RinCon 2019

Designed for the second book in the Seer series by Sonia Lyris, Rochi is a new gambling game by James Ernest. Come play it with the creator and learn more about the game, its role in the book, and the upcoming Kickstarter campaign!

In this social deduction game, players ask questions to other players to find the spy. Everyone gets a card with the location, except for the spy. The spy trys to figure out the location without letting in that they don't know it.
Quick rounds of 5min allows for different spy's and seeing other locations.

Engine building game, themed around Middle Eastern spice trade of the 1400s.

A tile laying, city planning, engine building game designed by Ted Alspach with a unique mechanic where as you earn population (points that win the game) the effectiveness of your engine deteriorates and you must keep building and improving it to stay on top. This is the base game without expansions.

Come to the Library and check out one of the games in RinCon's Play-to-Win (PTW) section. There will also be a GM leading PTW games during this time slot if you prefer.

Every attendee playing a PTW title can enter their name into a drawing for that game (one entry per title per attendee). The drawing will be held at 10:45 on Sunday in the Library.*

The available games include almost any game type you could want: solo play, party games, dice, worker placement, deck building, press your luck, and more! See all the titles: 2019 RinCon Play-to-Win

*Fine print: Winning badge must be presented by 3 pm to claim the game. A second chance drawing will be held at 3:15. All games must be claimed by 5 pm. Two win maximum per badge number.

In Pax Pamir, players assume the role of nineteenth century Afghan leaders attempting to forge a new state after the collapse of the Durrani Empire. Western histories often call this period "The Great Game" because of the role played by the Europeans who attempted to use central Asia as a theater for their own rivalries. In this game, those empires are viewed strictly from the perspective of the Afghans who sought to manipulate the interloping ferengi (foreigners) for their own purposes.

In terms of game play, Pax Pamir is a pretty straightforward tableau builder. Players spend most of their turns purchasing cards from a central market, then playing those cards in front of them in a single row called a court. Playing cards adds units to the game's map and grants access to additional actions that can be taken to disrupt other players and influence the course of the game. That last point is worth emphasizing. Though everyone is building their own row of cards, the game offers many ways for players to interfere with each other directly and indirectly.

To survive, players will organize into coalitions. Throughout the game, the dominance of the different coalitions will be evaluated by the players when a special card, called a "Dominance Check", is resolved. If a single coalition has a commanding lead during one of these checks, those players loyal to that coalition will receive victory points based on their influence in their coalition. However, if Afghanistan remains fragmented during one of these checks, players instead will receive victory points based on their personal power base.

After each Dominance Check, victory is checked and the game will be partially reset, offering players a fresh attempt to realize their ambitions. The game ends when a single player is able to achieve a lead of four or more victory points or after the fourth and final Dominance Check is resolved.

Meltwater is a tactical abstract/wargame for two players. Session is for multiple parallel games. Designer will sit in for odd number of players.

“Restraint? Why are you so concerned with saving their lives? The whole idea is to kill the bastards. At the end of the war, if there are two Americans and one Russian left alive, we win.” ~Gen. Thomas Power, U.S. Strategic Air Command 1957-1964

19XX: The unthinkable happens. The world is scoured clean in nuclear fire. The oceans are poisoned for generations to come. One last patch of habitable land remains: Antarctica. The remnants of humanity huddle together in a fragile patchwork of research stations and refugee ships. But even here, the Cold War survives. And our civilization may not.

In Meltwater, two players take command of the shattered remains of the superpowers, struggling for control of the ice. Simple diceless mechanics let players displace, corner, and isolate their opponent’s survivors. Here, hunger is a crueler weapon than gunfire, and the barren tundra can only support so many souls. And every turn, radioactive contamination pushes in from the coastline, shrinking the available space and forcing the belligerents closer and closer together.

In the end, there is only either submission or annihilation, and whatever world is left.