GameCamp 4 (14th May 2011)

A day focused on

“the designers, coders, artists, writers, thinkers and, above all, the players who are making the 21st century the century of the game. GameCamp is about more than making games: it’s about playing them, thinking about them and how they affect our lives for good or for ill.”

With the days strong focus on digital games the un-conference breakout sessions where never going to be the focal point of the day for me, particularly with a shy and reticent nephew in tow. However there was a significant games library donated in part by Esdivium (for GameCamp 3 in the autumn of 2010) but also loaned by this years attendees. This I felt sure would provide an opportunity to meet new gamers (we went along knowing nobody) in all probability play some new games and inevitably discuss the world of modern board games and indeed so it proved.

The highlights for me where:

GameCamp 9th October 2010 – The Games

Puerto Rico (Age 12+, 3-5 players, 90 min playing time)
When I saw a game of Puerto Rico being set up, described by Stuart Dagger (editor of 'The Counter') as “a work of pure genius”’ I felt called to ask if I could join the other players. As is my wont I wandered over and asked if there was space for one more player – thankfully they said yes.

Rowena, having played Puerto Rico once before, took on the mantle of guide and tutor to the rest of us and battled manfully against our constant questions and the rules. However, with the support of caffeine and perseverance on everybody’s part, the game

GameCamp 9th October 2010 - Overview

An early start (but not as early as some who got up at 4am!) saw me wandering down Richmond High Street just after 8:30. Not a very busy place at that hour so perhaps no great surprise that I spotted some fellow gamers, like myself, trying to work out where how to find GameCamp. The guys I had the good fortune to hook up with where Neil Mayer of thru-the-portal and Mark Rivera the man behind the Boardgames in Blighty blog and so a very interesting hour was spent disusing the future of social game playing in the UK. Interestingly Mark is also using games within his church community to help bring people together.

After coffee and breakfast the GameCamp broke out into its respective streams, the un-conference, the GameHack and playing games.

The GameHack was sponsored by Cadbury’s and offered the opportunity to design a