it for yourself to see if you might like it.  See our thoughts here.    I also wanted to like Freedom Five sooooooo muuuucch, but I ended up hating it and selling it. I am still very depressed about this: see our very different review here.

Kurt: Bear Mountain Camping Adventure.  It’s all Richie’s fault; he pointed me at the game! I backed it, but when it came in, it wasn’t fun even though the production was gorgeous.

Sam: I don’t actually have one this year… Perhaps because I’ve been both buying and playing less this year I’ve been more selective (sorry Rich) and haven’t both bought and played a game I didn’t like. EDITOR: to be fair, part of Rich’s job is to review games, so he’ll take chances more

#3: What game that came out in the last year that you liked but other’s didn’t?

Richie: Dice Throne Missions/Dice Throne X-Men.  I loved this new system that makes the Dice Throne game work solo and cooperatively, but my friends didn’t love it nearly as much.  See our thoughts here.
Kurt: Link City.  This is pointed at Rich: he said he didn’t like it.  (EDITOR: To be fair, I didn’t love it as much as other people, but I recognized that lots of people did, so it still made the Top 10 Cooperative Party Games of 2024!)
Sam: Ecosfera. This one is the opposite for me – I didn’t like playing it 2 player because it felt like my turns were basically scripted and I had no agency. However others in the group enjoyed it at higher player counts.  See the review here to see what Sam’s talking about!

#2: What was your favorite expansion that came out in the last year?

Richie: Aeon’s End: The Descent.  Aeon’s End is a great cooperative deck-building game with mages working together fighting the Big Bad.  Aeon’s End: The Descent is a standalone expansion in the same universe, but adds the The Friends and Foes module!  This module makes Aeon’s End a little more balanced as it tends to mitigate the Variable Turn Order problems! See our review here for more discussion.

Kurt: Forest Shuffle (Alpine & Woodland Edge)
Sam: Townsfolk Tussle: Foul Neighbors. We played with the expansion characters and bosses and it worked great. Our final battle ended in the perfect cartoon way of pushing the plunger on the dynamite and blowing up both the outhouse and the big bad in one shot. (EDITOR: It was so fun! That’s why it made our Top 10 Cooperative Expansions of 2024!)

#1: What was your favorite game that came out in the last year?

Richie: Marvel United Season 3/Multiverse.  It’s not even close: I spent so much time playing the content of Season 3 and I had so much fun. Sentinels of the Multiverse used to be my favorite game of all time, but I think Marvel United has supplanted it!

Kurt: Tie: Fromage & Fellowship of the Ring Trick taking game

Sam: Limiting to only those released in the last year: Fellowship of the Ring trick taking game. It’s light, fast, thematic to the story, plays well, and is easy to just keep playing and lose track of time while going through the different chapters.  Expanding to played no matter release date: Imperium (specifically classics). I really enjoyed how each civilization feels and plays differently from each other even though they all share common market decks and basic mechanics.

Solsbury Hill

It’s become a tradition that every year, Joe must sing a parody song and make everyone laugh.  This year, I helped and together Joe and I penned the parody Fruchthendler (sung to the tune of Solsbury Hill) as a means to vent our frustration of getting unceremoniously kicked out of the Rec Center.  It’s mostly meant in jest, but with a little heartfelt sentinement!  We also had the audience participate with Kazoos.  No joke. Thanks for Mike H. for directing the world’s greatest kazoo group!  See lyrics below, and video below that!!!

Fruchthendler – sung to the tune of Solsbury Hill

Driving up to Fruchthendler
I could see the parking lot
Left the public defender
Firebird is our new mascot   (Firebird is the mascot of Fruchthendler Elementary school)

This was something of a mess,
Called HOA, they had disclosed
Richie Con would be suppressed
Through attrition, I got hosed

I called Cthulu in frustration
The Swim Team cancelled my reservation,
It’s like that game of Gloom Gloom Gloom,
“Joe”, I said,
“Grab your games, we’re going to clone the zone”

Yeah, clone some zones

The Aquatics had made me blind
The chlorine spewed out from my guts
Our holy grail had been maligned
Our old game venue had been cut

So I bravely ran away
Quest to find a new place to hut
With my minstrels Joe and Mike
And where’d you get them coconuts?

I was feeling down in chicanery

Highly Overbearing Authority  (stop song in cheesy fashion to point out that we satirically re-acronymed HOA)
They won that game of Gloom Gloom Gloom”
“Mike”, I said,
“Grab your games, we’re moving Richie-Con”

Hey –like your mom…

Found a new place to play our games
It’s probably when we want to be
Because of HOA I have no claims
To a place I thought was free

Screwed by faceless bureaucrats
Who close their gates to my party
Add one to my gaming stats–
In their pool, I will pee                –soon as I saw “pee,” I had to go there…

I’m not afraid of their displacement
Even if I have to pay rent
I won that game of Gloom Gloom Gloom
“Kurt”, I said,
“Keep your games, and come to Richie Con!”

“Wha!”

“Hey!”

“Con!”

Most Played Games

Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition was played quite a bit! I personally saw at least 3 plays of it!

By far the most played game was Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring Trick-Taking game!  We had sleeved it just before, and it was good thing we did!  It was pretty much always being played!

I saw Lon teaching Nana (Japanese version of Trio) quite a bit!

I saw Aeon’s End: Descent played a number of times!

Weird Games

Lon brought a lot of weird games from Japan.

 DroPolter (above) was this weird one like Jacks where you grab things on the table, but can’t drop anything!

Toy Story is a cooperative memory game ONLY in Japan! It was my birthday present!

Nana is the original Japanese game that’s the inspiration for Trio!

There were several RPGs going too!

Kurt R. brought the original Dark Tower game … and it worked!  Did you know that they stored the values in BCD in 128-Nibble RAM memory?  Josh looked it up!  This game is from 1981!!!

Conclusion

After all was said and done, was it worth it?  I think so! I got to see friends from out of town and play games with everyone for my birthday, and that’s what I wanted!

What will happen next year?  I really don’t know!  This was a very expensive and stressful year because of the events leading to the venue change.   I love the new venue, but it is expensive.  Will we come back?  Come back next year and find out!