All-inclusive Relaxation

After snow in Spain I wasn’t expecting any sunshine in Portugal either. Weather forecast promised constant rain and heavy wind for the whole weekend. In this case, it was just one more good reason to stay indoors and play board games. That’s what LeiriaCon is all about.

Me and Paulo.

Because of the broken car we had to quickly do changes for the weekend. We emailed Paulo, one of the organisers of LeiriaCon, that we would need accommodation instead of a big parking place. I packed clothes for all of us, but It was a bit tricky because we only have one small suitcase with us. Väinö packed his stuff to his school bag.

We checked the fridge and emptied the trash bin of our caravan and moved game boxes from our car to the rental car. It was Thursday morning, LeiriaCon was starting in Portugal, and we had 800 kilometers to drive. Nevertheless, without the caravan, we should make it there for the evening.

Fire & Water

The rental car was also a VW van, but it lacked many of the nice features we had installed to our car - like navigator. Fortunately we have a good navigation app downloaded to Timo’s phone. Only tricky part during the way was the Portuguese road toll system. I highly recommend travellers to check different payment options beforehand.

When we were closing Leiria, the scenery turned spooky. We were driving thru the areas that had large forest fires in 2017. Black, charred trees stood silently on both sides of the road. In the heavy rain we were driving, it was difficult to imagine the draught and hotness there must have been just a bit over half a year ago.

All of a sudden the Atlantic ocean was again in front of us. High, whitecap waves crashed to a long beach. Wind was gathering small dynes of sand to a sidewalk. Right there, by the beach, was the Hotel Cristal Vieira Resort Praia & Spa where LeiriaCon was held.

Dress Code: Lipstick

Starters, main course and deserts. Drinks included. I love LeiriaCon!

We made it just in time for dinner. Unlike in normal fairs and many other conventions, in LeiriaCon you can get all-inclusive participation: accommodation, all meals and 24 hours in a day for board gaming. What an excellent concept and very welcome change for fair days without any food!

We carried our stuff to the hotel room and I wanted to quickly change clothes. I was still wearing the same outfit I had dressed for yesterday’s driving day: comfy, grey college pants, long woollen socks (it was so cold!) and sweatshirt. I unpacked from the small suitcase a new shirt and trousers for Timo, clean shirt and socks for me and… well, that was it. Several shirts, socks and underwear, but NO trousers for me.

I clearly remembered thinking of packing my jeans. But obviously that thought was never accomplished. I’m sure at least all female readers can imagine my feelings at that moment. Timo comforted me: “Come on, this is a relaxed convention for board game nerds, nobody cares what you are wearing.” There was nothing I could do for the situation, so I just combed my hair, put on some lipstick and went for a dinner.

Friends For Life and Laundry

Frank, Mauro and another game I liked and lost.

They liked Darwinning! I'm sure you will, too. Pledge now!

The rainy days of LeiriaCon were filled with good food (especially the deserts…), nice people and hours of board games. We, of course, played Darwinning with many Portuguese groups and promoted our Kickstarter campaign, but we had time to test other games also. Väinö learned to play Ex Libris with Inka and Markus Brand. Yet another proof of his much improved English skills. Sven and Frank from Happyshops had several prototypes with them. I enjoyed playing all of them, even though I lost most of my games. This was the first time I had a chance to give feedback of other designers games and give ideas for the future development.

The atmosphere was really relaxed and positive. Nobody mentioned my grey college pants. Nevertheless, on Friday after siesta I sneaked out to the quiet, rainy beach village to look for a clothing store. Most of the stores were closed due the low season, but I found one store with handcrafts and clothes. There were only one type of trousers available: black college pants. I bought those and knitting needles for Väinö. He must knit mittens for school and I forgot to take the needles from home.

Early Sunday evening, when the event was about to end and I had lost two rounds of Azul, I took an hour of my own time. The spa offered a relaxation massage, and after all the events of previous weeks I really needed one. I also needed some quietness and time alone. During the past month and a half that we have been on tour, I have met more people than I usually meet during a whole year. I have seen three oceans and climbed higher than I have ever been. There have been moments and experiences I will never forget.

This tour is also about networking. I have got many new Facebook and LinkedIn contacts. But what I really liked about LeiriaCon, is that there you can really get to KNOW new people. It is not only changing business cards.

How do you know you have made new friends? Well, they invite you for a visit and offer to loan their washing machine.

