Top 10 Casual Games Showcased at AireCon 2023

AireCon is a family-oriented, laid-back convention with a sense of community, unlike traditional conventions filled with stalls. AireCon focuses almost entirely on gaming and meeting new people and has large gaming areas. The event features a variety of gaming options, with a massive library of games and demo sessions with game designers. AireCon also offers board games, RPGs, accessories, and related products in its exhibitors' hall. One of the UK's most popular tabletop gaming conventions, It takes place annually in Harrogate. Each year, thousands of people across the country attend the convention over a weekend in March.

The convention was first held in 2016 with 20 friends in a living room and has grown in size and popularity. AireCon offers a welcoming and inclusive atmosphere focusing on community building and fostering a love for gaming. Attendees can participate in tournaments, try various games, and attend events and organized play sessions.

It was an exciting and enriching experience to attend AireCon 2023. We had the chance to meet several exhibitors and game designers at the convention. We discovered and played some of the most significant upcoming releases in tabletop gaming; they showcased a wide range of themes, mechanics, and styles. We were delighted to have been able to play these outstanding examples of tabletop game design with their creators. Their creativity and talent impressed us with games that excel in quality and innovation. We had a sneak peek into their upcoming projects and learned about their design processes and inspirations.

AireCon 2023 was a fantastic opportunity to immerse ourselves in tabletop gaming and meet a passionate and vibrant community of gamers and designers. As such, we are very excited to share our Top 10 Casual Games of the convention.

10) Brexit: The Real Deal (Wotan Games)

A bidding board game set in a post-Brexit UK, Brexit: The Real Deal immerses players in the complexities of trade negotiations. This is a card game of bluffing, blocking, bidding, and deception. To win, players must complete their hidden agenda while preventing others from achieving theirs. The players have hidden agendas with which they try to form trade deals with the rest of the world. You could be planning to rejoin the EU or stall it for as long as possible.

You will want to sabotage other players' trade deals in this competitive game. Despite not necessarily wanting a specific trade deal, players should do everything they can to keep their opponents from getting it.

Brexit: The Real Deal is a casual and light game. It is quick, fast-paced, easy to learn, and entertaining to play. It's an excellent filler and gateway game. 

9) Fatal Knockout (Crab Studios)

As a nostalgic trip through classic arcade fighting games such as Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, Fatal Knockout is an enjoyable board game to play with your friends. This game is easy to learn but offers excellent tactical depth and strategy. Fast-paced, action-packed, and accessible all at once, the game provides a deep and rewarding experience to those who wish to immerse themselves in its deep and rewarding gameplay.

Fatal Knockout is a card game in which two players take on the role of fighters with varying abilities and playing styles. Players must decide which cards they will play each turn to position their fighters and carry out melee attacks. To win, you must balance defense, offense, strategies, and tactics.

Fatal Knockout is distinguished by its attention to detail and faithful recreation of classic arcade games. With its colorful, dynamic character designs and its fluid and satisfying combat mechanics, the game captures the essence of what has made such games so beloved by a generation of gamers.

Fatal Knockout is coming soon on Kickstarter.

8) Casual RPGs from CM Lowry (Beyond Cataclysm)

Chris, who writes as CM Lowry, is a talented writer known for his lighthearted and charming approach to creating role-playing games. His games are designed to be approachable, run with minimal preparation, and easy to understand, making them perfect for both solo and mastering with friends. One thing that makes CM Lowry stand out from the competition is his distinct and amicable personality, which shines through in his games. With unexpected plot twists and hilarious moments, his games are quick, fast-paced, and enjoyable. In CM Lowry's RPG games, whether you are an experienced player or just starting out, you are guaranteed to be engaged, entertained, and have a great time.

Beyond Cataclysm, a micro publisher, showcased some of CM Lowry's work during AireCon, including:

• "Bar Fight - AireCon edition" is a game where players compete to be the last person standing in a bar fight.
• "Lucky for None" is a horror-comedy game. The game includes a unique 13-sided dice and encourages players to engage in journaling to enhance the experience.
• "Stuck at the Game Convention" is a fun, tongue-in-cheek role-playing game about being trapped at a gaming convention.
• "A Monstrous Quest Inside A Giant T-Rex" is a role-playing adventure game that takes place inside the belly of a giant T-Rex.

