There’s no objective metric of a life well lived. But by the standards of 13-year-old me, I think I pretty much maxed out at LinCon this year. I was at a major gaming convention, wearing an organiser’s badge and an Äventyrsspel tee-shirt (makers of my boyhood’s favourite games), and gave a talk in the biggest auditorium about my seventh book, which deals with excavations I’ve headed in the ruins of Medieval castles. Good times!
I played seven games this year, four of which I knew well and only one of which was new to me, Evolution. Most con-goers are simply too shy to shout “HELLO STRANGER LET ME TEACH YOU THIS GAME” at people the way I often do.
- Forbidden Island (2010). A super pretty co-op where you race to collect four treasures before the island sinks.
- Azul (2017). Pretty and abstract with neat mechanics.
- Evolution (2014). Develop strong populations of your creatures and help them adapt to their faunal environment.
- Coloretto (2003). Pretty and abstract with neat mechanics.
- 7 Wonders (2010). Civilisation building with simultaneous card drafting, which makes it enjoyable even for seven players.
- Agricola (2007). Build the best farm in Early Modern Germany! Worker placement and resource management.
- Five Tribes (2014). Vaguely Arabian in theme, this is a rather messy concoction of several abstract ways to gain points.
At the con’s flea market and used-games dealer room I bought Spyrium, Kingdoms and Above & Below. Also mistakenly a copy of Candamir that is probably the very one I sold back in 2013 after trying the game and not liking it much, haha. I keep making poor purchases at the spur of the moment at LinCon! At the auction I sold Hanabi and Sid Meier’s Civilization (both bought at last year’s con and sadly not big hits) plus Gaia Project and Stephenson’s Rocket.
2019 was my seventh LinCon. Here are my impressions of last year’s con.
Aardvarchaeology - by Dr. Martin Rundkvist 