Prezcon 2018 Day 4: More Games

I am writing this about two hours later than I have my previous posts about Prezcon.  The late nights are finally pushing back the time I wake.  Happily, my gaming schedule today provides me the luxury of sleeping in.  I am still able to sit by the pool, which itself is quiet.  I can, however, hear the gamers upstairs walking and talking to their early morning games.

Yesterday, was a big day in playing games.  I managed to get in five games, with three of them being ones with which I am familiar.  I played a second game of History of the World for "funsies" and managed to win that game by one point.  My friend Nathan T also won his game so that we will both be in the finals Saturday morning.  I also played Puerto Rico for the first time in a year and a half.  The game progressed much faster than I expected, and while I felt good about the actions I was taking, I needed a lot more time to score points.  I finished third out of four.  I played Conquest of Paradise, which is a regular game for me at Prezcon.  I scored my best points total ever, but still ended up third.  There is an economy of action to that game, which I have only now just realized, that is very important.

Tara G and I picked up a copy of Concordia in the Prezcon game library to learn it.  As we were reviewing the rules, a gentleman approached looking at what we were doing.  We asked if he wanted to join us, and as important, if he knew how to play Concordia.  His response was yes to both questions.  It took me about half the game to figure out what I was doing, but I started stringing together actions that made sense.  It requires the same type of planning and action strings as in one of my favorite games Lewis & Clark.  It also possesses a good theme in that you are an ancient Roman trading house exchanging goods across the Mediterranean.  I very much enjoyed it.  Tara liked it, too, and might get the game herself.

Tara and I also developed the idea for a smartphone app that helps a group of people decide the type of game they want to play.  It would utilize data about expected length, number of players, complexity, preferred mechanics, and theme -- perhaps drawn from BoardGameGeek -- and suggest

Part of the Prezcon game libary

games to play.  It would utilize the phone's camera to identify which games are in front of you (especially useful if you are looking at a game library) to see what kind of games fit your desires and suggest them to you.  Do you know of any apps that do this?  Do you know anyone interested in developing such an app?

I played another game of Castles of Burgundy, this one starting at 10:00 PM.  Tara and Matt also played, Matt playing at my table.  Tara played at a table the likes I have never seen before:  four women and no men.  Castles and some other games seem to appeal to a more diverse crowd than many of the other games I play.  My impression of the gaming hobby is that it is populated with white guys.  This is especially true of older military games and games that deal with area control.  Economic games and action efficiency games appear to draw in some women.  This difference might be socialization of what we are "supposed to like".  Maybe it is something else.  I don't know how most people get into board gaming.  My own experience was through friends, but I don't remember what put me into contact with my first board game beyond Monopoly:  Risk.  Was it that my parents just bought it for me for Christmas?  I don't remember seeking the game out.  On the subject of getting different people into games, I am glad there exists a diversity of games these days that does appeal to lots of people.  In talking with Tara about this, we also remarked on the rarity of people of color in board gaming.  Maybe this is more of a class thing, than anything else.  Board gaming, especially playing as much as is done at Prezcon, is an expensive hobby that requires disposable income associated with upper middle class people.  Maybe with gaming having been dominated by white folk a generation ago, it is just a product of parents introducing their kids to what they know.  I don't actually know why this is (it could be that my own observation is limited or inaccurate).  Tara expects to see a more diverse crowd at Prezcon once the weekend starts.  What are your thoughts on this?