Saturday, September 22, 2007

Itchy feet, evil plans and enlightened self-interest

Ah, Spring is here. This is the time of year when my feet really start to itch.

No, I'm not talking about some personal fungal problem set off by the warmer weather - I'm talking about the urge to travel. With new rules and other game information posted daily, it seems, it's hard for any gamer to ignore the siren song of Essen. Come October, I will be one of many people scouring the internet for those first reports of "What I did today" and thanking the many people who post those wonderful reports.

It's also the time when Certain People begin bugging me for rules translations. A friend and I joked yesterday that there's a whole new P500-style business model there - either taking GG donations to determine which game to (unofficially) translate first, or starting a translation and leaving it at a critical point, with an appropriate ransom note.

Ransom note: We have your rules. Please send 100 GG in unmarked bills or the green pieces will be eliminated.
I am sorely tempted.

The Australian Games Expo next June may not be on the same scale as Essen, but it has its own attractions. Over the past two years, it has established itself as the premier event for boardgames in the country, and possibly the region. I'm excited about the Boardgames Australia awards, especially as game submissions are starting to trickle in. Not only are the awards a great step forward in promoting and raising the profile of games in this country, they also give me the opportunity to try lots of great new games. Enlightened self-interest is a wonderful thing.

I'm also excited about the Boardgame Designer event that we will be running in conjunction with the Expo next year. We already have one publisher who will be hearing pitches from game designers, and we hope to recruit more as publishers sign up to attend the Expo. There will be quite a few people from the Expo at Essen this year, so say hello to them if you recognise the "Australian Games Expo" shirts.

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3 comments:

huzonfirst said...

Hi Melissa. Might one of those translation requests be for Agricola, from Lookout Games? If so, I'd really like that to be one of the games you accept, and I'm willing to put my Geek Gold where my mouth is (which is a pretty bizarre image, but I suspect you know what I mean). The trouble is, there will be a crapload of cards to translate as well, but that's why you get the big GGs. Whaddya say?

Melissa said...

Hehe. It's in progress, Larry.

And (I think) you won't be disappointed. What a great game this is going to be!

Chris Okasaki said...
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