Boskone 52 -- February 13-15, 2015 Am I a member? Register Now!

Gaming

Gaming will be held in the new ballroom Marina 1, which is located near the escalators.

Hours:

Friday: 5pm to Midnight
Saturday: 10am to Midnight
Sunday: 10am to 3pm

COSMIC ENCOUNTER, Fantasy Flight Games Publisher

Cosmic Encounter is a social interaction game for 2-8 players, playable in 1-2 hours. Players become aliens, struggling against each other for ultimate sovereignty. To ensure victory, your alien must be the first to have five colonies occupying your opponents’ home planet systems. You can win alone or share the victory with allies. But, win or lose, Cosmic will leave you laughing, ready to play again. No two games are alike as more than 160 aliens, each breaking the rules, in special ways create surprise after surprise.

The first science fiction fans to play Cosmic Encounter were at Boskone in 1976. The designers made six prototypes of the 15 alien version asnd were mobbed by excited SF fans. Shortly thereafter one of the fans, 18-year-old Ned Horn, invested in the game and they created EON Products, published the 1977 Pink Moon Box Cover, four player version, took cartons of Cosmic to ’77 Worldcon, gave away free games on day one for fans to play in the lobby and sold out the next two days.

Cosmic Encounter is still going strong, as British Gaming Blog Shut Up and Sit Down says: Cosmic Encounter, once again, best game ever on Shut Up & Sit Down 2014 reckoning.

Now, two of the original Cosmic Encounter designers, Peter Olotka and Bill Eberie, are returning to Boskone almost 40 years later (time traveling from the past perhaps) to once again enlist the fans in play testing some radical new alien ideas. If you are a gamer, this is an event not to be missed! Bring your Cosmic games for Peter and Bill to Autograph.

Boskone 52's Gaming Schedule Features:

Lauren Woolsey
Game: Stars, Inc.
Fri 3 – 10pm
Sat 10am – 3pm
Sun 10am – 3pm

Niles Burger
Game: City Boss
Fri 5 – 7pm
Sat 11 – 3pm

Schedule

Friday

Friday, 3:00 PM (free to public)

Marina 1

Boss Monster

This time you get to be the boss, trying to stop the heroes from getting through your dungeon. 2–4 players. Novices welcome.

Friday, 3:00 PM (free to public)

Marina 1

Stars, Inc.

Play as an alien race that has the technology to create stars by collapsing gas clouds. Harvest hydrogen, helium, and carbon from these stars. Form massive stars and evolve them until they become supernovae to collect heavier elements. Create rocky and gaseous planets to gain resources or points. Let your sun-like stars evolve to become white dwarfs that you can rent out as “space heaters” to earn points each turn, or sell giant space diamonds on the black market for quick one-time-only points. Once you have finished travelling the galaxy by going through the environment deck, the most successful player wins!

Friday, 5:00 PM (free to public)

Marina 1

Coup

A sly game of manipulation and detection. 2-4 players. Novices welcome.

Friday, 5:00 PM (free to public)

Marina 1

City Boss

2–4 players collectively build a city and compete to take it over. Play roles such as Mayor, Slum Lord or Community Organizer. Place your managers wisely to decide your actions. Make deals, commit arson and avoid criminal investigations. Only one player will emerge the true City Boss.

Friday, 5:00 PM (free to public)

Marina 1

Cosmic Encounter

Try out a new expansion for Cosmic Encounter presented by co-creators Peter Olotka and Bill Eberie themselves. 2-8 players. Novices welcome.

Friday, 7:00 PM

Marina 1

Caverna

It's very similar to Agricola, but rooms have replaced the cards, making this one a much more level game to play. 2-7 players. Beginners welcome.

Saturday

Saturday, 10:00 AM

Marina 1

Slash

Similar to Apples to Apples but this time the players have to describe why the controller should pick their card. 2-10 players. Novices welcome.

Saturday, 10:00 AM

Marina 1

Stars, Inc.

Play as an alien race that has the technology to create stars by collapsing gas clouds. Harvest hydrogen, helium, and carbon from these stars. Form massive stars and evolve them until they become supernovae to collect heavier elements. Create rocky and gaseous planets to gain resources or points. Let your sun-like stars evolve to become white dwarfs that you can rent out as “space heaters” to earn points each turn, or sell giant space diamonds on the black market for quick one-time-only points. Once you have finished travelling the galaxy by going through the environment deck, the most successful player wins!

Saturday, 10:00 AM

Marina 1

Moonquake Escape

You're a criminal who recently escaped from jail on the Moon. Unfortunately, all the other players escaped as well, and you're all trying to reach the one escape rocket at the top of the crater. Race to the top of the board, fighting your opponents, the guards, and also the board itself, which changes constantly due to Moonquakes.

