{"id":2638,"date":"2014-02-04T00:52:30","date_gmt":"2014-02-04T00:52:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scottking.info\/blog\/?p=2638"},"modified":"2014-02-14T22:47:16","modified_gmt":"2014-02-14T22:47:16","slug":"unpub-4-wrap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottking.info\/blog\/2014\/02\/04\/unpub-4-wrap\/","title":{"rendered":"Unpub 4 Wrap-up!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_8773-Edit\"
\nUnpub 4 happened last month and it was a truly amazing experience. My only regret is that because I was the photographer of the event I didn’t get to play as many games as I would’ve wanted.<\/p>\n

For those who don’t know, Unpub is a convention where game designers bring their games, playtest the heck out of them, and use the feedback they get to make their games better. From that standpoint, this year was a major success. Over the course of two days over 700 feedback forms were submitted by players!<\/p>\n

I had a blast and even though I only got to play a handful of games, I got to meet so many nice and cool designers.<\/p>\n

FRIDAY NIGHT!<\/strong>
\n\"IMG_8380\"
\nUnpub 4 kicked off with a Designers & Publishers dinner at Grotto’s Pizza.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8421\"
\nDarrell Louder, the head honcho of Unpub, spent most of his time greeting people at the door and yelling out ticket numbers…<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8341\"
\n…ticket numbers for AWESOME prizes.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8362\"
\nLots of famous people were at the dinner, including THE T.C. PETTY III.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8376\"
\nPatrick Nickell\u00a0of Crash Games was one of the publishers at the dinner and he did his best to get photos with EVERYONE…<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8510\"
\nOh let me tell you, Chris Kirkman of Dice Hate Me Games and Patrick have a bromance so grand that the greatest ballad ever written could never do it justice.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8396\"
\nOne of the people I was really excited to meet was David MacKenzie\u00a0(on the left). I only got to speak with him for a few minutes but he was truly a super-star at Unpub. Many of the publishers accredit what he did with Alien Frontiers as their inspiration for getting into the industry.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8491\"
\nMatt Riddle is all about the duck-face.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8534\"
\nFYI: Dan Yarrington\u00a0of Game Salute likes cheese pizza.
\n\"IMG_8561\"
\nThe dinner was really nice and gave everyone a chance to just relax and have fun without having the agenda of pushing games or getting feedback.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"IMG_8538\"
\nLuckily, there was a lull and even Darrell got a chance to get a slice of pizza!<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8478\"
\nMany laughs were shared and the pre-con mood was pure jovial.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8521\"
\nOne of the hottest things at the dinner was a givewaway where designers had to guess how many bits and pieces were in a tupperware container. Before dinner, I counted the container multiple times and I really enjoyed knowing the answer and seeing everyone’s guesses.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8560\"
\nIt became like a weird mathematical science magic thing where designers were multiplying the volume by mass by the weight of Wolverine’s adamantine claws to get their guesses.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8529\"
\nI think the craziest guess was somewhere in the 7,000 ranges which was reallyyyy far off considering there were only 516 bits in the box.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8580\"
\nA nice treat of the night was John Moller being awarded the “Perpetual Start Player Token.” For those of you who don’t know, John actually founded Unpub and just this year he handed the reins over to Darrell.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8545\"
\nHe was truly surprised and honored when he got his award and one of the coolest thing that most people didn’t realize is that his player color is green so it was super fitting.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8562\"
\nAs the night wore on, lots of prizes were handed out but it was Patrick Nickell and Jason Slingerland who won the best prize ever… each won a free game photography session from me! It’s funny that Patrick won because he had already hired me to shoot the Crash Games Game Library but it will work out because it just means I’ll shoot Pay Dirt for him for free once it’s out.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8626\"
\nAt the end of the night it really was all about the grand prize…\u00a0The embroidered Unpub bag which was extra special because it contained each published gamed that has gone through the Unpub program.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8638\"
\nThe winners were none other than Chris & Suzanne Zinsli the designers of Tessen, which ironically was one of the games included in the prize pack!<\/p>\n