Unforgettable Essen Spiel

One taxi driver after another shakes their head as I approach their cars at the Düsseldorf airport. Finally, Mr. Shabani has a car big enough for my luggage. ”Do you know the way and the right entrance?” he asks, when I tell him I want to go to Messe-Essen. This is the second time I’m participating in the world’s biggest gaming convention Essen Spiel. Of course I know the way. You never forget your first time in Essen.

In the past it has usually it has been Timo who traveled to gaming conventions. But right now he has his right hand and thumb in a tight plaster packet after surgery. Nevertheless, he can move nine fingers and uses those to comment on and update our ongoing Kickstarter campaign of Perdition’s Mouth: Abyssal Rift Revised Edition. We got the amount needed for funding within 21 hours. The campaign still requires constant work though: answering questions and organizing marketing to get more pledges.

Friendly faces

I dragged my 50 kilos of luggage from the taxi to hall number 2 and immediately found friends. Jouni and Tomi from Dized were struggling with IKEA furniture. I smiled. This year I would not spend hours looking for missing screws and struggling with heavy shelves. My luggage included our new sales desk. This very handy Desk&Case solution will be very useful on next year’s tour. In only five minutes the desk was set and, with the company’s new logo emblazoned on it, it looked great.

Essen Spiel is a truly international event. It gathers game publishers, manufacturers and retailers from all over the world. Boardgamegeeks travel long distances and queue hours to get the game they desire. It was very useful that we had our foreign team members at the booth. We were able to present our games in English, German, Spanish, French, Czech, Swedish and Finnish.

Dagmar de Cassan and Jouni Jussila

This was the first time I met some of our team members. We have written hundreds of messages on our virtual platform, shared ideas and worked together for a common vision. But have never met. Finally aliases had faces. I learned more of where they come from, saw pictures of their children. I even found out one of them was half Finnish!

For us, the Essen week also means pizza with our dear friend Dagmar de Cassan. She has an amazing collection of 30,000 board games in her board game museum. While enjoying our dinner (and the distinctive service traditions of the pizzeria) we discussed the future of the collection. It needs a new location and funding for the maintenance. I truly hope a solution will be found for this soon.

Mementos of Essen

How can you tell you have been in Essen?

First of all, you have lost your voice due to four days of constant talking in a noisy hall. You have explained the main features and basic rules of your games over and over again. This year we presented, in addition to our existing games Perdition’s Mouth and Black Hat, the prototype of Darwinning! This was the first time we presented it to the public and the feedback we got was excellent. Our team’s brainstorming for the name of the game proved to have been successful. Noble Artist had managed to make a logo that raised an instant interest in the game.

We thought we designed a family game. So I was surprised to see a group of older women stop and playtest Darwinning! The tradition of trick-taking games in Germany and Austria is long. People are used to playing them and want to find new variations on card games. We had many hilarious moments with Darwinning!: amebas eating a dinosaur, an elephant with a hard shell and birds using tools. We will continue developing the game based on the feedback and ideas we got at Essen. In January 2018 you will have an excellent trick-taking game on Kickstarter!

Time spent in Essen can also be counted by the dirty t-shirts with a company logo. I usually have one t-shirt for each fair day. This year some of them came home unused. Our order of new t-shirts for the whole team became a sad example of deliveries gone wrong. After two weeks in ”out-for-delivery” -mode, DPD finally managed to deliver the package to my hotel during the second day of the fair. Yet again, this reminded us why we should not use DPD, as this has happened with over half of their shipments to us. Perhaps I should feel lucky: every year there are companies in the fair whose games are stuck in customs or just not delivered.

Also your bag is filled with free samples from Chinese manufacturers, who have eagerly explained their factory sizes and showed miniatures, punch boards and dice with a big smile. They all have better quality than the competitors and they have all produced the best games ever published. It’s not easy to find a trustworthy manufacturer. My most important meeting during Essen was with our current manufacturer - LongPack Games. We had a long list of minor details for the ongoing production of Perdition’s Mouth: Abyssal Rift - Traitor Guard and for future productions. We looked up card samples, talked about packing and shipping, ideas for inserts etc. Small things, but important for our integrity.

Winter is here

Every year during Essen Spiel the winter begins, in Finland. Temperatures went below -20°C and we had 10cm of snow. The Iranian taxidriver in Düsseldorf had relatives in Sweden. He knew it is a cold country, and that Finland is even colder. Dark and cold. I have to disagree. With the river frozen and snow all around, it’s like millions of diamonds shimmering.

At home, I find out that a toner bottle has leaked in the suitcase. Luckily not on Timo’s new board game, nor on the special Pikachu I bought for Väinö.