7) Senryaku (Playkit Games)

Senryaku is an abstract strategy game played on a gravitationally-based platform. Players must make decisive movements and utilize dexterity to win the game. The game's objective is to capture the opponent's colored sphere or force a "gravitational drop". Senryaku uses a balancing system that allows unequal movement of spheres on the board. Moving spheres requires lifting them, which can cause the platform to lose stability and fall. You can use the counterbalance of the board to force your opponent to make the wrong decision on both offensive and defensive moves. To win, players must capture their opponent's colored sphere while protecting their own. Senryaku can be played singularly or over multiple games with scoring based on capturing the opponent's colored sphere, the opponent crashing the board, or the opponent forfeiting the game. The game's components are outstanding; the game is well-crafted with stunning spheres (marbles) and a sturdy, gravity-balanced platform, which enhances the overall gameplay experience.

Senryaku is a thrilling game that will keep you on the edge of your seat whenever you raise a sphere and hope you will not crash the board. Maintaining your lead on the gravitational platform requires strategically positioning your spheres. A match is so quick that you will be compelled to play it multiple times. Overall, Senryaku is a fantastic strategy game that is both challenging and rewarding. It's easy to learn but difficult to master, making it an excellent choice for casual and serious gamers.

6) Damask (Radical 8 Games)

Through Damask, players will be taken back to a time when the ancient weaving techniques and motifs made their way from Damascus, the international trading center, to the famous textile houses of Venice, along the Silk Road. In the game, players take on the roles of master weavers, striving to earn the most money. Players draft damask cards and cubes, using them to complete damask cards that require specific cube colors. They can also take cubes from opponents' overstock or mount completed damasks to earn coins and guild favors. At the end of the game, players receive bonus coins for having all six colors or all four patterns among their mounted damasks. The player with the most coins wins.

Damask's combination of set collection, rondel, open drafting, and pattern-building mechanics is a winning recipe for gameplay enjoyment! The shared pool of resources is brilliantly designed using a rondel. It uses a unique mechanism where you draft from the rondel choosing a row of cubes that begins and ends with the same type of resource; it is a novel mechanism that works wonders.

Damask delivers a calm and relaxing experience. It is easy to learn but hard to master. It plays as a multiplayer solitaire game, and every turn is a mini puzzle in itself. Players can play this casual game several times while keeping engaged. It is guaranteed that you will have a great time playing Damask, regardless of whether you are a casual or expert gamer. I really loved playing the game during AireCon.

5) FlickFleet (Eurydice)

In FlickFleet, you will be in charge of the fate of one of the Imperial battle fleets dispatched from Earth to contain The Uprising, a military rebellion. The Imperium of Earth has dominated the stars for over 10,000 years. Nevertheless, The Uprising is taking over and gathering a fleet of ships and followers. To end this rebellion, you must take command of the Imperial fleet.

FlickFleet features tactical ship-to-ship combat and a dexterity element; this two-player game is thrilling and challenging for players of all skill levels. During the game, you will move your ships by flicking them across the board with the tip of your finger. As you attack your opponent, you must flick dice at their ships to destroy them. There is no doubt that this is a game that requires quick reflexes as well as the ability to think strategically.

Players can choose the ships they wish to use in FlickFleet as a points-based dueling game. The rulebook provides several scenarios players can choose from, adding plenty of replayability to the game. The game has fighters, bombers, and capital ships, along with various scenarios. And with numerous expansions, you will have a vast range of new ships, weapons, game mechanics, and scenarios to play with. The game demonstrated during AireCon had elements from different expansions, adding plenty of fun to the gameplay.

FlickFleet is a unique and exciting board game that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Get ready to raise your shields and flick your fingers — the fleet's fate depends on you!

4) Undermined! Paradice City (Devilfly Games)

It's time to put Minecraft aside and dig deep into Undermined. In this digging game, you'll need to use all your equipment to dig through rocks and uncover bonuses and treasures while avoiding dangerous perils that can throw a wrench in your plans.

The game's objective is to collect as many points as possible by gathering bonuses and gems. Resources are accumulated, items are purchased, and you get ready to mine when your turn comes. When mining, each rock card has a different strength representing your effort to crush it. Use equipment bonus points together with a roll of dice to see how many rocks you can dig. Rocks will give you bonuses, treasures, and perils. The treasures you acquire can be sold back to the shop for money to improve your engine or held onto to try and gain victory.

The game is quick and super addictive; tension builds as you play. It's a hand management and card drafting game where you'll need to manage your cards wisely, building up your equipment as the game progresses. You'll gain cards that can either help you or hinder your opponents. No alliance lasts forever because, at the end of the game, there can only be one winner: the master digger of Paradice City!

