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November 26, 2007

Board Game Geek Con

As I stated in my last entry I took a trip down to Texas to visit a friend of mine (Hi Mike!). We timed the trip to coincide with Board Game Geek Con 2007. So, much of my time with Mike was spent at the con. I gave it about a week to gather my thoughts on the con and here is what I thought.

The Website
boardgamegeek.com is a fantastic site. Like the name suggests it is all about board games. It contains information on a wide variety of games and includes such things as reviews, game session reports, forums, and loads of other things. The website speaks for itself though so visit it and see what it has to offer. I've been visiting the website for a long time, and it continues to grow as time passes.

I suggest this site very highly for people wanting to know more about a game before buying and for people to find others to play games.

Well...what are you waiting for?

Click on the link above and visit it already. ;)

The Convention
About 3 years ago, they started running a convention in the Dallas/Ft Worth area. Mike has been living down there for some time and went to the first one. He wanted others to come down and go to the con with him, but at the time I didn't have the extra funds or time to make the trip. Mike raved about it, so I knew I'd have to come down some year. This was the year, I was impressed with the way it ran.

The basic premise behind the con is centered around the extensive game library they bring to it. You get what is basically a "library card" to check out games. You can only check out one game at a time, but that is hardly a limitation since you'll be playing games with a group of people who will likely have checked out other games. This seemed to be the norm. You can also bring along your own games to play, but I like to try new things and I wouldn't be likely to do this.

One thing that was nice about trying new games is that it was easy to find someone who already knew the rules to explain the game to you. We tried a few unusual games for which no one at the table knew the rules and before we were very far in reading the rules, someone would show up who knew how to play. This was one of the very cool things about the con - the people. Most of the people at the con were very nice and outgoing. This made it easy to jump into games at random or get people to join the games.

The Games
The games that I played that made an impression on me were as follows:

Cuba - This was perhaps the best game I played at the game. It feels a lot like Puerto Rico, which is a favorite for me. I highly recommend this game to anyone.


Felix the Cat in The Sack - This is a neat little pick up game. This fast paced card game impressed me enough to want to pick up a copy. Unfortunately, I couldn't get one at the con. :(

Ave Caesar - Normally, I'm not one for "racing games" but this one is very fun. I don't know if I would ever buy it, but I would play it again.

Space Dealer - This is a real time board game. It uses sand timers to determine when actions can be performed. It is rough on first time players, but I thought it was pretty good. This is one that you need to get to know before you stop pulling your hair out while playing. Somehow, I still ended up tied for first. :)

Antiquity - This is another game that is very rough on first time players. It is essentially a balancing act. You need to balance your city building and resources to accomplish the goal of your patron saint. It is real easy to get knocked out in this game by making the wrong moves. Very unforgiving, but intriguing.

Darjeeling - This was an interesting abstract game of Tea collecting and shipping. I liked this one, but didn't really "get it" until a few rounds in. Nevertheless this is another one I would like to play again.

...and a host of others

A Painful Experience
The most painful experience I had at the con was with a game called Wongar. This isn't necessarily a bad game, but the rules were poorly translated. Normally not a problem, since as I said before it was usually easy to find someone who would helpfully explain the rules. This good Samaritan attitude did not extend to Wongar, however. Everyone who knew how to play the game that saw us playing would say, "Playing Wongar, eh?". And when asked if they knew how to play they would say they had played some time ago and make for the hills. It is significant that even the people who were winning were cheering when the scorpion cards would come up, because they knew that meant the game was coming closer to ending. I think I'd like to try it again with a clearer understanding of the rules, though.

Summary
The con was great fun. I like the laid back pace of the convention and really like the people I met. I will definitely have to go again some time. :)

Posted by Kaishaku at 12:18 PM | Comments (0)

November 10, 2007

Going Into Business for Myself

Yesterday was my last day at work. I finally decided to go into business for myself. This has been a very long range goal of mine since way before I even started working there 7 years ago.

I put in my 2 week notice before Halloween. Everyone was shocked at work and seemed to think it was sudden. I had to explain that it wasn't sudden at all...but planned over an extremely long period of time. When I make plans like this, I tend to keep them to myself. Even my roommate was surprised when I told him about it. He knew I had always wanted to do this, but didn't realize I was so close to being able to do it.

In order to achieve this goal, I had to achieve a smaller subset of goals first. The first was to remove all debt. As it stands, I have no debt. The only bills I have are rent and utilities, so I have very little worries about my financial situation. The second goal was to build up a certain amount of capital to be used to keep me afloat while my business gets rolling. This I have done over the last 3 years. I currently have enough saved up to live happily for more than 6 months without any income at all. These 2 things by themselves were good starts, but I have also created some contingency plans in case of failure. Some of these contingencies can be enacted during slow times for my business to continue to receive revenue. Some are to be used in case of total failure. Either way, in 6 months time, I should know whether my business will really make it or not.

People at my old job were really supportive about the idea. Many tried to talk me out of it initially, but once they found out I was resolved they wished me well and gave me advice. I will miss the people there, but I won't be totally out of touch. My roommate still works there and I hang out with some of the others socially.

Oh...but I haven't said what I am going to do for a living now. :)

My new business is an on-site IT business. I'll be helping people with their computers and networks in their homes and businesses. So, it is basically the same thing I was doing the last 2 years at my old work, but for private people and businesses.

What's next? Well, I have to get my ducks in a row (business license, tax ID, insurance, etc...). I'm going to start all of that on Monday...but a curious turn of events is that I timed all of this to happen just before my trip to Texas, so as not to leave them short at work. This means that, in the greater scheme of things, I won't really be available to start work until after Thanksgiving weekend. Most likely, I will have some loose ends to take care of after I get back from my trip.

Well, wish me luck! :)

Posted by Kaishaku at 09:18 PM | Comments (1)