Boardgaming Fun: Prezcon 2016 Day 1

Prezcon is a boardgaming convention in Charlottesville, Virginia.  It is a gathering of hundreds of players playing scores of different boardgames in tournaments and as pick up games.  As I have done several times in the past, I have taken several days off work to play here.  The convention is also an embarrassment of riches in terms of games to play.  My friends Tara and Twiggy have the same "problem" as me:  we have so many tournament games in which we wish to play that we cannot play them all.  Winning preliminary heat games, in fact, advances us to semi-final or final games that create even more schedule conflicts with other games we want to play.  It's great!




Prezcon Tournament Plaques

There are two parts to Prezcon:  tournament play and open gaming.  Tournament play brings together players from all over the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond (there are players from as far away as Wisconsin, Alaska, and Massachusetts).  There are a mix of players from those just learning games to ones who are highly skilled.  The tournament players, however, are consistently good sports, which creates a competitive, yet friendly, environment in which to play.  Open gaming provides the opportunity to learn new games or play ones with which you are familiar.  Prezcon has a large open gaming room with a game library that spans a 40 wall of the room.  While open gaming is relatively quiet early in the convention, it will become packed by the weekend.



For the first time, I arrived at the convention site on Tuesday.  I worked during the morning and then spent the afternoon, evening, and night playing games.  In talking with several other people, I discovered that I was not alone in deciding to arrive early to Prezcon.  Several people that I know looked at the convention schedule and decided that there were enough interesting games on Monday and Tuesday to justify arriving early in the week.  I tip my hat to convention chairman Justin Thompson for scheduling games for Monday and Tuesday, thereby promoting the expanded playing time.

My gameplay summary (that I have also recorded in the Board Game Stats app, which is great boardgame nerd fun.  It is $3 on the App Store

• 4 games played, of those, 3 were tournament games
• Settlers of Catan:  I came within one turn of winning this game, not once, but twice (!)
• Castles of Burgundy (first time played at Prezcon):  playing for only the second time in three years, I muddled through the first few turns and still managed to finish a respectable second out of four.  Playing this reminded me of how fun this game is
• Roll for the Galaxy (first time I played at Prezcon):  I finished third out of four in my tournament game, but I was only one point behind first and second (scores were 36, 36, 35, and 27).  I also played a pick up game outside the tournament.  This game plays fast when everyone is familiar with the game

If you have never been to Prezcon, or perhaps if you are considering coming up this weekend – do it!  The combination of hundreds of good and friendly players, over 100 boardgame tournaments, a huge open gaming room with a game library that covers a 40 foot wide wall, and a nice venue make it a great time.  For myself, I am taking three and a half days of vacation to be here, but even coming for the weekend would be great fun.