WisCon isn’t a gaming-heavy con; it’s primarily about programming and conversations. Still, I managed to get in a bit of gaming, all of it on Sunday:

• Dominion. We played one nice session of this. As usual, this was a combination of cards I’ve never played with; I haven’t played it enough to start seeing the same cards come up much. I think there were one or two player-interactive cards, which made it nice. I’m not a fan of high-powered attacks in Dominion, but some interaction is good; otherwise, it feels too much like synchronized solitaire. The mystery victory point count is definitely a big feature; it keeps everyone guessing as to what’s going on, makes people feel like they’re still in the game even when they objectively might not be, and adds that little extra bit of interactivity.
• Charades. Does that count? Well, it was fun anyway, shouting out guesses. A friend of mine got an amazingly fast time on one of the clues; he did nothing more than hold up his fingers to indicate “three words” and the audience got it! Turns out a kid in the front row had been waiting for the right combination of three words all night. Still, everyone in the audience was stunned when it happened.
• Zar. Popular among a certain segment of Twin Cities gamers, and spread to WisCon. Zar is, as we so often call it, Uno for Jerks. Fast-paced, entirely and viciously PvP, totally meaningless… but it manages to be fun and addictive. I’m still not entirely sure why, but I think it’s probably because a) the hands are so fast that it’s hard to feel like you’re really behind, and b) it is addictive, so you keep playing in spite of better judgment. Still, a terrible game to meet new people over. 🙂

No RPGs in there, you may note. A lot of people at WisCon play RPGs, but scheduling is always a hassle at cons where the focus isn’t primarily on gaming. But maybe some year.