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A hot, sunny Bank Holiday Monday (I know right!) and London is in Carnival mood. Not in the streets of Notting Hill but at the legendary Bedford Pub in Balham. Home to some of the greatest acts in British Rock and Comedy and for the 3rd year running to ZATUCON’s festival of Board Games, Social Deduction, Designer’s Test sessions and a Mind-Stretching Board game Quiz.
Nice to See You
Wandering about the sell out crowd arrayed across two floors of this traditional venue I met old friends like Neil “Board Game Happy” Proctor and friends I was about to make. As Sam Woodrow was keen to point out the BoardGame crowd is such a bunch of nice people.
Greeted at the entrance by Senior Project Manager Arthur Blazey, a man so dedicated to the ZATU cause that his fiery hair matches the corporate orange, I was ushered in whilst my wrist was entwined with the amber wristband by Arthur’s bride-to-be who might be wondering if this is how her future public holidays are going to be spent.
The Globe-like circular ground floor was crammed with tables of enthusiastic gamers competing over the many varied games borrowed from ZATU’s well stocked library or bought from the top floor ZATU sales stand. A balanced mix of people playing many games I recognised and many more that were new to me. I picked up a fair few foreign accents, too, including one Italiana, playing Salton Sea with her friend, who shared the same name as my daughter Alessandra.
Moving on up let’s see what’s on offer on the balcony and beyond.
Cid and Insidious
At the end of said balcony sat Sarah, a nice American lady escaping the heat of her native Arizona, who was demonstrating the prototype of an area control game based on the regions of Mediaeval Spain c.1000-1200AD, around the time of El Cid. It looked like it could be interesting as long as they get the history right and I wished her well even though she did not get it when I said I couldn’t get enough of Spanish Architecture as it was so Moorish!
Moving on, I felt a sudden chill as a room full of haunted people turned their suspicion-ridden gaze on me. I momentarily froze then I saw the light gleam off Matt’s silvery locks and realised I’d entered another suspenseful session of BLOOD ON THE CLOCKTOWER, an ever popular staple of ZATUCON.
I must point out that Matt’s white hair is a fashion statement whilst my own snow tinted tresses are the result of old age and an irresolute lifestyle.
Keep Watching The Skies
The next area boasted demo sessions of Star Wars Unlimited and a new game to me Flowers. It was also my chance to watch and join along with a game of SKY TEAM the 2024 Spiel des Jahres winner. This dice based two-hander sees Pilot and Co-Pilot co-operate to get all the elements right to successfully land a plane. Think ducks in a row with flaps down, wheels lowered and brakes on.
Bizarrely they are not allowed to talk to each other and have a tendency to go and make a cup of coffee when the going gets tough.
The action was intense as I watched two erstwhile airmen, Dan and Dennis, struggle manfully to achieve all their tasks without directly helping each other.
After a tremendous effort the plane crashed! Oops!
Trading Places
The final vestibule housed the boardgame Mecca that is the ZATU trade stand offering a sumptuous selection of gamer’s eye candy, served to an eager public by Mike, Amy and new Marketing Maestra Bryony James.
Bryony, whilst new to board games, has a solid marketing background and is looking to organise ZATU events every month! So keep watching out for one somewhere near you.
The most popular items seemed to be the ZATU mystery boxes coming in 3 different sizes. I saw quite a few people open theirs and excitedly pull out a whole heap of goodness.
Passage Aggressive
The room was filled out with designers hosting demonstration sessions of their new games. The one that caught my eye was the splendidly titled PASSAGE AGGRESSIVE demonstrated by Sam Woodrow, half of the Brothers of Bark, the other half being ZATU’s own Ross ‘Iron’ Woodrow. Ross you may remember was the founder of the Joke of the Day blog. Now I see where the puns have come from.
Anyway PASSAGE AGGRESSIVE has a very British concept of trying not to sit next to other people on a commuter train carriage. Despite having already spent over 2 hours in the hands of Southern rail I took part in a game which I quite enjoyed even though I was beaten by a charming lady called Leonora who despite her shy demeanour turned out to have a killer streak!
Who let the Dogs (and Cats) Out?
At the end of the room was Gareth Edwards, not that one Welsh rugby fans, but the CEO of Farplace Animal Rescue. He was demonstrating his animal themed games. I played WOOF DAYS with him and despite losing bought the attractively priced set of 3 games that also included CAT DAYS and DINO DAYS. This pocket sized games played well and would make good travel games. The quality of the cards is exemplary. I also feel that I could use them to play my own made up matching games with my 3 year old granddaughter.
His new games of SPACE DAYS, DUNGEON DAYS and PIRATE DAYS will be coming out soon. Small, competitively priced and all profits go to his animal charity.
Going, Going, Gone
The room gradually filled up as the bulk of the 350 ticket holders crowded in for the drawing of the Grand ZATU raffle. With many gasps of ooohs and aaahs lucky prize winners heard their tickets drawn and came forward to claim a game from the table groaning under the many generously donated prizes.
One lucky young chap went up so often for prizes he must have almost worn his shoes out!
A Questionable Practice
So to the Grand Finale – the ZATUCON Board GAME Quiz! Modesty prevents me from saying too much about it as it was devised and presented by myself, your very own Panto Pete Bartlam.
Suffice to say 20 teams took part rejoicing under a host of imaginative names. Here I must apologise to the SPICE MUST FLOW team as, being somewhat deaf and totally missing the Dune reference despite having read the books and seen the films, I called them the more sinister SPITE MUST FLOW throughout!
A closely fought contest, during which we found that George Martin and John Tolkien have more ‘R’s’ than Alan Moon, saw more than half the teams getting 50 or over, out of a possible 60. In the end two teams tied for first place the aforementioned SPICE MUST FLOW and TILDA’S GOBLINS and it was Tilda’s team that were ultimately victorious after winning the tie-break and collecting the very generous £100 game voucher from ZATU.
Hard luck to ILLEGITIMATE AIRS who missed out by 1 point and would have won the tie break. On one question they had written the right answer then crossed it out and went for something else! You’ve got to have the courage of your convictions chaps.
Don’t Stop The Carnival
Finally, tired but fulfilled, I made my way home, grateful to Arthur and all the good people of ZATU for organising such an entertaining day.
On my homebound train I chatted to a charming fellow called Martin (yes I am one of those people who talks on trains and the Beavertown Beer was both lovely and strong) and asked him where he’d been for the day. He replied Notting Hill Carnival but he seemed jaded with it, particularly all the “gallivanting” as he called it.
I suggested next year he should come to ZATUCON and he was so taken by the idea that he said he would!
Well he best get his ticket early to avoid disappointment!