You saw plenty of Top10’s these days, huh? Many blogers and vlogers published their Top10 of 2014. These lists are super popular and are really fun to watch or read.

(BTW: There is even a geek list dedicated to different Top10 lists and it calculates the ultimate winner from different lists).

Craziness but I like it. We wait the whole year, we play lots of games and now we want to sum up the year and prepare for 2015.

Imperial Settlers appeared on some of these list. The game made it to some of these Top10’s and let me tell you – this is super flattering and super kind. Seeing my own game in one of the tops of the year is something extraordinary and really really cool.

But!

But it wasn’t on all of these list! Really! There are some people out there who doesn’t think Imperial Settlers is that good! Tom Vasel? No! Dan Thurot? No! Dan King? NO!!!

So much disappointment for me! 😉

But being serious – 2014 was great and motivating. I look at many of releases and I know I need to try harder now, because our industry is growing like crazy and our hobby is in an amazing shape now. Imperial Settlers was the best Portal Games could put out in 2014 and we were proud that we did catch up with big releases at Gen Con 2014 but now we are in 2015 and I have to do something better, I have to try harder, because everybody improves, everybody tries harder, everybody pushes our hobby beyond limits.

I tell you this, it’s awesome feeling. This race for putting better and better games, having better and better components, this competition of talent, passion and creativity.

My friends, fellow publishers and designers. It was a great time to compete with you in 2014. I honestly congratulate you Five Tribes and Star Realms, and King of New York and Spyfall and many more…

But it is January 2015 now.

I challenge you. It’s time to raise the bar. Again.

So we are officially done with great year of 2014. I know that dust after the battle has not yet settled, I know that we have not yet played all the games we purchased in December, we are still excited about all great releases of 2014. I know that. All those list of Top10 games of 2014 are poping up just like ads when you visit website with illegal movies. I mean one after another. Like crazy.

You are still excited about Dead of Winter or Imperial Assault or Mysterium or Spyfall and many other great games that were published in 2014 and you did not have chance yet to play them.

Right? So much good stuff to play!

But here is the best – when you are trying to catch up with 2014, all publishers are already working damn hard to give you another set of great games in 2015. While you are catching up with all those great 2014 titles, we are doing final touches on 2015 releases. In February there is Nuremberg fair and publishers will present all those great designs to each other and negotiate local editions, and then in March there is Gama Trade show, and few weeks later Origins…

Time goes like crazy. I see all your tweets about you discovering Imperial Settlers, but let’s face it – I am already preparing for the new battle, I am already preparing for Gen Con 2015, I am already preparing new games. And so does each of publishers.

2014 was amazing year for our hobby. But let me tell you this: 2015 will be better.

When I was a kid video games were much harder than these days. In most cases you needed to use cheat codes and other tricks to handle bosses and hard core levels. In magazines dedicated to video games there were sections like „Tips & Tricks” where you were able to learn how to get unlimited ammo or find all hidden doors. Remember those days? I bet so!

Few days before Essen I came up with crazy idea – I will gather „Tips and Tricks” for board games. Ultimate Guide to win! Oh, yeah!

And then I will give it for charity.

***

I had a small notepad, I had a pen and I had this dead simple idea – approach as many as possible game designers at Essen and ask them to contribute to this little book. I know many designers by person so it looked like easy and fun task. The fair began.

On Wednesday I had no time to get any entries to my Ultimate Guide. I was too busy and in a fact there were not that many designers in the halls yet.

On Thursday I had… On Thursday I had no time to get any entries to my notepad. I was way too busy to even have a hot dog or cup of tea. That was crazy busy Essen day. In the evening I came back to my room and looked at my notepad. It was empty. No entries. I was sad. I was worried that my crazy idea has no chance to succeed. Essen was overwhelming this year.

On Friday I had…

OK, Friday looked just like Thursday. It was crazy. But, I didn’t give up. I managed to get entry from Kristian Ostby (designer of Escape) who visited our booth. I managed to get entry from Brad jr. Tolton (designer of Pixel Tactics) who visited our booth. And then breakthrough happened. My friend from CGE, Peter Cernak came to our booth with Matt Leacock (designer of…  c’mon, do I need to say it?!).

I asked Matt to contribute to my book and to write a tip how to win Pandemic. I explained him that I gather entries about winning games and I am creating Ultimate Strategy Guide and then, after Essen I will give it for charity. Matt, of course agreed.

„What a cool idea!” said Peter.

„I wish I had more time to go around halls and gather more entries.” I said.

„I’ll help!” replied Peter.

He took notebook. Few minutes later he was back with entries from all Czech designers that were at their booth.

And that was just beginning. Peter began to walk around the halls and talk about my project. He was asking designers to visit Portal Games booth and put entry into the book. Antoine Bauza came. Then designers began to tell each other about project. And then Merry helped. In a few hours my notebook had entries from Martin Wallace, Friedmann Friese, Bruno Cathala and many many other great designers.