Saturday, 11:00 AM

Marina 1

Cosmic Encounter

Try out a new expansion for Cosmic Encounter presented by co-creators Peter Olotka and Bill Eberie themselves. 2-8 players. Novices welcome.

Saturday, 11:00 AM

Marina 1

City Boss

2–4 players collectively build a city and compete to take it over. Play roles such as Mayor, Slum Lord or Community Organizer. Place your managers wisely to decide your actions. Make deals, commit arson and avoid criminal investigations. Only one player will emerge the true City Boss.

Saturday, 1:00 PM

Marina 1

Guru of the Game Room Tournament

Lords of Waterdeep, Puerto Rico, Stone Age, St. Petersburg. 4 games in 5 hours. See tournament rules in gaming for more details.

Saturday, 7:00 PM

Marina 1

Rails of New England

Co-created by our own Walter H. Hunt, this is a railroad/business game. Build your railroads to connect your businesses to major cities to earn the money to go after the extra income. Take over mail routes, grab the subsidies, and build the specific routes to make a ton of money and win the game. 2-5 players. Beginners welcome.

Saturday, 10:00 PM

Marina 1

St. Petersburg

Acquire the workers, build the buildings, hire the aristocrats, and grab all the upgrades you can to build a city worthy of the Czar. 2-5 players. Novices welcome.

Sunday

Sunday, 10:00 AM

Marina 1

Innovation

Build your civilization up one card at a time, using various technologies to further your cause. 2-4 players. Novices welcome.

Sunday, 10:00 AM

Marina 1

Stars, Inc.

Play as an alien race that has the technology to create stars by collapsing gas clouds. Harvest hydrogen, helium, and carbon from these stars. Form massive stars and evolve them until they become supernovae to collect heavier elements. Create rocky and gaseous planets to gain resources or points. Let your sun-like stars evolve to become white dwarfs that you can rent out as “space heaters” to earn points each turn, or sell giant space diamonds on the black market for quick one-time-only points. Once you have finished travelling the galaxy by going through the environment deck, the most successful player wins!

Sunday, 10:00 AM

Marina 1

Cosmic Encounter

Try out a new expansion for Cosmic Encounter presented by co-creators Peter Olotka and Bill Eberie themselves. 2-8 players. Novices welcome.

Sunday, 10:00 AM

Marina 1

Moonquake Escape

You're an criminal who recently escaped from jail on the Moon. Unfortunately, all the other players escaped as well, and you're all trying to reach the one escape rocket at the top of the crater. Race to the top of the board, fighting your opponents, the guards, and also the board itself, which changes constantly due to Moonquakes.

Sunday, 12:00 NOON

Marina 1

Power Grid

The classic game of resource management, buy your power plant, then buy the resources to power your plant, then expand into cities to power them. 3-6 players. Novices welcome.

Guru of the Game Room Information

Tournament Games

Lords of Waterdeep
Puerto Rico
Stone Age
St. Petersburg

It’s 4 games in 5 hours. Points are awarded based on your position at the end of the game. Top 4 winners pick prizes off the prize table. You must be in Marina 1 by 12:30pm on Saturday to participate in the tournament. The first game will start at 1pm.

Times, Timing, and Breaks

Each game is given 60 minutes. If the game doesn’t end in 60 minutes then at the end of 60 minutes each game will stop and points will be awarded based on players position at that time.

There is a 15 minute break between each game. You can leave gaming during this time but you must be back before the start time of the next game.

Scoring and Prizes

First place gets 10 points, second gets 9, third gets 8, and so on. Max points one can earn is 40. The top four players at the end of the fourth game get to pick prizes off the prize table until all prizes are gone.

Once you pick a game it belongs to you. You are free to keep it, trade it, or give it away. Due to legal reasons, however, you cannot sell the game whilst on hotel property.

Questions and Help

Although you can ask other players for help to clarify rules, keep in mind that the players do not have to tell the truth. Judges are impartial. You can ask the judge for help with a rules issue, but the judge will not play your game for you. The judge has final say on any issues that arise.

Game Rules

  1. No swearing, fighting, or cheating is allowed. You will be asked to leave if caught.
  2. Games marked as prizes or placed on a shelf marked ‘prizes’ are not to be opened.
  3. You are free to pick any game not designated as a prize and play it in gaming. You may not take the game into another room or outside the game room.
  4. Remember, these games belong to other people and they are being loaned. Please respect the games and return them in the condition they were in when you took them off the shelf.
  5. If you damage a game, you bought it.
  6. Please clean up after yourself. You can eat and drink but don’t spill anything.

Video Game Area Rules

  1. No cheating. You will be asked to leave if caught.
  2. You are not allowed to change the volume on the televisions.
  3. If you need to change a battery, tell a GM.
  4. No food or drink is allowed beyond the Red Line of Death.
  5. All systems are off-line. You cannot download content.
  6. There are no save cards.
  7. Please use a guest account (not nagasn on the xbox, for example) on the 360.