Crossroad Games & Diversions Fall Under the Spell

Posted on Wednesday, Oct 14 2015 12:27PM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

Playing The Village Crone at Crossroad Diversions

Well, that was a whirlwind tour! Thirteen stops in 25 days across 6 states! No wonder we’re tired.

The leaves are changing colors and there is a distinct chill in the air. It must be the approach of autumn and the time of Witches. It’s also the 12th stop on our Something Wicked Tour as we visit Crossroad Games in Standish, Maine!

This was a quick visit on our tour as we setup The Village Crone and spent some time chatting with Lacey and Chuck about the game business while waiting for some players to finish up another game.

Pretty soon it was game on and our players wasted no time in getting down to the business of scoring schemes. Familiars were flying and Villagers were changing to frogs and back into humans faster than you could say “Eye of Newt”!

The next game was just as fun, with the Forge filling up with frogs and some quick scoring at the end that took everyone by surprise.

We stuck around to sign some games and visit with fans, then it was time to hit the road.

It was a dark and stormy night… The 13th store visit on the 13th of October. Coincidence? We think not! But we couldn’t think of a better way to wrap up our Something Wicked Tour here in New England!

We made our way to Diversions Puzzles & Games in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and met up with the Events Coordinator, Ian, who let us have our pick of tables in their very cool play space downstairs.

Diversions is another one of those “Tardis-esque” game stores that has a really small front window, but once you get inside it just keeps going to reveal a massive amount of clean, open space filled with well-organized games, clearly displayed and more puzzles than we’ve ever seen in one spot. The downstairs play space is really big and made for a really great place to run our last demos of the tour.

We had barely set up the game when the first group gathered around and before you could say “Broomstick” we had a 6-player game up and running. As more gamers flocked to see what was happening it became clear we needed to spread the fun, so we set up a second game and ran another group through that.

Once the first game ended we had just enough time to catch our breath and take some photos before we got our third group started. This turned into a huge battle with players getting caught in a defensive battle of trying to use Protection to stop the other players from completing their schemes. It may seem like it works on paper, but it’s a losing strategy and sure enough, both players ran out of ingredients and couldn’t recover. But minutes after finishing the game, there was nothing but discussion of new strategies and “next time” plans being made.

We’ve had a lot of fun crisscrossing New England, catching some of spooky sights, playing games with so many people, and getting to see more of the Friendly Local Game Stores that keep board gaming accessible and fun. Thanks for joining us on our journey. We hope you’ve had fun following along. Now make sure you pick up your own copy of The Village Crone and bring fun home!

Hunting Monsters and Visiting Graveyards – Spooky Schemes Scored!

Posted on Tuesday, Oct 13 2015 10:54AMWednesday, Jul 13 2016 5:47PM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

Our weary travelers have to score two more points as they wind down the Something Wicked Tour. Can they do it? Read on and find out…

1 POINT: Search for the Unexplainable – (Lake Champlain, VT) COMPLETED

The legends of a mysterious creature that lives in Lake Champlain go back centuries. The native Americans had their stories and colonial settlers had sightings that have continued up until just a few years ago.

“Champ” as the beast is called, has been a mystery for years, but not anymore. We found him! Watch the video to see our brave adventure as we go for our twelfth Witches Scheme on our Something Wicked Tour. Continue reading Hunting Monsters and Visiting Graveyards – Spooky Schemes Scored!

Gamer’s Gambit and Quarterstaff Games

Posted on Friday, Oct 09 2015 1:30PM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

Two more stops on our Something Wicked tour led us back to Connecticut for an evening and then on to Vermont.

Gamer’s Gambit in Danbury, Connecticut is a sister store to the Dragon’s Den and it made for a great follow up visit.

The Village Crone was a popular table that night as we kept players busy casting spells and foiling plans from the minute we setup the game until closing time.

Much like the Dragon’s Den, Gamer’s Gambit covers a lot of gaming bases from minis, rpgs, comics, and board games to retro video gaming. As Justin browsed the store during a break in the action he noticed that in addition to games, they actually sell used game systems. He even found an old Atari Lynx on the shelf, looking for a new home! Continue reading Gamer’s Gambit and Quarterstaff Games

Creepy Noises, Haunted Roads, and Eerie Echoes – Tour Schemes Completed

Posted on Thursday, Oct 08 2015 10:22AMWednesday, Jul 13 2016 5:47PM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

Amidst a whirlwind of store visits our heroes, Anne-Marie & Justin, still managed to keep their eye on the prize and complete a few more Tour Schemes. See how many points they earned with these and learn about some of the spooky things Connecticut and New York have to offer.