UNPUB 4!<\/strong>
\n\"IMG_8668\"
\nFor the third and final time, Unpub took place at St. Tomas More Academy, a catholic school outside of Dover, De. Next year the show is rumored to be moving to Baltimore, North Carolina, or somewhere between the two.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8705\"
\nI spent the week staying at Darrell’s house and even got snowed in there after the convention. With me was the legendary T.C. Petty III so although I never got a chance to play Xenon Profiters at Unpub I got to give it a whirl after the con and really enjoyed it. In fact since I basically spent eight whole days with T.C. I’ve been going through Petty-Withdrawl ever since I got back to Texas.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8722\"
\nChris & Suzanne Zinsli\u00a0are two of the nicest people I’ve met in the gaming community. Last year I feel in love with their game Tessen and it was great being able to see and catch-up with them.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8741\"
\nI got a chance to meet David Chott at BGG.Con and found it a nice surprise to see him at Unpub 4, specially since his game Lagoon was one of the most buzzed about games. Lagoon is so hot that it’s currently tearing up Kickstarter so make sure you check it out<\/a>!<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8738\"
\nBurke Drew showing off one of his games to Austin Smokowicz. \u00a0Burke had a coveted front of the room spot that last year was held by Darrell.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8732\"
\nBonnie Neubauer showed off Fling Pling, the only semi-dexterity game I saw at the convention. Everyone who played it seemed to be laughing and having a good time.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8755\"
\nJosh Tempkin’s abstrict dice game Lesser Evil always had someone at the table playing it.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8877\"
\nRalph Anderson of Eagle and Gryphon made the rounds playing tons and tons of games. I had met him at BGG.Con but we actaully gamed together at Unpub which was truly facsionating because he’s a super smart gamer who truly understands gaming and game mechanics. The feedback he was giving designers was some of the best I heard the whole weekend.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8838\"
\nUnpub was so big that even the local news showed up! You can watch the TV spot here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8795\"
\nEric Handler brought a copy of my 2014 Gaming Calendar to Unpub and took it around to designers who’s games were in it and got them to sign it.<\/p>\n

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\nAnd then of course he asked me to sign the cover!<\/p>\n

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\nI didn’t get a chance to try Daniel Solis’ The Ancient River but he almost always had a packed table.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8783\"
\nOhalo from Jason Kotarski and Andrew Lennox was pretty neat looking. From what I could tell you piled a bunch of cards on the table and then took turns picking berries from it. It was so messy looking but neat because I’ve never seen a mechanic like it before.<\/p>\n

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\nWorld Shapers was another hot game. It’s designed by Greg Miller (bottom corner) & Derrick Vidal (not pictured) and seriously was one of the most talked about games.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9238\"
\nAlf Shadowsong had a revolving table of games and was the only one with a BLACK TABLECLOTH!<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9230\"
\nMathew O’Malley played Goblin Brigade with Gary Dahl.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9200\"
\nChris Krikman of Dice Hate Me Games signed a BUNCH of games at Unpub but one of the coolest was New Bedford designed by\u00a0Nathaniel Levan.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9157\"
\nOn Saturday night, Daniel Solis demoed a new huge group game he’s calling Troll’s Dilemma.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9106\"
\nWhen they weren’t working the front door, Darrell Louder and his lovely assistant, Stephanie Straw, were on stage giving out tons and tons of prizes!<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9079\"
\nTom Callahan spent both days showing off his game, Tower Defense.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9098\"
\nMr. Paul Owen himself and his game East India Company… which for the second year in a row I didn’t get to play even though I realllyyyy wanted to. I begged and begged Paul for like ten minutes on Sunday to please please demo it for me, but he couldn’t because he had to leave early and head back home. I was truly heart broken.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9788
\nKeith Ferguson was lucky enough to win a table at the still Unpub 5!<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9773
\nGothic Doctors from Doug Levandowski & John McNeill.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9769
\nJay Treat demoed Khyber Station, the only lego style prototype at the convention. Last year there were two or three!<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9756
\nDaniel Solis showing how his fingers are freakishly double joined<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9526\"
\nKevin Kult’s table where he was demoing Kingship was always packed.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9361\"
\nSunday started with a free pancake breakfast. The breakfast was sponsored by Eagle & Gryphon Games while the Scrapple was sponsored by Crash Games.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9256\"
\nFYI: Dan Yarrington of Game Salute likes syrup on all of his breakfast food.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9358\"
\nMatt Riddle chowing down on an over cooked piece of scrapple. It was a hot product with lots of non-locals wanting to try it for the first, unfortunately it was more cardboard-ish than scrapple-ish.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9336\"
\nServed with the breakfast was an hour long publishers panel.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9315\"
\nOn the panel (from right to left) were: Ralph Anderson, David MacKenzie, Dan Yarrington, Patrick Nickell, AJ\u00a0Porfirio, Chris Kirkman, John Sizemore, and Luke\u00a0Peterschmidt.<\/p>\n

