Depending upon the parameters you use, there are between 340 and 515 new board games with a GenCon adjacent release date. Either way, that’s a dump truck worth of cardboard and plastic that wouldn’t fit in a Bagster if you decided you didn’t like them and wanted to throw them out, forcing you to swing for the costly 20 yard dumpster.
Being that it’s expensive to buy the games–plus we just established that it’s even expensive to throw out the games–we need to make good decisions about which new board games we buy.
I’m not you; I’m me. But I’ll share my 7 Most Anticipated GenCon 2018 Board Game Releases, plus give you a little info into why I’m looking forward to the games. I’ve played three of these (due to early release copies from publishers), meaning most are brand new to me, forcing me to narrow down a list of 7 out of hundreds, using only the few tidbits of marketing copy we’ve seen. But maybe this list will help you get a sense of some of the interesting new board games hitting the market.
Click those first links for expanded pre-release looks.
My 7 Most Anticipated GenCon 2018 Board Game Releases
A certain sub-set of nerds will be frustrated that this year’s GenCon doesn’t feature as many big box, dense, miniatures-heavy games as you might have seen in the past. And they won’t be wrong. While there are a few (I’m sure I’ll snatch a copy of the deep, genre-heavy Too Many Bones: Undertow as well), those brain-buster games aren’t the tentpole games at this year’s Con.
Instead, there is a smorgasbord of medium- to light-weight games with SHORT PLAYTIME, many of which have general appeal to families. I’m there for that.
Now, time will tell if these 7 games have staying power in the industry or if they were simply regrettable purchases from GenCon 2018: The Best Four Days in Gaming. For now, I am plutonium cardboard-grade excited.