With January 26 fast approaching, Australia Day celebrations are ready to swing into action. Beach, BBQs, board shorts, and beers are mainstays of almost every Australia Day celebration. But for the second year now, Australia Day also surrounds the arrival another celebratory “B” word… boardgames! Originally in Albury up until 2008, the Australian Games Expo has found a new home in Canberra, and has gone from strength to strength in its new city and timeslot. The event now coincides with the Canberra Games Society’s CanCon, the Canberra-based game convention, and provides plenty for aspiring game designers, educators, boardgame fanatics, and families.

There’s plenty of things to see including game tournaments for Settlers of Catan, and Carcassonne, plus the inaugural Australian Alhambra Championships. There’s also a Rubik’s 3×3 Cube Australian Games Expo Championship. Plus there’s an open gaming area where you get to play games to find out what you like.

The Australian Games Expo runs from Saturday January 23rd to Monday January 25th, at Exhibition Park in Canberra and entry is FREE. You can find more at the Australian Games Expo website; http://www.austgamesexpo.com/.

Links
Australian Games Expo: http://www.austgamesexpo.com/
CanCon 2010: http://www.cgs.asn.au/cancon2010.htm
Canberra Games Society: http://www.cgs.asn.au/
Exhibition Park Canberra: http://www.epic.act.gov.au

I always find it insightful to find case studies of published game designs. I found this case study particularly interesting for a few reasons. First its a case study of a board game, rather than a computer game, so the computation is done by the players rather than the computer and the rules are explicit rather than implicit in a computer/videogame. Second, “Pandemic” is a cooperative game, so player have to work together towards a common goal. And third, its always great to get the evolution of a design from the designer themselves.

This case study traverses many concepts understood within game design such as usability, accessibility, flow and so on. It also tracks the evolution of the boardgame Pandemic - published by Z-Man Games - from its conception. Designer Matt Leacock presents some insightful stuff… yes, some of the usual game design conceptual suspects can be found… but there’s also plenty of added value in here.

Just ensure you have an spare hour to dedicate as the presentation running time is 50 minutes.

Enjoy!

Links
Pandemic http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/30549

Z-Man Games http://www.zmangames.com/

If you remember my post from last year I had a fabulous time at this even held in Albury. A stand out for me was the Game Designers Forum which inspired me to write a report on the event. This year the event is being held earlier… a lot earlier… as it will now run over the Australia Day weekend (January 24-26) rather than over the Queen’s Birthday Weekend in June. This year it is also being held in Canberra, and it also seems that the conference (and in particular the design forum) are no longer part of the event.

On the flipside of the coin its being held in conjunction the Canberra-based CANCON gaming event. So if you’re in the ACT over Australia day it might be worth a look (and a play!).

Links
Australian Games Expo http://austgamesexpo.com
CANCON http://users.tpg.com.au/adsl7cnm/cancon_files/Cancon_2009.htm

Earlier this year I attended the inaugural Boardgame Designers Forum at Australian Games Expo. Originally, I planned to write a blog entry to wrap up my experience at the event, but I soon realized that entry would be far too long. So I finished up writing a short article last month and now its available for you to read. If you’re interested in boardgame design, and what’s happening in the Australian industry, I’d recommend it as a read for those interested as to what was covered in the forum as I personally found that the the forum generated some quite valuable insights.

Enjoy!

Report
Boardgame Designers Forum: Australian Games Expo 2008
Download (PDF 980Kb)