Friday morning

drive up Broad street to the "Cat Building" as Mecha has started calling it. It is a pretty silly looking building from the west.
Tsunami press' booth (behind North Star's booth). I don't know what to make of these guys... they don't have their game here, and the game they want to sell is a remake of the original space combat game (hex grid and cardboard unit tiles and all) from the 70's and I'm not really sure what market there is for them. It doesn't help that some very nice map making companies have booths elsewhere nearby.

Big dice seller behind us. Nice guys with some fun products (like asymetrical six sided vegas style 'clear red' dice). They seem to get a lot of attention and sales.
Expo seems smaller this year, and the tables help that feeling. Lots of space that feels like it would normally be booth space is just given up to free table areas. this one is to our north east. you can see the live action fighting stadium behind the booth the the palm tree (foam sword play)
map for a custom built war game, or custom map for a war game. not sure which. nice printing though, and nice graphic design us, if not 'hey play me' in feel ;)

CMS shots

these are all shots from the guys at Creatus Maximus . com. They;ve been buying create-a-man figures sans Get bit game for a few weeks and done some fun things with them. enjoy

People

Jesica and Christopher stopped by. They teach game design at the graduate level in NYC. They were very nice and picked up some of our games, and were very interested in having their students talk with us about "that first baby step" into professional game design and publishing

Bad ideas, just so good

Did some browesing this morning and came across an anime fighting game that uses books-as-character sheets. I can't remember the name of the game, but i'd seen some last year. The new addition this year was the straight porn book (all exposed boobs and suchs). It appears to be a best seller at that booth, and this got Satish and I talking about including porn in our rule books from now on. The down side: it will take you longer to find and look up the rules you need....

Day one is OVER!

(getting groceries from Kroger. 33 dollars for 4 meals for 4 people is a big savings over $7 per sandwich in the convention center.)
(Junk on the hotel desk. Day one sees $148 in cash sales. A 40 from Kroger helps get these updates finished, if not reduces the quality of the typing...)

Dinner

Get Bit shots

(crowd playing get bit. Turn out is good. we sold five copies of the game, which is good considering thursday is a slow / low attendance day)
(more get bit demos. mister robot is in the background. i wore him all over the exhibitor hall and in the CCG hall. Several visits to the booth from it. Several photos of mister robot by con goers. I wonder if we will ever see them around the internet...)

Couple of Dave's friends stopped by to say hi (I think these are the friends that hang around his ex girlfriend? I hadn't met them before.) Nice guys (not pictured) and I look forward to getting some demos in with them tomorrow.
(doing our demos on a medium neutral color was a good idea. the colors pop for Get bit, and the Sushi projects are much easier to photograph. got to remember that when we do new photography for Jerry's updated website)

North Star Booth

Wits and wagers new addition got a lot of attention. Dom was kept pretty busy doing demos at the table.

New addition adds:
1) you no longer start with chips, just your two betting cubes. this is a big help because the game starts quicker, and is easier to keep track of (less confusing bidding and tracking)

2) once you earn chips from payouts, you can bet them along with your cubes for even larger payouts. This can get big fast, but again doesn't make you feel as locked in (and pro conservative) as the original version

3) the play matt feels like felt / fabric vs. the rubber /mouse pad original

4) getting the right answer (not betting on the right answer) nets you 3 chips instead of two.

5) it has a shiny game of the sticker on it.

6) you will be able to buy it at Target stores around the USA.



Since North Star was part of the treasure hunt, lots of people were coming up asking to get the holes punched too. Seems like a good marketing tool, which we may use next year.

Satish threatened to take of his shirt towards the end of the day (to attract "the Ladies"). When he does, i'm totally there with the camera...

Met Steven Jackson with Satish (not pictured) and had really wanted to join his poker game tonight, but I have to pass, or i'd be a wreck for the rest of the con.

Also met Uwe, who apparently likes to surprise (read tea bag) designers while they sleep. I don't know what to think about that... he seems like my kind of guy, even if I'm not allowed to act like him anymore for professional sake. His son reminds me of what my son will be like: German, and embarassed to have a crazy ass father with crazy ass friends.