I spent an afternoon at the All aBoard Expo 25 sa QC and as a boardgamer, it was truly awesome! This event was the first of its kind in the Philippines and was designed to replicate board game conventions abroad. It was organized by the Quezon City government and Gaming Library. A few of my board gaming friends decided to go on the first day so I filed a vacation leave to join them.
It was a great experience on so many levels. Guests could borrow board games that we could play on any of the tables on the first floor of the M.I.C.E. Convention Center at the Quezon City Hall. (I got to play a few games that afternoon and my friends and I even made a new friend who played some games with us. Cool!) More tables were set up on the second floor that guests could also use to play games that they brought themselves. Coaches were present and scattered all over the venue to teach people how to play. Games were also available for purchase.
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| All aBoard Expo 25 sa QC |
I spent most of the afternoon there and I was able to play a few games with my friends: Ding, Cascadia, and the LEGO-based game Monkey Palace. We also made a new friend who played some of these games with us. I also loved that there were standees of the beasts of King of Tokyo at the lobby (I actually own this game haha). Naturally, I had to have my photo taken.
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| Space Penguin from King of Tokyo |
Another really great thing about this event was that a few game designers were there. One of them was David Gordon, the designer of Monkey Palace which we played that afternoon. As we were setting up the game, David Gordon passed by and he even sat down and interacted with us for a while. He even clarified one of the rules for us. Wow! But as if that wasn't enough, when I was taking a group photo with everyone along with the game, David saw us and joined us in the photo. It was super cool! And David is such a nice guy, it was such a wonderful experience getting to meet and interact with him.
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| Monkey Palace |
The turn-out at this event was pretty massive, even on the workdays where you would expect not a lot of people to show up. I guess, similar to what I did, a lot of people took time off of work haha. In fact, I actually saw a colleague there and he also took a leave just like me haha. All aBoard Expo 25 sa QC was such a success that the QC government and Gaming Library have all but confirmed that this event will be held again next year, and the plan is to make it even bigger than it was this year. I can't wait!
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