The excitement I felt during day one was not present during the second day of the convention. I found myself feeling underwhelmed, a carnival of dice, trading cards and board games, and it was just more of the same. It probably didn’t help that I was fighting off the worst of some cold that’s been with me since my arrival to Philadelphia.
However, amid the sea of plastic and boards, there were a few things that may have salvaged a rather bleh day. One of which was a game that wasn’t even being displayed. The game is called Saved. The story behind Saved is that the world is ending and the players are all at the pearly gates, but there’s only one spot left. Your goal is to make the other players sound awful and make yourself sound awesome.
There are two types of cards, virtue and vice. Virtue cards give you points associated with the number on the card, while vice cards take away points associated with the number of the card. It’s a game that has the potential to ruin friendships, and that’s what’s great. Saved goes all in with perverse humor, interesting card combinations and it is easy to learn but hard to master. While this is the bare bones explanation of the game, I do HIGHLY recommend it. Check it out at Savedthegame.com.
While Saved may have saved the day, there were a few other highlights as well. Cyanide and Happiness has a new title called Joking Hazard. The best way to describe Joking Hazard is calling it Cards Against Humanity but with comic panels. A card similar to a comic panel is placed on the table, the judge places another panel card on the table, and it’s everyone else’s job to try and give the developing comic a funny ending. The person with the funniest ending gets a point, first to 3 points, in the case of the demo, wins. It’s a fun game to play with friends, but leave it at home during those family gatherings.
That was day 2 of expo hall coverage from PAX Unplugged. Stay tuned for day three coverage soon.
The Nerds Templar 