Dice Tower Con

Dice Tower Con is a 5-day 24-hour board gaming convention that takes place in Orlando in July. We attended the 5th annual DTC as first-time attendees/volunteers this year. Thousands of gamers attended, so there was always someone awake to play with! Here are Heidi and Matt, posing in front of hoards of enthusiastic board gamers.

Unlike Prototype Con, where everyone was sharing their games-in-progress, DTC is mostly for  playing published games. However, we did get to try a few interesting prototypes like these:

Back to Back is a martial arts game in which you and your partner work together to defeat the bosses and their gang members. It was pretty exciting and we did manage to pull together a win at the last minute, but it was close! On the right you can see Peter Davis, the designer. He is from the Colorado Game Designers Guild.

Drunken Sailor is a game in which the bartender must serve sailors and pirates their preferred drinks to keep them happy and win the gold. The game caught Matt's eye initially because it uses gold pieces similar to those in Dead Man's Hand! Designer Barb Hirschfelder had created these clever treasure chests for storing the gold. We also played another of Barb's prototypes about building a zoo in the Tower of London (based on the history of the Royal Menagerie). Barb blogs at 3 Dog Games.

Of course we also had a great time trying out Dead Man's Hand with lots of new players. The game recently criss-crossed the country on a road trip from Florida to New Mexico and back. By the time it reached DTC it had new rules scribbled on most of the cards... a little hard to read but a lot more interactive during game play! Our new friend Tonya described the game as being multi-leveled, both simple enough for kids or casual gamers, but with details interesting enough for more serious players, in the way that a Pixar movie appeals to kids but has the subtler jokes build in to entertain adults, a fun comparison. A memorable moment was when a security guard stopped by to watch us play. We invited him to join in but he regretfully told us he was on duty.

Matt says "It was great to make contact with so many gamers and receive cutting edge criticism and welcomed praise for Dead Man's Hand. Everyone's input will lead to a strong appearance at Prototype Con next year. Besides that, it was lots of fun! It was great seeing old friends, making new friends, and playing games with all of them. Kudos to Kelly Adams, whose game Veggie Garden we saw at Prototype Con (just after she literally dreamed it up) which is now in production from Quick Simple Fun Games! Thanks to Rudy Currier, another Prototype Con friend, for donating Pirate Attack for the DTC raffle. I was also happy to touch base with Brian Fiore, demoing his Wendigo Games prototypes."

Of published games, we played Celestia, Quadropolis, Holmes, Splendor, Kodama, Hanabi, The Grizzled, Sushi Go, Fluxx, Ticket to Ride (United Kingdom), Carcasonne Over Hill and Dale, Spike, The Mansion of Madness, Tzolk'in, Code Names, and watched some interesting game play of Scythe, Medina, Forbidden Planets, and Kings of Air and Steam.