Recap: Unpub Mini at 7th Dimension Games

What an awesome time we had on Saturday! I even had a chance to sit down and play some games!That's pretty much my first thought about our Unpub Mini on June 23rd at 7th Dimension Games! Glen and the staff of 7th Dimension were awesome to work with. Their is a beautiful game store in Jenkintown, PA. If you're ever in the area you owe it to yourself to stop in. The playing space is amazing and the crowds were really building as the day went on.

I don't have a hard and fast attendance number, but we were a little above average at about 6pm, so I imagine we remained above average for the rest of the day. Most games  received nearly constant plays once they began!

Six games were on display at the event. We've had 4 of the games in our program for a while and added 2 new games to the mix.

First up, we'll talk about the Kenneth Lewis samurai themed war game Daimyo. This hex based board game has a unique fighting mechanic that players seemed to really enjoy. Kenneth is working on taking this game the self publishing route so look forward to hearing more about this one.

City Hall is another game going the self publishing route. This is a great little game from Michael R. Keller and Visible Hand Games (his publishing shingle.) I learned it in April, finally getting a chance to play it on Saturday. It's a great little game and we've pledged to support him along his path. It has a lot of what I like in a game where you're playing your opponents and not playing a system. He was able to get several plays in. He's hitting a lot of conventions all over the country this summer. Find him and check out City Hall!

Another game I finally got a chance to play was the crowd favorite Mecha Mayhem. This game has been at every Unpub Mini that I haven't been to. It was great to be in the same room with it and play it. I had a great time with them game (I won.) A few more tweaks and this one will be ready. The team from Baked Fresh Daily Games were a pleasure to meet. as well. Derrick Vidal, Greg Miller and Kristen were on hand (and my opponents in the first game of the day.) They let me win, so I won't say anything bad about them!

Two other games that I have seen before but haven't had a chance to play are Traitor Tavern and Rock Babies.

Traitor Tavern is a fun resource management game by George Tagmire and Brandon Kavitsky that puts you in the traitorous world of pub owning. You're brewing beers and somehow also murdering people?... As I said, I haven't played it yet, but I've spoken to plenty of people who have and loved it! They've got a tighter faster game than they did two months ago when I first saw Traitor Tavern in action. They've taken the feedback they've gained to heart and made their game better. Great work!

TC Petty III's Rock Babies keeps getting better too. It's growing up, as all games do. Soon it will be Rock Toddlers (which is not a song by the B52s.) Rock Babies is that most awesome premise: Babies climbing rocks. What's not to like? It's a press your luck racing adventure 2 miles above sea level starring plastic baby pawns that can't stand on their own two feet! The game is "booty"-licious and a ton of fun to play. It got boisterous a few times, but all is fair in love and rock climbing.

The final game at the event was new to Unpub, but the designer was previously a presenter in April. Dan Cassar had shown off his card game Arboretum in the past, but this weekend Saqqara hit the table and I'm glad it did. I really enjoyed this one. By Dan's own admission this was one of the first times he was seeing the game played by a full table of players. It really had a chance to improve as the day went on. He was constantly taking notes and working with the players to ensure the best possible experience and evolution of his game. In my opinion, it's a pretty good game already...and it's going to grow great. ...Build great I should say. This Egyptian Pyramid building game was awesome. I guess it doesn't hurt that I had scored the highest score to date when I won my game. (My score was later beaten, such is life.)

I really feel that this Mini was one of our best and most meaningful. It wasn't the best attended, but each game presented represented a lot about what this program has to offer. Many of the games were repeats with changes and alterations based on notes from the previous events. There were repeat designers and new designers...and designers from other events attending as visitors! Since this one was so close in proximity to our first Mini at Redcap's corner in April, we had a chance to see old friends and have them take a look at what we'd become. It was quite awesome. The program continues to grow and evolve, the designers get great feedback, and the players have a wonderful experience! It's a beautiful relationship!

I want to thank all the designers and design teams for their participation. As I always say (or try to,) this program would be nothing without the designers and the games.

I also need to thank Glen and 7th Dimension Games one more time! They're a great store and were so helpful and easy to work with!

What's next? We'll tell you in the newsletter on Friday. You do get the newsletter, don't you? If you don't, sign up to your right!