I'm going to GenCon again this year!
I'm hoping to dip my toe into three new worlds:
1.) Pitching a game - My game Bagel Blitz is in a good place and I'd like to find a publisher to sell it to.
2.) Trying a cube rail game - I like trains, but I'm afraid cube rails might be too much for me.
3.) Trying a COIN game. I'm a bit intimidated but I want to try one!

#gencon #boardgames

@eschy12
2) which cube rail are you hoping to try, any one in particular? There are a bunch and they have various degrees of rules overhead to them.
3) ooo, same question, any particular one you're looking to try more than others?
@gpage 2 and 3 both - the simplest one I can find!
@gpage I think @HenriWhitehead gave me advice on a COIN game to dip my toes in with? Was it Cuba Libre?

@eschy12 @HenriWhitehead yeah, that was going to be my suggestion.

As for Winsome cube rail games. Paris Connection is probably the easiest and quickest to play at maybe 15-20min and a 2min teach. A small step up from that might be Northern Pacific, and after that you're into the general ones like Chicago Express or Irish Gauge.

Most Winsome games originally had rules that could fit on a front/back 8.5"/11" piece of paper. Sometimes publishers who reprint them add more examples which expands the page count, but few of them are particularly difficult to learn to play.

@gpage @eschy12 Cuba Libre used to be the best COIN to start with, but I would say the recently released People Power is easier to learn and now would be my recommended starting game.

@HenriWhitehead @eschy12 I admit, I read the rules yesterday, and I agree it's not rocket science. I'm hoping to table it tomorrow, but the reduction in factions to keep track (on it's face) reduces the complexity in my mind.

There are fewer spaces than CL as well if I'm not mistaken.

@gpage @eschy12 They also took two of the new elements, personalities and acts of desperation, and made them optional for first games. Also, the standard scenario is shorter than the Cuba Libre short game.
@gpage @eschy12 I also think it helped that people power does not include a faction like Cuba Libre’s syndicate. The syndicate was always a faction that was hard for new players because it had two different victory conditions and really required negotiating to be successful. It’s hard to negotiate when you don’t really have a grasp of value during your first game.
@HenriWhitehead @eschy12 Very true. If I ever taught three new folks Fire in the Lake, I always played the ARVN for that reason.