High Drama: Prezcon 2016 Day 3

Great boardgame experiences include tension, drama, and -- after the final moves have been made and the endgame reached -- laughter at the end to resolve that tension.  With the sheer number of games being played here, Prezcon is guaranteed to have many such situations. 


For myself, I played in two games yesterday with this kind of high drama:  a second game of History of the World and a game of Conquest of Paradise.  For History, I played well throughout most of the game, was leading going into the last turn and had other advantages set up for myself.  I ended up having to make a difficult choice at the end, made it, and had it not work out for me.  I didn't win, but the guy who ended up winning was convinced he had not scored enough points to do it. 


In Conquest of Paradise, three of the four players -- including myself -- believed they

The palm tree shows the way to Conquest of Paradise

were on the cusp of victory.  The end of the game involved us fighting amongst ourselves, declaring victories (an endgame mechanic), and pushing back and forth.  The game ended with the fourth player, who had silently been developing his island chain empire (perhaps a thalassocracy?) and developing his culture, having more points than any of the rest of us.  We could only laugh at the result. 
Gameplay Summary

• History of the World:  I finished third after leading most of the game
• Puerto Rico:  I very much enjoy this game, but I have only ever won it once (this is also driven by the fact that most of my Puerto Rico games have been played in Prezcon tournaments).  I scored a very strong 52 points, but finished second
• Conquest of Paradise:  After believing I was on the cusp of victory, along with two of the other four players, I finished last
• Castles of Burgundy:  I managed to just barely make the start time for this game.  I finished third out of three (my finishes have been getting progressively worse!), but had a good time.  I might order this game

More game playing fund today as more people arrive at the convention!