Continue reading Creepy Noises, Haunted Roads, and Eerie Echoes – Tour Schemes Completed

Somewhere Uncommon, a Lab, and a Den – We Visit Them All in New York

Posted on Monday, Oct 05 2015 3:14PM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

The Village Crone in play at UnCommons Game store

Last week saw a fair amount of city driving with several visits in and around New York City, and then a jog a up the Hudson Valley. In the past we’ve visited Lairs, Havens, and Taverns. The Village Crone has now taken us to us Cafes, a Lab, and a Den. Check them out!

First up we had one more trip into Manhattan to The UnCommons NYC, a popular game café with a very extensive game library. There is a cover charge to get in, but you can play as many games as you want from their massive collection and stay as long as you like. Looking in their windows you can see a lot of fun games in their window displays.

We unloaded our witchy goodness and got ready to cast some spells. Anne-Marie got the first group started and played with several groups of would-be witches throughout the evening. A lucky gamer got to go head-to-head with Anne-Marie in a 2-player game. It’s pretty cool to learn from the designer!

It was a late night, but a fun one. If you find yourself in Manhattan with a jonesing for a cuppa and a board game, this your place.

We also got to spent two pretty amazing afternoons at the Brooklyn Game Lab. It’s an after school program where kids can not only play great games but study them, and even make their own games.

The whole thing is run by a great team and Bob and his crew really do an amazing job of keeping 40+ kids focused every day. Some days it’s RPG’s, other days it’s board games and for Thursday and Friday the kids had a really special treat of getting to meet Justin and Anne-Marie while they learned Castle Panic and The Village Crone.

The older kids were started on The Village Crone while the younger players went into the outdoor garden area and learned how to play Castle Panic. A few kids even dared to go up against the bigger foes in The Wizard’s Tower.

After we played for a while, the kids all got to make their notes on winning strategies for the game, expansion ideas and even new components. It’s all an organized part of how the game lab staff gets the kids to really focus on the games they are playing and think about them.

After that we had a brief Q&A session where the kids got to ask Justin and Anne-Marie all about their inspirations, and what it takes to make a game go from an idea to a finished product. It’s a really unique program and we were very excited to have been a part of it.

While we had fun in the Big Apple, we were glad to leave the bustling city traffic behind.

It was a cold and rainy afternoon as we made our way to The Dragon’s Den in Poughkeepsie but we were warmly welcomed by David and Sean as soon as we walked in. They had gone out of their way to make our event special with fancy Halloween themed tablecloths, signs, and even tasty snacks.

No sooner had we setup than the first group of players wanted to know all about our latest release. We had two games going almost nonstop for the entire event with many new fans being made this day. One player even declared The Village Crone to be “The best game ever!” after thoroughly crushing their opponents.

We spent a few minutes talking with the owner David about business and what it takes to run a store like this. The amount of fun stuff here is pretty amazing. Retro video games in the back, comics on the sides, board, card and minis games in between, and tons of table space. It’s a great store and the gamers in the area are lucky to have such a cool place to hangout.

We played more games than we could count and even sold out all the inventory of The Village Crone the store had before we called it a night. Our thanks to the staff at the Dragon’s Den for a great time!

What’s Next?

This week we’ve got a quick stop in Connecticut at Gamer’s Gambit and then we’re heading North to Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine! To see our remaining schedule, check out our Something Wicked Tour blog!

Magic, Mayhem, and Familiars – More Tour Schemes Completed

Posted on Friday, Oct 02 2015 2:02PMWednesday, Jul 13 2016 5:48PM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

There’s been so much to share with the Something Wicked Tour store visits and the launch of The Village Crone, we’ve gotten a wee bit behind on sharing the meta game Justin & Anne-Marie are playing! Here’s what they completed in the last few days in Massachusetts before heading off to New York and Connecticut (we’ll be sharing those schemes next week).

1 Point: Conjure a Familiar – Locate a Familiar in the Cambridge Village Green (Cambridge, MA) – COMPLETED

In The Village Crone, each witch has a different Familiar. The Familiars to choose from are: Bats, Rats, Cats, Snakes, Spicers, and Crows/Ravens. Anne-Marie and Justin had to scour the Cambridge Village Green to find one of these creatures to score this point.

Things can never be easy, now can they? The Cambridge Village Green was under construction at the time of their visit, so they had to get creative to find any creatures who stuck around, and hadn’t gone into their winter dens yet.

3 Points: Marry Magic & Mayhem – (Boston, MA) – COMPLETED
Three parts to this scheme include “Visiting Phineas Gage’s Skull at the Warren Anatomical Museum, Crossing Harvard Bridge, and Visiting Boston Neck Gallows“.

Phineas Gage was a railway worker in 1800s who famously survived an accident in which a large metal rod impaled his head, destroying much of his frontal lobe, but not killing him. He lived for another 12 years and has become a case study for brain and behavior for psychology and neurology enthusiasts and professionals alike. His skull is on display at the Warren Anatomical Museum.

