

No fun pictures or anything, but Dan spent the weekend at Otafest volunteering at his buddies booth in the vendors section selling shirts. “One of Layne’s standard deals for customers at conventions is that if you play a game with him, you get a percentage off your purchase, so naturally there was a few chances to get some games in. We got in a two player game of Dice Miner, which is a fun little abstract about mining (drafting, really) from a pile of dice shaped as a mountain, as well as getting your friends drunk, or at least giving them beer. I really enjoyed the game as it fits into my wheelhouse (short, abstract, thinky and clever) really well. It was apparently a little more cutthroat at 2 players than what Layne is used to, but that could have just been me We also got in a two player game of Azul Mini today. This is a great addition to the Azul family really well thought out components that help everything stay in place given it’s mini size. this one came into stock just last week for $27.99, and we sold out almost immediately, I’m hoping it won’t take too long to get a restock, because it’s going to be one of my favourite games to recommend for the summer camping season.”


In between working on old video game stuff and sorting used warhammer, within the stores dungeon and hidden away from decent society; Cam likes to jam old first person shooters like Doom, Duke Nukem and other look alikes. “I tend to mostly play older video games in general, as they seem to be much easier to “pick up and go” within an ever dwindling supply of free time. The extent of most of my video-gaming takes place in 20-min to half hour intervals and as such the vast majority of my ps4 games have basically been played through the intro and not much more. When I saw that a 40K themed, retro-style FPS was coming out, my inner 12 year old hit the preorder button without my waking self having much say in the matter. Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun finally dropped May 23rd and delivers exactly what is promised; an over the top, comically gory, grimdark-doom-clone (and i say that last bit lovingly). Chainswording things in the face is super satisfying, as well as the gun-play, and you can do cool things like taunt your enemies with litanies of hate. Did I mention that instead of an armor stat, you have contempt? The only downside I can see so far is not having a deathmatch/multiplayer mode, but rumor has it that the developers may add such a feature with future updates. It’s going to be difficult to get much done in the next couple of days to say the least…”

Greg played Kingdom Rush: Rift in Time, which is a co-operative, tower defence type of game, where players use polyominoes to fight off invaders. “Attacking hordes are represented by spaces on square cards and the players ise hero powers and tower cards to attack the hordes, covering squares up and trying to prevent the hordes from moving down the path and causing damage. We played the introductory scenario and didn’t have too much trouble but the second scenario was much closer and we just about managed to win. I believe as you play through the scenarios there are more abilities and rules that get unlocked, making things more challenging but also giving more options.”

After hearing so many customers mention how much they loved Monopoly Deal, even when they didn’t like Monopoly, Renee decided to pick up a copy and check it out. “I’m always looking for quick and fun games to play with the family, especially ones that Christopher will love. Christopher loves the take-that mechanic, something we don’t usually like in our longer strategy games; however in a 15 minute game with very low stakes, the mechanic works well for us and we’re learning to love its chaotic fun. In this game you’re trying to be the first to collect 3 complete sets of properties, which is very difficult when at any time another player can steal properties or have you to pay more rent than you have money thus forcing you to pay in properties. We’ve been playing it quite a bit in the last week and have been having lots of fun!”