From drawn cards to 50,000 HUF cards – we took a look at the first board game exhibition

Now it is quite clear that it is English words gameaccording to what The geek inherits the earth (Maybe we can translate it into Hungarian as follows: The cubes will be the globe) He was prophetic. While at the turn of the millennium, a forty-year-old man who dressed as a Japanese girl with pigtails and fought against the Dark Empire in his spare time was still the subject of much attention, no one on Earth had drawn their attention to something like this. Bus to Hungexpo during Whitsun weekend. The Marvel movies and Mad Men series played a big role in this, if someone knows the difference between red and blue and Spider-Man in a blue and red suit, he's not lame, he's cool. Comic Con, the most important annual event of cube culture, was now enriched with accompanying events, and even the military thought it was worth setting up a recruitment point here. There was also an entire hall of board games, as the Board Games Fair was held for the first time in Budapest this year.

The popularity of board games is shown by the fact that the large exhibition hall was so full that not all major publishers were present at the event, however, if someone wanted to try all the games placed on the tables, they would have to spend at least a week here to charge . It was also amazing how many different publishers there are already in Hungary, the big ones, like Gémklub, Piatnik or Reflexshop, publish dozens of games every year, but there are also smaller publishers who have fallen in love with a game and definitely want it. In Hungarian to see, so for lack of a better option, they publish it themselves. This is what happened in specially designed for children, Corakist With the dungeon crawler game published by A&Z Games in the Hungarian language.

Most people came here because it is easy to try board games here, which can be beneficial from two points of view. On the one hand, there are games that require a serious investment, such as Dungeon Crawlers Lots of bonesWhich can be purchased in the best places for about fifty thousand Hungarian forints. As with a more serious car, a test drive can be useful here too, so someone can determine if this is the toy they really want to spend a lot on.

Another big advantage is that professional gaming professors who teach gaming help you get through one of the most unpleasant parts of socializing. The more complex and complicated the game, the more serious the task of explaining the rules. If someone opens a new box and they try to figure out together what to do in the game, they won't have much of a chance of understanding everything right away. So, the careful host who invites others to play, or the person who brings the game, spends a few hours with the rule book, maybe watches some videos explaining the rules, and then teaches others the rules. This is something that not everyone wants, and which often prevents many from more complex socializing. At the expo, each publisher came with their own team of game masters, who taught the game and perhaps helped answer questions that were asked, so it was easy to switch from one game to another, and the experience was not interrupted by its explanation. the rules. Apparently, a lot of people took advantage of this opportunity, and there weren't many free tables and bored game masters either.

In addition to Hungarian publishers, the proliferation of Hungarian designers also shows the reach of the board game. Crowdfunding (primarily Kickstarter) has completely changed the way board games are created. Huge investment, a complete distribution network and a huge marketing machine are not necessarily necessary for the idea to become a board game, it is enough to find a sufficient number of supporters for it. Thus, games designed for much narrower audiences can be achieved than before.

In the section dedicated to designers, you can find games in all stages of their creation. There were also those that came with hand-drawn cards, pictures, and rule books without editing. The designers' main goal was to get as many people as possible to play their game and get as much feedback as possible. There were already finished games that were already ready to start knocking.

Although Kickstarter was originally created to help create a product from a small idea, nowadays only those who can submit a production-ready prototype have a chance at a successful campaign. Like the Pillars of Hercules, a game by Tamás Oláh, which at first glance looks like an ancient Greek game of 4X (discovery, expansion, exploitation and conquest), but in its mechanics it combines classic European social elements such as deck management and action selection. A special historian ensures the historical fidelity of the game.

There are also those who have already completed the crowdfunding campaign and have already delivered the finished games. Publisher Urban Games sold the last copies here at the show Conspiracy From their light and funny game, in which each player builds his own conspiracy theory and tries to get as many followers as possible. It is also true that they feel hungry while eating, and their next project is already in preparation.

Among Hungarian game designers, Pierrot has a special place, he has been designing games for a long time, but last year he started publishing them as well. We particularly liked his first game, Winemaker Cuve, and the subsequent, slightly simpler Caravanserai game wasn't bad either, and now we can actually see the prototype for Twilight City, coming in the fall. In the game, in a dystopian future, we can try to overthrow the evil force, of course by playing cards. Instead of Kickstarter, you can pre-order to ensure you'll be the first to get the game that will be released at the end of the year.

There's no major event without an awards ceremony and a serious announcement, and one of them has arrived here. The Hungarian Board Games Federation Award for Best Game was presented last year, which this time it was Rush coffee had become. In this uncomplicated family game, we walk with our doll to collect ingredients, which we pack into cute little coffee cups to fulfill orders at our café. If you manage to complete something, you will not only get a victory point, but you will also give your neighbors a task that they will have to complete, this makes the game more interactive and even a little evil, which is especially good for it.

In addition to handing out prizes, a big announcement is almost a mandatory part of such events, and we got one of these: Reflexshop is also published in Hungarian by the largest Hungarian game designer, Mindclash Games. Ironwood His two-person game. In this game, there is a fight for the forest, where the industrial team Ironribs and the mysterious Forest Walkers team are fighting, and the two players have different rules, so their strategies are completely different. A special beauty of the game is that all Iron Ribs components are made of metal, while Forest Walkers components are made of wood.

Although the board game is not a mind-blowing activity, tournaments organized by Klask magnetic soccer and Crokinole, a classic poking game, also stole some of the court atmosphere among the players who were busy pushing the wooden blocks. The dwarven warriors, comic book heroes, and stormtroopers wandering from the adjacent halls really lifted the mood.