Mag Con report

A couple of weeks ago I took my brother and my niece to Mag Con, a gaming convention that serves as a fundraiser for one of the schools in New Caney. My brother was anxious to introduce his daughter to gaming, and I knew just the event to draw her in: Circus Maximus!

There were four of us old guys playing, along with my niece. Of course my brother and I tried to kill each other in this game, and the other two veteran gamers did the same.

But while we were all intent on knocking each other out of the race, the girl kept her eyes on the prize and ended up coming in first place in her first game at her first convention.

I knew another game she would like: Steve Jackson's Munchkin. They were demoing the Marvel version of the game, so it had some superheroes that she was familiar with, and the gameplay was simple for her and my brother to pick up. There were a total of six players, and while we all tried to stab each other in the back, my niece again won the game.

Some other games I saw but didn't play included this Lego whaling scenario, which I had seen at Millenniumcon. It looks like fun, and I will have to try it this fall if it's on the MillCon schedule.

There was also a Walking Dead game, but no one was playing when I shot this photo. Looks good, anyway. By this time, we had to go, but not before my brother--who went into the game thinking he would hate it--bought a copy of Munchkin. He and my niece had a good time, and I hope this means we have a new gamer.

As a bonus, the next morning my brother and I played a quick game of Ogre: Objective 218, an Ogre-themed card game. A nice way to wind down a weekend of gaming.

What my wife traded a blender for at the office gift exchange

Munchkin from SJG.

My wife's workplace held its Christmas party, and they had a white elephant exchange where each person gives a gift to one other person, and that person can then trade it for someone else's present.  After everyone had swapped gifts, Mrs. Scribe ended up with a blender, while her non-gaming coworker was upset about getting the Munchkin card game from Steve Jackson Games. 

My spouse, the good gamer that she is, offered to trade the gadget for the game (we already have Munchkin-Fu and Munchkin Bites, although we've only played the former), and both employees left the white elephant swap happy.

Does anyone else have a significant other who would do something like that?  To paraphrase Silent Bob: Not many women will trade a kitchen appliance for a noncollectable card game.