I have tips and knowledge how to win Ghost Stories and Forbidden Island, and Chaos in the Old World, and Cold Express and Timeline and even Story Cubes! 😀

All together 23 entries from 23 designers about winning in 23 great games.

Here is a quick look at this piece of craziness…

***

I am happy to tell you that you can have my Ultimate Strategy Guide for Boardgamers. This is all unique item, this is great designers contributing for a good cause.

Here is the auction!

How cool our hobby is, huh?

I put so much hope in every board game I bring home. I believe it will be awesome. I can’t wait to try it. Some offer great brain burning experience, some give me just pure laught and joy, some have theme that strong that I forgot about table and feel like I am having true adventure.

I love these moments. This pure excitement. My first time with Lewis and Clark. My first time with Five Tribes. My first time Star Realms. You finish the game and you have this huge smile on your face. That was awesome experience. You can’t wait for second game. What a gem!

I brought from Essen 38 games. Some of them – sadly – will suck. But some of them will put smile on my face. And I can’t wait to try them all!

Folks from USA tell that Gen Con is biggest board game convention on this planet. Folks from Europe say „Phew! Essen is bigger”. Tom Vasel pours oil to the flame and says that Gen Con not only managed to catch up Essen, but grew up bigger.

What can I say. I am one of these lucky bastards who attended both Essen and Gen Con. Let me add more oil and tell you what I think.

***

Let’s start with numbers.

Gen Con 2014 new releases? Eric W. Martin listed exactly 300 games. Not all of them were actually released. Not of them were actually new releases. But well, screw it. Let it be 300 new games.

What about Essen 2014? Eric W. Martin listed 502 games. Huge number but… Essen was cheating for years… Let me look into this list with a magnifying glass. There is more than 50 games on that list that – as far as I know – were already released at Gen Con and now are just listed again.

It’s more like 300 to 450.

Still, in terms of number of new releases, 1:0 for Essen.

What about number of visitors?

This is tricky part, Essen counts entries, not actual people. They say 150 000 people visited fair for 4 days, and it might mean about 37 000 unique visitors. It might mean that. We don’t know.

Gen Con says they had more than 60 000 unique visitors.

Looks like it is 1:0 for Gen Con…

***

What about gaming?

When exhibitor hall closes at Essen, gamers go to hotels and play all night long at hotel lobby, at hotel restaurant, at hotel rooms.

When exhibitor hall closes at Gen Con, gamers go to Open Gaming Area and play all night long. Or go to one of many game rooms at convention centre. Or go to any restaurant or pub around Indiana Con Centre and play. And in hotels too. And everywhere.

This is amazing – whole Indiana downtown around Con Centre changes into Game city for this 4 days. This is freaking awesome – you walk the streets and there are gamers, all around, playing, talking, having fun.

Gen Con wins 1:0

***

Anything more?

Essen fair is games fair – huge, insane huge exhibitor hall. That’s all.

Gen Con fair is games convention. It has huge exhibitor hall. And it has insane number of other attractions. Game nights, tournaments, panels, larps, RPG… Thousands (yes, you read it right – THOUSANDS!) of events that take place there. This con runs 24 hours without a 5 minutes break.

Gen con wins 1:0

***

Exhibitor hall – closer look.

Gen con is all about new releases. FFG is bringing all their best. AEG is bringing all their best. And IELLO, and Stronghold and Plaid Hat and Portal Games too. We put best stuff we have and we make US gamers feel like in heaven.

Essen has new releases too, but this list of new games is more diverse. You find here super rare gems. Games from Japan, games from Poland, Spain, Italy, games from Taiwan and games from Russia, games from all different parts of the world. Many unknown companies, many small gems that you can browse and try and hopefully find a treasure designed by new designer.

I would call it a draw. I love those hyped games like Dead of Winter, Five Tribes or Imperial Settlers (yes, I am doing product placement here). But I also love to walk around those all small booths at Essen and look for games and publishers I have never heard of. This feels like a gaming adventure. Gen Con vs Essen – 1:1

***

Exhibitor hall – second closer look

Gen con is mostly about game publishers.

Essen is also about game stores and second hand games stores. OMG! You can find there old games like El Grande or Tikal. You can buy games with super prices. You can negotiate prices. There are so many games on sale, there are so many chances to buy great games for 5 euro! Man, you just walk those corridors and you can not resist – special offers and discounts on every corner.

Essen wins. If you want to buy not-new-releases, Essen wins. Much wider selection and much better prices.

***

We may go on and on.

At Essen people believe I can actually speak English.

At Gen Con I can go and watch Indiana Colts match without even leaving convention center.

At Essen you can easily find grocery store with huuuuuge selection of cookies, chocolates, sweets…

At Gen Con I have wi fi on every corner of the street, in every store, pub, everywhere. Except exhibitor hall…

At Essen I meet gamers from whole Europe, from Spain, to Russia, from Italy to Hungary, from Norway to Croatia…

I love both conventions. I think I might fell in love with Gen Con lately. But Essen is still my good old love…