FIG and Farewells

[l33tminion]

The Boston Festival of Indie Games was on Saturday, and it was awesome! The video game portion was good, but I spent most of the day in the tabletop expo, playing demos of prototype and pre-release board and card games. Played RE:VERSUS (pre-release version of an "evil rummy" set-making cards-with-numbers game with simple-but-fun mechanics and great card design), Grave Robber's Dilemma (prototype of a simultaneous-reveal strategy game with a bit of dark humor), Skyline (co-op 3D perspective puzzle game), Moonquake Escape (prototype of an elaborate board game, don't know how well-balanced the strategy was, but it certainly had depth and a lot of zany action, would make a good family game-night game), Mutiny! (a prototype of a game based on the pirate game, fun, though it will surely need some adjustments and a new name), Goblin Law (prototype deck-building and card placing game with goblins and explosions, a fun game), and Starborne (pre-release simultaneous-reveal mech combat card game, mechanics and flavor were great, really fun; I wish their website had more pictures and description but I am definitely jumping on their Kickstarter as soon as it's up). And I didn't have time to see the half of it, the expo was a very lively event.

Sherman Cafe in Union Square closed for good this weekend. I'll really miss that place. It was a wonderful venue, with some amazing food and coffee. A very sad occasion for the neighborhood.

I was also surprised to find that Tommy Doyle's in Kendall Square has closed for good, abruptly going out of business Thursday with staff only notified day-of. Their Harvard Square location closed earlier this year, but I'd thought the Kendall location was doing well. Apparently not.