Forgotten bits

[prog]

I keep remembering things about Origins I neglected to include in the previous post. Will post as able.

Though the photos I took didn't really capture this (since I'm not too comfortable in shooting complete strangers), there were more young Looney fans this year then I've ever seen before. The Lab would fill to capacity with 17-and-unders excited to play Fluxx, Chrononauts, or Zendo every night at around 7 or so, as the hall outside would be choked with multiple Werewolf villages with disconcertingly Logan's Run-aged populations. (Though that was one game where parents would often join their kids, even if they weren't "gamers". Choice overheard quote: "I'm his mother and I know when he's lying!") I suspect this time coincided with the closing of the Pokemon tables, though I never really asked anyone.

I was witness to a young boy ascending into labcoated Rabbitdom on the spot after he won a seat in the Pokemon tournament finals, discovered Zendo while waiting for his turn to come about, and then chose to ditch the finals to play more Zendo. Wow. And let me officially congratulate Kory and the Looneys for Zendo's glorious victory, as it took home the Best Abstract Board Game award. Zendo is and might always remain one of my favorite games, and I hope they sell lots and lots of them as a result of this win.

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Anthropological survey: attendees were, unsurprisingly, largely white, though I think there was an inversely proportional relationship between ethnic diversity and age, which is interesting. I speculate that we can thank CCGs like Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh for this, as they've captured the hearts and minds of entire schoolyards like probably no other analog game has before.

Not sure about the sexual divide. The Lab, with its largely abstract games, probably had a fifty-fifty split among both Rabbits and visiting players, but I'd imagine that the CCGs I just praised are not so much here since they're all about fight fight fight and that's generally not the best way to attract female audiences. The cavernous CCG room was way too scary for me to examine in detail, though, so I can't say for certain.

Comments

[ts52.livejournal.com]

I'm pleased to say I taught Zendo to that kid. While I did see him in a lab coat later, but didn't know the whole story.