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Rob Harris
United Kingdom
Surbiton
Surrey / London
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Outside it is minus ten degrees, but inside day one of the Toy Fair is hotting up. The world has come to Nürnberg and business is good. The hours pass on fast-forward. There is no time to check out other stands, but we do get to meet many great people, including Scott Reed and Chad Krizan from BGG. The first day ends with the Toy Night, a party for exhibitors with free food and wine. The theme is "Celebrity" and the crowd are entertained by the cast from We Will Rock You before a disco until the early hours.
Even in Europe, the smokers now have to stay outside the building. (All captions courtesy WEM)
Day two and the hangover cures seem to be working as everyone appears bright and ready for another busy day. During the afternoon, I head upstairs to check out some new Euros on the Queen Games stand and they kindly allow me to take some pictures, even though the displays show prototypes. Urbanization looks particularly interesting.
Do you agree that it looks interesting? Discuss.
Ri-Ra – a holdout from the list of 2011 releases from Queen Games.
Kairo in the Queen Games booth at Nürnberg 2012; I see the players Five more years, and we'll count the endgame scoring!
Next, I head to Hans im Glück, where Michael gives me a explanation of Marcel-André Casasola Merkle's new game, Santa Cruz. The game is finished and will be out in Germany shortly, and the artwork looks fantastic. Players are each given a different hand of cards, comprising traveling cards and scoring cards. They then explore a board showing three islands, which have tiles laid face-down representing buildings and places, such as churches and lighthouses. On a turn, players must play either a traveling card to explore and place buildings in their color or play a scoring card to score a particular type of building, resource, or other game condition for all players. Spaces near the central volcano are more valuable, but are vulnerable to a negative eruption scoring card. It has gone straight to the top of my want list. Straightforward to teach, but with interesting decisions and a little bluffing towards the endgame.
Rob, we don't pay you to go to Nürnberg to take pictures of the demo crew! (NB: We don't pay Rob at all.)
Ah, that's more like it...
With thanks.
Best wishes,
Rob
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Even in Europe, the smokers now have to stay outside the building. (All captions courtesy WEM)
Do you agree that it looks interesting? Discuss.
Kingdom Builder: Nomads, not being very nomadic at the moment.
Ri-Ra – a holdout from the list of 2011 releases from Queen Games.
Kairo in the Queen Games booth at Nürnberg 2012; I see the playershave completed a few more turns from the game state at Nürnberg 2011.Five more years, and we'll count the endgame scoring!
Rob, we don't pay you to go to Nürnberg to take pictures of the demo crew!(NB: We don't pay Rob at all.)
Ah, that's more like it...
