Prezcon 2019 Day 3

Good games create an environment where the players make interesting decisions.  Interest is driven by the mechanics and can be supported by the theme and the look of the game.  Outside of the game, one's enjoyment of the game is expanded by friendly company.

 I only played four games yesterday, but one of them was a very long game.  I had a great time.  Today, I have a full slate of tournament games scheduled.  I still might find time in the afternoon to swim in the pool.

Settlers of Catan:    I did better in my second play of this game.  I managed to win, so that I have a game to play (Catan quarterfinals) at the end of the week.

History of the World:  HotW takes about five hours to play.  Prezcon, being a weeklong convention is the ideal time to play it.  I enjoy the company of the people, and I love the theme of the game (and thinking about the ancient civilizations in the game).  Its mechanics are straightforward, but I still find the decisions interesting.  There is a lot of downtime between a player's turns.  That can promote social conversations, so the players make a big difference in the enjoyment of the game.  Yesterday, I tied for first place and lost on the tiebreaker.

18Lilliput:  This is a lightweight version of an 18XX game.  In the game, you run a Lilliputian railroad company where you are managing the price of your railroad stock, investing in trains of your rail company, and investing in other companies.  There are a lot of interesting decisions to make.  The game, however, felt like real life work to me.  I can tell it is a good game, but there is more math calculations than I prefer.  I joked with my friends that I wanted to get a spreadsheet and macros to work through the game.

Azul:  I wrapped up the night playing in the Azul semifinals.  For being a short game with light mechanics, Azul has a lot to think about.  I was out of my depth in the semifinals playing against two particularly good players with lots of experience in the game.  I finished last, but I would like to play more games of Azul.  I will probably buy a copy for myself.