Games of Unpub 4!<\/strong>
\nWith designers bringing multiple games and not always being at their table it was impossible for me to shoot everything. However I did my best to get around and here are some of the games I saw at Unpub…<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8812\"
\nSpace Vikings from Matt Riddle & Ben Pinchback.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8964\"
\nMoles Holes from Weston Stapleton.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8946\"
\nSunset Shuffle from Jason Kotarski<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8927\"
\nDead Drop from Jason Kotarski.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8902\"
\nPack the Pack from Meghan McGinly.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8870\"
\nFloating Market from Matt Riddle & Ben Pinchback.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8862\"
\nGreat Hartland Dice Game by Jason Kotarski.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8832\"
\nSeven Sevens from Jason Tagmire.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8970\"
\nCrovuli Corsi from John Sizemore.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9092\"
\nOhalo from Andrew Lennox and Jason Kotarski.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9072\"
\nLes Cartes Miserables from Nick Ferris.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9047\"
\nBagan from Matt Riddle and Ben Pinchback.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9013\"
\nFor Greed or Glory by Marcel Perro & Kurt Evans.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9001\"
\nOne Last Job from Phil Paterno.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9000\"
\nThe Wombat Game from Matt Wolfe.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8993\"
\nBrew Crafters Lite from Ben Rosset.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8981\"
\nThe Game of 49 from Mark Corsey.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9137\"
\nSuperlatives from Doug Levandowski\u00a0.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9566\"
\nErrands from Burke Drew.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9512\"
\nDragon’s Gamble from John Claire.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9381\"
\nCottage Industry from Chris & Suzanne Zinsli.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9346\"
\nPost Apocalypse: Salvation Road by Mike Kelley and Peter Gousis.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9319\"
\nADJitation from Bonnie Neubauer.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9228\"
\nFrozen Concentrated Orange Juice from Mike Keller.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9214\"
\nSanta’s Workshop by Keith Ferguson.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9182\"
\nLagoon from David Chott.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9568\"
\nPenny Farthing Cataput by Daniel Solis<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9806
\nEast India Company by Paul Owen.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9759
\nThe River Ancient by Daniel Solis.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9734
\nKhyber Station from Jay Treat.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9726
\nEmergent from Dan Palmer.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9708
\nActual Size May Very by Andy Juell<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9704
\nFirebreak from Charlie Hoopes.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9659\"
\nLesser Evil from\u00a0Josh Tempkin.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9644\"
\nPhobos from Brad Smoley.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9065\"
\nPost Position from Dr. Wictz.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9086\"
\nOre: The Mining Game from Joe McClintock and Jason Lyle Steinglsser.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8804\"
\nThe Heat from Dave Chalker.<\/p>\n

Wrap Up!<\/strong>
\nAs a partial playtester and photographer, I really had a wonderful time at Unpub 4. Great people, great games, and lots of fun. If you’ve never attended an Unpub you should really consider doing so. It’s the only convention I’ve ever attended that I’d declare as a “must go” especially if you are an aspiring designer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unpub 4 happened last month and it was a truly amazing experience. My only regret is that because I was the photographer of the event I didn’t get to play as many games as I would’ve wanted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-games","category-photography"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottking.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottking.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottking.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottking.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottking.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2638"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/scottking.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2835,"href":"https:\/\/scottking.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2638\/revisions\/2835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottking.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottking.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottking.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}