A cracking weekend the rain howled down at times, but we loaded and unloaded without serious sogginess. There were 200 participants, even more than last year, yet the beer just held out to the end, a triumph of organisation and planning. We did quite well at guessing what people would want to buy, though way short of 100%;
Splendor did predictably well, Sierra Madre's
Greenland came a good second, but the clear favourite was
The Castles of Mad King Ludwig. A surprise was that
Pandemic and its add-ons went better than the new non co-operative
Contagion, which has gone well in the shop. We only sold a couple of the rather fine
Steam Donkey, but that was mainly because the carrier lost it and we only had it for Sunday, which is always quieter with the more distant attendees heading off early.
New Dawn and the just-returned
Star Realms were not pounced upon as keenly as expected, but will certainly sell through the shop;
Village Port, the latest expansion for
Village, did sell well and was immediately tried out by some of our regulars, to universal (can that be applied to four people?) acclaim.
As usual several of the hard-core Midconners had been to Essen and were proudly displaying their wares, especially the sought-after Kanban (about to arrive here, but not quite in time for the show). We did import a few copies of
Panamax, also held in high esteem again, several people had already brought some over from Germany themselves.
Imperial Settlers is another game of the moment which sold modestly, the brand new
Power Grid Deluxe was also spotted and bought. A surprise was that we only sold one copy of
Hyberborea, offset by the pleasant surprise of selling two copies of
Mice and Mystics, having a deserved revival after a quiet patch. Of course, we sold a couple of copies of
Camel Up, and having found someone who had somehow survived without a copy of
Awful Green Things, we put that right too.
Of the smaller games,
Coup is also experiencing a revival, aided by
Coup: Reformation arriving for Midcon this expands the number of players to 10, most usefully.
Buccaneer Bones went well,
Port Royal even better, but I only sold one
Council of Verona to which I am quite partial and no
Cypher, which is predicted to grab a share of the
Love Letter market. Top two-player game was
Mijnlieff, it is just so easy to demo and few people who have played it leave without a copy.
Thanks go to the organisers, a splendid bunch of individuals, and also to Paul and Carole whose help on Friday evening and Sunday afternoon made all the difference. Next major event is their own Raiders of the Games Cupboard on Saturday 3rd January...