The Harvard Bridge connects Cambridge and Boston. It is the site of a famous Harry Houdini stunt where he was shackled and jumped off the bridge into freezing water below. Spectators waited an agonizing 40 seconds before Houdini broke the surface of the water, shackle-less, to solidify his fame as a magician. Harry Houdini died on Halloween in 1926.

The Boston Neck, a narrow strip of land connecting the Boston peninsula to the mainland, was the former home of the Gallows where the first person sentenced to death for witchcraft was executed.

What’s the Score?
With the 3 points they scored previously, and the 4 points they scored above, Justin and Anne-Marie are at a total of 7 points toward the 13 they need. There’s plenty of spooky left to share, so stay tuned!

An NYC Legend, the Bermuda Triangle, and a Portal

Posted on Monday, Sep 28 2015 4:15PM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

The Village Crone in play at Portal Games

The Something Wicked Tour rolled along over the weekend with three more stores in two states and some crazy traffic!

Our visit to Sarge’s Comics and More in New London, CT was short and sweet. While setting up for the event I noticed they had this copy of the old Bermuda Triangle game. I haven’t seen that since I was a kid!

We gave overviews of The Village Crone to several customers and made many people happy with a free piece of Silver, which came in handy as an actual coaster as well.

On Saturday we braved Manhattan traffic to visit legendary NYC store of The Compleat Strategist.

For years we have heard about this amazing store deep in the heart of the Big Apple. It’s known around the world as “the” place to come see if you are a gamer in New York. It lives up to its reputation.

Not only is the store absolutely packed with games of every type, style and size, the owners Mike and Danny do a great job of matching customers to the perfect game they are looking for.

We were warmly welcomed and quickly setup right at the front of the store to show off The Village Crone. Within minutes we had people asking how to turn Villagers into Frogs, or what the binding rings did. In between giving overviews, we talked all kinds of business with Mike and Danny and learned a lot about what it takes to have run a game store since 1975!

Before we knew it we were signing copies of games and wrapping up the night. It was a great event for us and a very cool opportunity to see one of the most unique game stores in the U.S.

A sunny, fall Sunday in Manchester, Connecticut saw the Fireside Games minivan pull into The Portal’s parking lot and unload all our goodies. We made our way inside and grabbed a long table in the board game area to setup The Village Crone.

Sunday’s are board game day and before long it was standing room only in there and we had our first game up and running. 5 witches battled it out and we saw one of the best uses of scattering happen, sending almost every Familiar back to the Village Green! In the end it came down to just a few point spread, but we had our winner at 13 points.

In between games we took a few minutes to explore the store. In addition to a great selection of games and a ton of play space, The Portal has a massive demo game library! Hundreds of games stacked into bookcases mean that you can come here and play anything from an old classic to a brand new release. The hardest decision will be picking which game to try!

Our next game started up and was a quick 2-player battle that resulted in one of the most crowded Forges we’ve seen and to top it off, it gets Bound so no one can leave! The best part was that while 4 Villagers were in the Forge the other 2 had been turned into frogs, so that was all there was!

We had a great time and met a lot of great gamers there. If you’re anywhere near the Manchester area and are craving a game, The Portal is definitely the place to go!

We’re only halfway through the Something Wicked tour, so stayed tuned for many more store visits in another 3 states!

Ghosts, Witches, and a History Lesson – Tour Schemes Completed

Posted on Wednesday, Sep 23 2015 1:30PMWednesday, Jul 13 2016 5:49PM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

Riding with ghosts, witnessing history, and exploring the paranormal… just a few of the objectives Justin and Anne-Marie had to complete to score the first seven points of the Something Wicked Tour meta game. Let’s take a look at the Schemes they were following and whether they accomplished them or not!

1 Point: Ride with the Damned – take the Trolley of the Doomed (Boston, MA) – COMPLETED

Our first scheme “Ride with the Damned” took us on a dark and spooky ride through historic Boston. We visited Copp’s Hill burying ground, saw the home of the last victim of the Boston Strangler, spent some time with the occupants of the Granary Burying Ground and more. The city is crawling with ghosts and we survived our encounter to score our first Witch’s Scheme!

Copps Hill Tombstone: This 3 part tombstone is a sad marker of 3 untimely deaths. George Worthylake’s tombstone is on the left, his wife’s on the right and their young daughter’s in the middle. The three were drowned while returning to Boston Lighthouse at Beacon Island where George was keeper. Strangely enough, George’s replacement was found drowned days after taking up the position, giving rise to the legend that the lighthouse was cursed. To this day, a phantom lightkeeper can be seen shining his lantern on the island and climbing the lighthouse stairs. Locals believe it to be George Worthylake, which means this is a photo of the grave of an actual ghost!

Franklin Grave: Wow, the actual grave of Benjamin Franklin! . . . is in Philadelphia. This monument is where his parents are born.

