Forty Year Old Fanboy Update#15

On the last day of Gamex 2017, a Monday, I woke up and felt very sad at the thought that my time hanging out with Ben, Jim, and Dan was quickly coming to an end. After having been just online friends for so long, to have spent time with them physically nearby, throwing jokes, sharing meals, and debating game theory and stuff was such a wonderful feeling of connection that I could not help but feel sad that it was coming to an end.  Before stepping out of my hotel room that night, I stood in front of the mirror and repeatedly told myself to bear in mind that I should avoid breaking down and crying in front of them. That I should just focus on the happy thoughts and the wonderful memories we had created, and that I shouldn't dwell on the idea that it might be another decade before I actually get another chance to hang with them.

Yeah, I'm a crybaby sometimes.

I woke up earlier than expected and started going around for any last few shopping opportunties. Started to find a bunch of buy two, get one free options, or 25% off options, so I quickly began to search for stuff Rocky and I would like.  But then I got a message from Stephanie who invited me to play with them a game of "Microscope" which was inspired by Star Wars.  I decided hey, shopping can wait, went to play the game which was even more awesome as it was a chance to try a whole new system again.

When the game ended, I hit the shopping area and eventually saw jim and Dan there too. Dan was able to get around five people to try my game, which is amazing given I'm relatively a nobody in the industry.  I gave him my remaining copies of A Single Moment to freely market in other conventions he'll be able to go attend. He's such a trooper and a wonderful guy.

After super long goodbyes with Ben and Dan, jim and I extended our thanks and hugs to the two, who had a very long drive ahead of them to head back to Arizona (or I think it was Arizona, I could be wrong).  jim then reminded me that the convention was far from over and suggested we go see who else we can drag into a game or two.  We headed upstairs to pretty much pack up and check out of the hotel rooms, then joined Chris and a few other people at the boardroom for another few rounds of Dice Crawl.

Then we hit the open gaming area and decided to try playing some of the games that I had just purchased.  We met a group earlier while shopping and invited them to join us and play as well.  We started wtih 6 Nimmt! which was a great card game that I must admit I really enjoyed a LOT.  So happy jim convinced me to get it.  In the game, you take turns playing one of your ten cards to four groups on the table.  Cards are then allocated from lowest to highest and if your card ever is the sixth card in a group, you end up collecting all five cards from that group.  Each card has skull icons and the point of the game is to end up with the least number of skulls.  It was sort of like MS Hearts in a fun way and man, the game can get pretty addictive.

We met a volunteer who had not played any game so far in the entire convention and welcomed her to play with us for a bit.  I feel stupid for not taking more pictures.  Gah. But eventually time hit 5:30pm and jim had to leave as his ride had come.  I tried not to get all mushy weepy and told myself to just say thank you and goodbye and let him leave as he hates physical contact.  To my surprise, he came over and gave me a huge hug and left.

I headed back to the table and the people there were setting up another game.  The game was Cartagena, which had us playing up to three cards each turn to move our meeples.  The goal was to be the first one to get all your six meeples on the boat but the trick was knowing when to take steps back to collect more cards as there was no other way to have cards in your hand.  I thought I had a good strategy going but in the end, I fell backwards in my movement and someone else stole the win.

Soon, it was time to say goodbye. My brother was enroute to pick me up and most of the people I've met had gone ahead.  I looked around the room which was almost empty of people and I found myself smiling at how special this moment was and how much it was what I needed in my life at this particular point in time.

Thank you for having me, Strategicon!  Here's to being able to join again in the coming future.