See you at LinCon

I’m visiting the game convention LinCon next weekend. The convention takes place in Linköping in the Ascension holiday, this year from 9 May to 12 May. I will be there Thursday through Saturday, presenting the boardgame Gotlandia I have developed with my son over the past two months. I also look forward to play games and meet new people.

The family comes along (yes also the dog). We have rented a cottage at nearby camping resort for the occasion. There is plenty to do in the area besides the convention.

Gotlandia

Gotlandia is a game about sheep, pirates, and overly embellished churches for 2-4 players. It is available as print-and-play here. For LinCon I will bring five copies with spiced up graphics and components. Drop by Skrivsalen Thursday, Friday, or Saturday between 12 and 16 for a chance to show that you are indeed the greatest goth of them all!

The game design is as good as complete. I have playtested extensively over the last month. It’s a fun logical puzzle as you optimise how to play the cards you draw while at the same time enjoy the theme of Medieval Gotland. I hope to validate the design at the convention and get ideas for what to do next with the game. Linköping is by the way also one of the cards in Gotlandia.

LinCon

This is my first visit at LinCon. I hope to meet a lot of nice new people and play lots of cool games besides Gotlandia.

LinCon celebrates its 40 year anniversary and takes place at the University of Linköping so I’m sure there is a rich community behind the event. FryxGames will be there, the Swedish publisher behind popular games like Terraforming Mars. I’m very tempted to join the mega game 1521 about the Stockholm Bloodbath where I will have an excellent excuse for speaking Swedish with a Danish accent. Or what about a room dedicated to games about trains? Or modern Japanese boardgames? 

The list of events is long and impressive. Entrance is free if you just want to have a look. Buy tickets in the door if you decide to join a game.

Linköping

Linköping is a university city two hours south of Stockholm. We have visited Linköping a couple of time before, usually as a convenient stop on the way from or to somewhere else. This time Linköping is the destination.

There is a fantastic air force museum, a cosy open air museum, an impressive cathedral, and a museum of art and cultural history. This time kids look especially forward to solving a mystery at the detective house together with friends coming up from Malmö. The books about Swedish small town kid detectives Lasse and Maja have been popular reading with the kids since they started learning to read. We have enjoyed meeting the colourful inhabitants of Valleby and guessing along through many mysteries.