Paul Revere Grave: The large marker in the center is a monument to the famous rider. The tiny tombstone on the bottom right is where he is actually buried.

2 Points: Pay Respects to the Accused – visit the Salem Witch Museum & Memorial (Salem, MA) – COMPLETED

What witch focused tour would be complete without a visit to Salem, MA? We took some time to absorb the history and tragedy of the Witchcraft Hysteria of 1692.

The Witch Trial Memorial is a somber place to remember what happened here. It’s a simple, but touching memorial with stone benches bearing the names of those who were hanged for witchcraft.

Actual quotes from the accused are carved into the stone threshold of the memorial.

A plaque at the memorial recaps the trials and lists the names of all the hanged victims.

The Salem Witch Museum has a retelling of the events that surrounded the hysteria of the trials as well as a look at witches through history.

On a lighter note, there is a cool statue of Samantha Stevens from Bewitched in the middle of town. Anne-Marie loved this show growing up and later episodes were actually filmed in Salem.

What’s the Score?

At this point Anne-Marie and Justin have scored 3 points total towards the 13 they need by the end of the Something Wicked tour in October. We’ll be sharing their first 3-point scheme soon, so stay tuned!

Have you visited any of these places? Tell us about your experiences in the comments!

Knight Moves Cafe, Pandemonium Books, & Compleat Strategist Boston

Posted on Wednesday, Sep 23 2015 9:21AM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

The Village Crone in play at Knight Moves games

Over the weekend Anne-Marie and Justin made the first two store visits for the Something Wicked Tour.

We have started this tour in Boston and the surrounding boroughs and our first stop was at Knight Moves Cafe in Brookline, MA. Knight Moves is a game cafe that focuses on providing a friendly hangout for gamers (both new and veteran) to have a snack, a drink, and a good time playing games together.

We arrived early and the shop was relatively quiet. That would change as the night went on when it was standing room only and we got in several games of The Village Crone and earned some new fans for the game
The owner, Devon, was very helpful and kept directing gamers to our tables as well as serving delicious drinks and snacks all night long.

Their demo library is made of multiple bookcases that are literally overflowing with games. If you want to try out a game in the Brookline area, this is the place to do it!

While they don’t sell games at Knight Moves Cafe, they do work with Eureka Puzzles & Games, a game store down the street, to promote gaming in the Brookline area.

On Sunday evening they ventured to the Harvard University area to visit Pandemonium Books & Games in Cambridge.

We played with all the local board game night attendees, squeezing in 4 games over the night.

The first game of the night had a tremendous finish with one player scoring all three of his Witches Schemes on his last turn in an amazing combination of spellcasting!

Thanks to all who came out!

On Tuesday night we visited the Compleat Strategist in Boston.

Unfortunately we lost the video for this event, so we only have a few photos we grabbed while we were there. Must have been some of those ghosts we met earlier on the Trolley Tour!

We met some local gamers and showed them what it takes to become The Village Crone. They were pretty good at being witches as it turns out since Justin got trounced soundly!

Up next is our visit to Sarge’s Comics in New London, CT on Friday (6–10pm) and then we will be visiting the legendary New York store of the Compleat Strategist this Saturday from 1pm to 5pm!

Special Tour Schemes for Justin & Anne-Marie!

Posted on Friday, Sep 18 2015 5:34PM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

Join Justin & Anne-Marie on the Something Wicked Tour, and immerse yourself in the spirit of the tour with a little meta-game.

Follow along as they try to complete their own set of Tour Schemes over the next few weeks. Similar to your goals in The Village Crone, they will have to achieve the objectives on the Scheme Cards to score those points. Will they be able to score a total of 13 points before the last tour date? Stay tuned and see as we share these little extras with you!

The first set of Schemes Justin & Anne-Marie need to complete while they are in the Boston area!

Up first is a series of schemes in the Boston area. If you see them out and about, say hi, but don’t distract them from their purpose, they want to WIN this tour!

Schemes on Deck:

1 Point: RIDE WITH THE DAMNED – Take the “Trolley of the Doomed” Ghost Tour

1 Point: CONJURE A FAMILIAR – Spot a Familiar in the Cambridge Village Green

2 Points: PAY RESPECTS TO THE ACCUSED – Visit the Salem Witch Trials Memorial & Visit the Salem Witch Museum

3 Points: MARRY MAGIC & MAYHEM – View Phineas Gage’s Skull, Cross Harvard Bridge, & Visit Boston Neck Gallows

They will be providing proof of their Schemes on social media with photos and videos, so watch our YouTube Channel, Facebook Page, and Twitter & Instagram accounts for details.

(For bonus points, you can play along… share your experiences with any of the events/situations on their scheme cards – or make up your own! – through social media. Tag your posts using #SomethingWicked!)