Boston Trip: Part Two

Part One

Day 3

I only had a few things on my checklist for this vacation: MIT, history whatevers, and clam chowda. I'd checked a lot of those things off the day before with my friend (forgot to take a picture of the chowda), but there were still some things I wanted to do. One of the big things was to chase a sunrise. I was not disappointed:

Again, I really don't know what to say about this. Sat here for at least 20 minutes.

There's something cool about being alone on an early morning train. I'm not sure what it is.

Train stations are great examples of achievements in engineering and design. A lot of thought went into these tracks and buildings.

Some more classic New England architecture.

I do love that soft color gradient on the skyline. Mmm.

There's also something cool about being surrounded by strangers on a crowded train. Like a more modest version of the magic of the airport.

One of the reasons I chose Boston for this solo adventure is because there was a big gaming convention taking place called PAX East, and I wanted to sit down and play board games for 14 hours. (I really like board games.) The doors to the convention opened at 10am, but after getting up at 4:50am to chase a sunrise, I collapsed back into bed and missed my alarm. I ended up getting there around 10:45, but it was still a solid 12 hours of board gaming, which was close enough to what I wanted.

There's this common trope in storytelling where someone gets everything they ever dreamed of, but then they realize it wasn't worth it, either because they sacrificed too much to get it, or because it wasn't as good as they thought it was going to be. It's pretty much a cliche at this point. "Nothing worth having comes easy," they say, the glint of wisdom flashing in their eyes. "Careful what you wish for." Well, I'm here to tell you that's a load of garbage. Sometimes, you get exactly what you wished for, and it's great, and it doesn't have any downsides whatsoever. I went to PAX for the single purpose of playing as many board games as possible. I met that goal perfectly and sacrificed nothing for it. When I wasn't playing a game, I was either finding people to play a game (which didn't take long) or eating (which took kinda long, but whatevs). It was precisely what I was looking for, and I loved it.

The convention center was huge. The board games were at the very back. The food was pretty close to the front. I timed the journey from the board games to the food, walking at a brisk pace: 5 minutes.

This game is called Root, and it was probably the best board game of 2018. I got a cute shirt for it. Didn't play it though.

The gimmick of this game was a magnetic regular dodecahedron you stick tiles to. You end up with a planet that attracts various animals. My secret objective was to make a big Ice Planet, so I attracted arctic foxes, polar bears, and walruses (pictured). Also an owl for some reason.

This game was about a blimp everyone uses to harvest resources and make deliveries. As the ship flies, night turns to day and day turns to night. Sometimes, those transitions happen gradually; sometimes, they happen in the blink of an eye.

I played a bunch of games with this guy. He was one of the staff who knew like 30 games and wandered around teaching people rules by playing with them. Job came with full event access and pay. Seemed like a sweet gig.

This picture is incontrovertible proof that I was having a massive amount of fun and was not feeling lonely, intimidated, awkward, or unsure in any Wei.

This game was about various smartphone companies trying to outcompete each other. The indefatigable specter of capitalism was pretty cool. So was the art of the various company offices. Shooting Star is pictured above.

I promised these people I'd remember all of their names. So, from left: Kimberly, Dave, Jonathan, me. Still haven't forgotten, and now have an electronic reference in case I meet them again.

The board game section filled up over the course of the day. This was near-empty when I arrived.

Root has some special art that makes it look great on the table. Here's some.

Here's the artist.

Taking a picture of people in cool costumes is compulsory for bloggers. Which I hate that I am now. But now you get to see some cool costumes, so maybe it's worth it?

This game was absolutely ridiculous. I made one of the designers put his hand in the picture for a sense of scale.

This game was also ridiculous, though not absolutely so. My hand for scale this time.

This game was called Underwater Cities. One of its gimmicks were these little plastic domes (you can see some on the board on the right side). I assumed those domes represented Aboveground Towns, but in retrospect I may've been wrong about that. Also, the chart (pictured mid-bottom) looked intimidating.

Futuropia was made by a designer named Friedemann Friese, famed for his design of Power Grid. It wasn't that good. Played like a less inspired, worse version of Uwe Rosenburg's earlier work, which is itself already kind of outdated.

The main expo hall closed at 6pm, so the board game area really started filling up around then.

More cool costumes

Imagine going to a gaming convention and then doing something you could've easily done at home: play video games. Oh wait, that's exactly what I did, except with board games. Maybe it's somehow different?

This was the coolest costume I saw at the event, so it's all downhill from here. Though the next one is a close second. And also the only other one.

"This weird kid in a purple headband asked to take a pic with me, so I'm like, whatever, fine, just make it quick"

Wingspan is one of the hottest new releases of the year. Over 200 different bird cards done in vivid watercolor, none of which managed to make it into this picture.

The lady I'm sitting next to has met at least 3 of my favorite board game designers, one of whom made the game in the picture. She taught us how to play. She also got excited when I asked to take a picture with her.

Blood on the Clocktower is a social deduction game, a lot like a souped-up version of Mafia or Werewolf. It was probably my favorite game at PAX.

This game looked really cool! Didn't play it.

These people have some cool shirts. They also got excited when I asked for a picture with them.

Clank is a risk-taking game where you see how deep into the dungeon you're willing to go to bring back treasure. I played ultra-greedy and died. I was the only one to die, resulting in a rock-solid last-place finish.

I was nervous about attending PAX. See, it's marketed for the "gamer" audience, and I often find the whole "gamer" identity to be super cringe-worthy, what with its implicit social awkwardness, gender exclusion, and association with being a "nerd". Fan culture in general is emblematic of some of the worst features of tribalism and consumerism, where people feel the need to prove they like something more than you do, and are constantly compelled to buy the next new thing to stay relevant. It can get gross at times. But here's an epiphany I came to during my time at PAX: At their core, fandoms are just a bunch of people getting together to celebrate something they love. And while all of that consumerist bullshit may be true, there's nothing quite so pure as that essential fact. So I realized -- maybe for the first time -- I'm proud to be a fan. A fan is just someone who loves things. Who gets inspired and excited by things. Who, in a very real sense, gets to experience some of the best parts of the human condition. What could be better than that?

PAX was a great event. I'm happy I managed to get over all those initial reservations, because I met a ton of funny, friendly people who were into the same thing I was into. As soon as we entered that giant exhibition hall, we shared an instant, visceral connection. We bonded through an art form that had brought all of us great joy. We spoke the same language. That was its own kind of magic.

I played games until the expo closed. As soon as I stepped outside, I gasped.

Literally breathtaking.

I was still jittery and excited and not at all tired, so I decided to explore nighttime Boston for a little bit.

See, I told you he'd be back.

This was the bar/theater/mall I explored. Bright neon signs are basically a shortcut to cool.

The pool/disco area was next to a sexy bowling alley.

No matter how hard I try, I just can't get that interested in bowling.

It was lightly raining when I got back outside.

There but for the grace of God go I.

I crossed this twice: first to check which side I needed to be on, then again when I was told I was on the wrong side. Unrelatedly, my hand got dirty from the underside of a railing.

Sometimes I feel like I over-romanticize public transit. Those times always conclude with me realizing I don't care if I do, because public transit is one of the greatest things ever.

I got home around 2:30am and slept until noon the next (same?) morning.

Part 3