Origins Game Fair 2014

[Eugene_C]

Origins Game Fair 2014 starts today (well, last night, technically) at the Convention Center! Is anyone else here going?

[thirstychef]

Wish I could, but work all weekend has me occupied. Good group of people make it a fun event.

[Ned23]

The new COTA circulator has really revolutionized parking for this Con. I hope it stays here next year, too. The buses were fairly busy most of the time I was on them today. Not always packed but about full enough to where you couldn’t sit down without being next to someone, so a couple people would opt to stand.

[Matt Ellis]

Went for the first time today. It’s almost overwhelming for a newbie and next year I certainly plan to schedule my day out, rather than just turn up and wander around.

Had fun though.

[Eugene_C]

I notice CU doesn’t often cover Cons like Origins and Marcon, wonder why? They’re kind of like local institutions at this point.

[Walker Evans]

Eugene_C wrote:

I notice CU doesn’t often cover Cons like Origins and Marcon, wonder why? They’re kind of like local institutions at this point.

We have covered conventions in the past and will continue to do so as time allows. There’s typically 70+ events every single weekend, and we’re a limited staff. So we have to pick and choose what to cover.

[gramarye]

Every year I resolve to make the time to make it back to Columbus for this, and I’ve only ever made it for a single day once. I run games at two smaller annual gaming conventions up here in northeast Ohio (the big, epic-scale games like Twilight Imperium and Arkham Horror that you don’t just break out for casual board game nights with your friends), and I’ve wanted to take that show on the road to Origins but just never had the time.

[Chrysee]

Arkham Horror! (and Mansions of Madness) <3

[Matt Ellis]

Eugene_C wrote:

I notice CU doesn’t often cover Cons like Origins and Marcon, wonder why? They’re kind of like local institutions at this point.

I was going to, but with World Cup games and inlaw visits I didn’t think I’d be able to give it the attention needed as I could only be there for half a day.

I hope to spent more time there next year

[Ned23]

Yesterday was the busiest Friday I’ve ever seen at Origins. I’m betting when the attendance numbers come in that they set a new record. I saw a lot more people with small kids there than I’ve ever seen before, too.

Anyway, The current trend of urban development games continues this year.

Here’s a game that was getting some buzz yesterday that might interest some of the regulars around here; it’s called Subdivision and it’s the second urban-planning oriented game by the company that put out “Suburbia” last year. It combines some of the elements of Suburbia but ads a new a mechanism for building sidewalks and roads and a more randomized tile-placement system. The development is also greatly simplified (no parking lots, restaurants, airports, etc.) with just a few basic zones. It won’t officially be released until GenCon in another month or so but you can play it now at Origins:

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This is a shot the original Suburbia which was well-received when it was released just a year or two ago. It’s an urban planning game that gives you points (cash) based on how you arrange various developments such as parks, office, restaurants, airports, parking, schools and housing. It’s a much more involved game but more fun. Like Monopoly for modern developers:

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Again, this seems to be a trend. Here’s another game called Urbanization that was released in 2012. Although the timeline in this game is better described as starting in the late 19th/ early 20th century. It’s more like “Industrialization” since it goes from farm fields to factories and cities:

[Ned23]

If there was a Columbus Underground Readers Choice award for board games, I’d have to say that Bridgetown Races might be a winner.

Set in Portland, Oregon, Players, using bicycles, streetcars, buses, taxis, motorcycles and sometimes their own two feet have to race around the city and be the first to cross each bridge and capture its flag:

(Can’t wait for the Car2Go expansion!)

[Eugene_C]

Origins gaming convention lures fans, businesses

Game-makers, retailers, fans gather at convention center event

It’s 1891, and Sherlock Holmes has recruited you to investigate the murder of a wealthy gentleman.

You’re on a team with an opera singer, an adventurer, a chimney sweep and an orphan.

Together, you will solve the murder in a game called Baker Street, one of the many games that attendees can expect to learn more about at the Origins Game Fair, an annual gaming convention that is expected to draw more than 37,000 people to the Greater Columbus Convention Center in its five-day run through Sunday…

(Click on title to read more)

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