WBC 2012

I originally decided to attend WBC relatively last-minute. I was wary of the tournament focus of the event and was warned that it would not be the best convention at which to demo City Hall. The deciding factor was that I was able to keep expenses for the trip much lower than some of my other stops this summer (especially the uber-expensive GenCon). Thus I felt that the trip would be perfectly on par for the money spent per demo given, which is my not-at-all-scientific way of figuring out if a trip will pay for itself in Kickstarter pledges when the funding drive actually starts this fall.

I was stationed in the open gaming hall, on a table right by the entrance aisle. I think my location was one key to the success of the weekend. It meant that although I was not visible to players who only did tournaments, those who were looking for a pickup game at least noted my table.

Another key to the weekend was my new demo table sign, pictured at right. It was a vast improvement over my dual signs at DexCon. Many people commented on it and asked if it would be the box art. I was strongly considering doing so by the end of the week.

All told, I demoed City Hall over 25 times, more than 15 of which were full playthroughs. These included a board game reviewer, a game club president, and a writer for a large board game news site. My expectations for this convention were easily exceeded. If I'm promoting a new game again next year, I have no doubt that I will be returning.