GenCon Tales: The Arkham Horror Demo
So I was wandering around with c3n0byte , and the gang, and we were trying to decide what to do. I turned and saw that we were standing next to the Fantasy Flight booth, and that there was an open seat at the Arkham Horror table! SQUEE!
I heard everyone else say that we were going to split up and meet later. "I'LL BE HERE AT THIS DEMO!" I cried.
I intended to just sit in the chair (a much needed respite after the humidity) and watch the game, when LO, THERE WAS AN INVESTIGATOR SHEET IN THE SPOT!" "Huzzah!" I cried again, "I'll play this character!" Everyone at the table looked over at me in bewilderment, since they were half way through their turn. Ainsley, the (extremely cute) FF staffer who was running the demo, quickly recovered and picked up where she left off, and shortly it was my turn.
I spent the next hourish helping Ainsley and another player (we were the only ones who had played the game before) help the three other guys at the table learn the basics of the game, and much fun was had by all of us, judging by the cries of dismay when we got the shaft during the Mythos phase and cheers of victory when one of us made a successful skill roll or killed a monster. It was a very fun demo, even for Ainsley who had clearly been shouting over the din in the dealer's hall all day. After the demo, Ainsley introduced herself to me, and told me that FF was pre-releasing a NEW EXPANSION for Arkham Horror! The Black Goat of the Woods! For only $20!
HOODY FRICKEN HOO!!
I dashed through their stacks of games and snatched up a copy of the precious, and was turning to head to the cashier when I was grabbed by the shoulder. I turned and was jumped upon by the girl who was playing in the demo with me.
"DO YOU LIVE HERE?!!?!?" she demanded.
"No! I'm from Canada! Please don't kill me!" I replied, turtling into a defensive posture.
"DAMMIT!" she cursed, "I live here, and LOVE this game and none of my friends will play it with me!"
"I feel your pain." I replied, "I have the same problem back at home."
"Tell me if you are going to move here, and we'll play!" she begged.
"Ok." I replied, thinking her request was perfectly normal.
For those of you that think she's crazy, you have clearly never played Arkham Horror. The game is so awesome and fun that you want people to do weird things so you can play it with them. Things like drive for 8 hours to play a boardgame. (I'm looking at you R&G and Deb!) Or move to a different country to play. Perfectly normal in context.
The only crazy part in this tale is that we totally forgot to exchange emails or anything because we were too busy squeeing over the new expansion which she had picked up the day before.
This is the magic of GenCon. Barge into a demo, make new friends, help sell some product, make a sweet purchase, make awesome memories.
I heard everyone else say that we were going to split up and meet later. "I'LL BE HERE AT THIS DEMO!" I cried.
I intended to just sit in the chair (a much needed respite after the humidity) and watch the game, when LO, THERE WAS AN INVESTIGATOR SHEET IN THE SPOT!" "Huzzah!" I cried again, "I'll play this character!" Everyone at the table looked over at me in bewilderment, since they were half way through their turn. Ainsley, the (extremely cute) FF staffer who was running the demo, quickly recovered and picked up where she left off, and shortly it was my turn.
I spent the next hourish helping Ainsley and another player (we were the only ones who had played the game before) help the three other guys at the table learn the basics of the game, and much fun was had by all of us, judging by the cries of dismay when we got the shaft during the Mythos phase and cheers of victory when one of us made a successful skill roll or killed a monster. It was a very fun demo, even for Ainsley who had clearly been shouting over the din in the dealer's hall all day. After the demo, Ainsley introduced herself to me, and told me that FF was pre-releasing a NEW EXPANSION for Arkham Horror! The Black Goat of the Woods! For only $20!
HOODY FRICKEN HOO!!
I dashed through their stacks of games and snatched up a copy of the precious, and was turning to head to the cashier when I was grabbed by the shoulder. I turned and was jumped upon by the girl who was playing in the demo with me.
"DO YOU LIVE HERE?!!?!?" she demanded.
"No! I'm from Canada! Please don't kill me!" I replied, turtling into a defensive posture.
"DAMMIT!" she cursed, "I live here, and LOVE this game and none of my friends will play it with me!"
"I feel your pain." I replied, "I have the same problem back at home."
"Tell me if you are going to move here, and we'll play!" she begged.
"Ok." I replied, thinking her request was perfectly normal.
For those of you that think she's crazy, you have clearly never played Arkham Horror. The game is so awesome and fun that you want people to do weird things so you can play it with them. Things like drive for 8 hours to play a boardgame. (I'm looking at you R&G and Deb!) Or move to a different country to play. Perfectly normal in context.
The only crazy part in this tale is that we totally forgot to exchange emails or anything because we were too busy squeeing over the new expansion which she had picked up the day before.
This is the magic of GenCon. Barge into a demo, make new friends, help sell some product, make a sweet purchase, make awesome memories.