Push Your Luck Episode 66: Essen Top 7 and a new section!

Jon is back and we talk about our Top 7 anticipated games from the upcoming Essen convention! I also introduce a new section called Can't Stop the Sackson where my classmate Alexander Bevier and I discuss his thesis where he is writing a paper or a book about Sid Sackson, the designer of Acquire and many other games. Every episode, I will interview Alex and discuss what he has found out, researched and hopefully reveal to you more and more about Sid Sackson and his influence on the modern boardgame industry. If you want to chat with Alex, he can be found on twitter as @AlexanderBevier

Exciting news! My article at Kotaku has been published! It is about the Best 5 recent games you should be playing right now and you can find it here http://kotaku.com/five-new-board-games-you-should-play-1731648888
If you are visiting this website because of the article, thank you for reading and checking out my twitter and this page! I am very excited and hope to continue writing for Kotaku on a more regular basis!

Push Your Luck Podcast is a TRENDING member of the Dicetower network. Visit our website www.pushurluckpodcast.com, follow Eric as @duckizz on twitter and subscribe to our youtube channel youtube.com/duckizz for other random blabbering and video reviews - VISIT NOW!

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Push Your Luck Podcast Episode 24: Essen 2013 Impressions

Eric and Jonathan are joined with Michael Fox from Little Metal Dog show and talk about Essen 2013. Jonathan and Michael share what they have seen and share tips and what they felt was Game of the Con. Remember to check out KEEP RUNNING, Michael’s latest game now on Kickstarter Push Your Luck Podcast is now a proud member of The DiceTower Network. Do check out the other amazing podcasts in the network. Leave us comments and questions at our guild on Boardgamegeek and leave us a review on iTunes. Thanks! Subscribe here http://feeds.feedburner.com/PushUrLuckPodcastpulp

Essen: Final Day... :(

Essen is over !!!!!! D:

That's all folks. Done and dusted.

It's been a great experience and I'm glad & extremely fortunate to have been able to take in all this gaming goodness with a great friend for company. 

4 full days with people who share the same passion for the hobby is nothing short of exciting and liberating. Being able to geek out without any judging looks is indeed a blessed thing.

Well, as I sit alone in my hotel room finishing this post, it's kind of sad that things must come to a close. I may never attend Essen again due to cost restrictions but I think you can never say never. ;)

Essen: Day 3 ( and remnants of Day 2 )

We're almost at the finish ! :(

Unfortunately there's gonna be another :( face cos I don't have much to update for today. I left my ipad mini with a lady for a project and so I don't have much photos for everyone to ogle at.

Today was JAM packed. I mean CRAZY packed. Possibly cos it's the weekend crowd mingling around with the regular crowd. 

We were literally rubbing shoulder to shoulder with not much space to really get around. And I would say it was mostly this way till near closing time.

Essen: Day 2

Day 2 has come and gone and we're still alive. :)

I slept a total of 5 hours after all the blog posts yesterday so I will probably call it an early night for today. :l

My roommate is saying I am keeping him from his sleep. Zzz...

Anyway, its amazing how even though you are roaming the same halls, you just feel like there's always something new and exciting you want to do. 

Essen: Opening Day Loot

Forgot to add this in in the previous post, and too lazy too get it amended, hence a new post. :)

Well, our day 1 loot !

( might also be the loot for the rest of the convention... Running out of baggage space )

Essen: Opening Day

Well, we're here !! and we ( barely ) made it past day 1 of Essen.

Dion is about all ready to pass out. Haha.

The picture above is the queue to get into hall 3. Wasn't as long as I expected so that was great. 

This is my first con experience so I can't compare it to others but I will say its a big enough scale IMO and after day 1 we went through halls 1 & 3 pretty much just glancing at most on offer and buying what we decided were "hot" and might not last till tomorrow. 

This post will only be some very simple pictures of what I took ( which wasn't much since I had games to lug along with me ).

If possible I will do separate posts on my imprEssens of games. Hur hur.

Essen '13 - On the Radar - Suburbia Inc.

Suburbia, which was released at Essen 2012, is ( in my opinion ) probably the best city building board game out there at the moment.

One year later, we have its first expansion set titled Suburbia Inc.

Essen '13 - On the Radar - Ticket to Ride: Nederland

Nederland is the new expansion map for Ticket to Ride.

In keeping up with their money grabbing, space wasting ways, Days of Wonder is yet again releasing a one sided map expansion pack. Bleh. Sigh.

Essen '13 - On the Radar - Rokoko

In Rokoko, the players are all running a dressmaking business whereby they have been commissioned to make dresses for the prestigious guests that are attending a very lavish ball. Along the way you are also trying to donate money towards the ball so that you may be known far and wide as not only an excellent dressmaker but a very generous one as well.

Essen '13 - On the Radar - Lewis & Clark

Lewis & Clark has been on my radar since way before GenCon.

I was hoping to get more info about the game through Eric and through others who have managed to get a demo in during the convention. Unfortunately it seems that not a lot of people – Eric included – were able to try this ( or if they have then they didn’t share much info about it on BGG ). But for those who did share, they all seemed to have enjoyed it quite a bit and that has given me positive vibes for the game.

Essen '13 - On the Radar - Say Bye to the Villains

I’ve always told myself that if I ever went to a convention, I must drop by the Japon Brand booth ( and the booths of the other Japanese Publishers as well of course ).

Reason being, I find that the Japanese style games are by and large very different from the games we are normally used to.

I love the art style and presentation of their games.

The gameplay also differs from the norm; they tend to put a twist to their games either components wise or how tried and true mechanics are used in a new game.

It’s no surprise then that they started the trend of small card games with their surprise hit – Love Letter.

Well, one of their upcoming releases for Essen that has caught my eye is “Say Bye to the Villains”.

Essen '13 - On the Radar - Legacy: the testament of Duke de Crecy

Games that tell stories are a favorite of mine as the experience is usually different from that of "regular" games. It's difficult to create an experience that sticks with you in a story form and is playable in 60-90 mins.

A few games seem to do it well but require a lengthy investment of time on the players' part.

Legacy: the testament of Duke de Crecy (Legacy) tries to do the same but in a much shorter span of time, 60 mins (or so it says on the box)

Essen '13 - On the Radar - Amerigo

If you listen to our podcast you will know that I very much enjoy a lot of Stefan Feld’s game designs. I find that his games are pretty tight and often involve difficult decisions about what you want to achieve in-game. And not to forget, the oft “I want to do everything” feeling while playing his games.

Well, Essen marks the release of his fourth and final game of 2013 – Amerigo.

Essen '13 - On the Radar - Packet Row