Sunday morning my friends dropped me at the Westin and began their trip back to KC.
Pax
I wandered around the gaming area looking for something short to play and finally joined a game of Pax. Pax is a short card game about contesting Rome. It's a set collection game with one of two objects. If, between all players, at least one player beats the board in at least four of the seven categories, then each player scores the points on their board and the player with the most points wins. Otherwise, players score only the points in one category (intrigue) and the player with the most points wins.
They call it semi-cooperative, but it's not really. I didn't understand all the rules until the end of the short game, so I didn't fare too well. It's not a bad filler, from what I could tell. I need to try it again to see if there's anything to the game.
BGG.con was very enjoyable and, as usual, amazingly well run. I and my friends all had a great time. I end up playing less games than it would seem time would allow, but more than it would seem possible. I meet many other gamers, people who know games and aren't puzzled or confused as to why I play them or how to play them. But mostly, I simply meet nice people, people whose work I admire and/or the occasional fan of my own blog or games.
Flights
I caught the 10:00 am shuttle to DFW. People on the shuttle discussed games they played. At the airport waiting for the flight to Toronto they discussed games they played.
I saw a redhead in line, and asked her if she was Jewish, divorced, around 40, and hoping to live in Israel, just to be sure I didn't miss my last opportunity to find one on my trip, but no such luck. While waiting for the flight, I heard a sustained thunder of applause that continued for ten minutes; it was a group of American soldiers returning on some flight, I assume from Iraq.
I watched Unknown, a thrilled about a man in Germany whose life is suddenly co-opted by someone else (even his wife appears not to know him) and his struggle to figure out what's happening. It was ok, well acted, and January Jones is always a pleasure (though she doesn't have much to do). Similar to The Bourne Identity series, but a little less so; doesn't add anything new, anyway.
Bought some Canadian Club in Toronto, used the free wi-fi, and then flew to Israel. I watched Bad Teacher. No one to root for and not funny enough. She supposedly undergoes a little personal growth by the end of the movie, but it was hard to see when that happened. I watched Hannah. It was quite good, with good attention paid to the cinematography, something they sometimes forget about in American made movies. Well acted, it's at or near the top of the pile for assassin movies.
I also watched some Modern Family and The Big Bang Theory. I didn't sleep much. In all, I was awake from Sunday morning 6:00 am Dallas time until Monday evening 8:00 pm Israeli time, with about an hour of dozing on the plane.
All my kosher food was in place on all my flights, and I experienced no delays.
The Haul
Games I hauled back include Navegador and Inca Empire (secret santa gifts sent to my hotel), Troyes (bought with box damage from Z-Man), Innovation, Amun Re, Detroit Cleveland Grand Prix, El Capitain (these four acquired through the virtual flea market), Highland Clans (aka Mac Robber), Train of Thought (these two from registration), some Magic cards, and one other game which I'm forgetting right now.
I return to massive amounts of cleaning, bill sorting, and all the other mundane tasks of life, jetlagged and still a little sick from my chill in Ireland. The trouble with vacations is that they come to an end.
Nadine blogs
Nadine has blogged the trip as well here.
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