There's no doubt that Undermined: Paradice City isn't your ordinary Sabotage game. Instead, players risk their gains digging up rocks and exposing themselves to unwelcomed perils. Mining setups can be upgraded as the game progresses, increasing the chance of breaking up rocks and finding bonuses and treasures. With the growth of power, alliances break down, and competition takes place. Semi-cooperative mechanics are critical to gameplay, but as the battle for victory intensifies, it will become increasingly difficult to help one another.

So, get your mining gear ready and uncover some treasures in Undermined: Paradice City — it's time to start digging!

Undermined: Paradice City is coming soon to Kickstarter.

3) Joyride (Rebellion Unplugged)

Prepare to hit the road with Joyride, a board game that combines the excitement of Mario Kart with the thrill of Mad Max. In contrast to traditional racing games, Joyride focuses heavily on player interaction instead of finishing first. The game is simple to learn but deep in strategy, and it is a lot of fun. Its low complexity makes Joyride stand out in a genre dominated by games in which high complexity may put players off. Instead, Joyride is a pleasure to play, engaging and exciting, with quick matches that will make you want to keep playing this game. The replayability of Joyride is almost endless, with several scenarios and the ability to customize tracks as you wish.

It is exciting to see how each player can bring an element of surprise to Joyride. A player can drastically alter the course of a game with a wide range of abilities and power-ups. To add to the fun, players can smash their opponents out of the way, use fire rockets, use nitro boosts, and leave oil slicks and mines as obstacles for anyone behind. Players can outmaneuver their rivals to be victorious using wits and strategy, creating chaos in the game.

Joyride will keep players entertained with its fast-paced action and unpredictable twists.

If you're an enthusiast for racing games, strategy games, or just good-old-fashioned fun, Joyride is a game you won't want to miss!

Joyride is coming soon to Kickstarter.

2) Survive Alive (Schnarf Games)

Survive Alive is a unique board game combining resource management, engine building, and set collection mechanics to create a place where players must survive in a post-apocalyptic world full of zombies. There are many zombie games out there. This is not just another zombie game, but a medium-weight, competitive, strategy-based, flip-and-write game played over six rounds.

In each round, players play the role of survivors who must gather resources, build facilities, and defend their base against zombies. As a player, you can befriend characters and scavenge a post-apocalyptic map to improve your community.

Every round, hordes of zombies attack the base, and players must be ready to defend themselves. As the game progresses, more zombies attack and the difficulty grows! Players must follow a plan, including drawing resources, building defenses and facilities, scavenging, and defending against zombies. Points can be earned for a variety of achievements. The winner is the player with the most points at the end of the game.

Survive Alive is an exciting board game that requires planning and strategy skills to outlast the zombie invasion. It is an excellent game for resource management enthusiasts. It is quick-paced, easy to learn, and an absolute blast and fun to play. With a double map, diverse player sheets, and a great selection of characters, the game offers a unique experience different from other zombie games. So plan and fight your way to Survive Alive!

Survive Alive is coming soon on Kickstarter.

1) Ecosfera (Julibert)

Ecosfera is an abstract strategy cooperative game that delivers an innovative take on real-time deck building. It provides an immersive, exciting, and thematic experience with outstanding artwork, easy rules, and deep tactics. The gameplay is immensely captivating and scores high on replayability; no two matches play the same. Overall, it is an excellent game; I highly recommend it!

In Ecosfera, the objective is to acquire seven biome tiles to win the game while avoiding placing seven extinction tiles and losing the game. Every turn, each player opens four cards from their deck. When you combine the right element cards, you can obtain plant cards. Taking an element from the supply will fill the gap if you miss one element, which is how you build your deck in real-time. Animals can be acquired by combining plants, and biome tiles can be created by combining animals. You will receive a disaster card if you cannot obtain a plant or animal card or place a biome tile. You will also receive a disaster card if you draw three cards of the same element. A player who draws three disaster cards must place one extinction tile, and a player who draws four disaster cards must place three extinction tiles. Other abilities of players include refreshing cards, acquiring extra cards, returning a card to supply, and passing a card to another player that needs it. Four new cards are drawn every turn after all current cards are discarded. Cooperation and strategy are required to restore nature, so players will join together to save the planet!

Ecosfera emphasizes the importance of preserving nature before it's too late in a captivating, cooperative, real-time deck-building game. It stands out from other games of the same genre because of its unique gameplay mechanics and stunning artwork. The mechanics of this game are definitely original, and the game is one of a kind. As part of the overall cooperative gameplay experience, Ecosfera's deck optimization gameplay is one of the most enjoyable aspects. The game's real-time deck-building mechanism is executed flawlessly, with a dynamic and exciting style that keeps players on their toes. Despite its novel concept, Ecosfera is balanced and straightforward to learn while providing an enjoyable challenge for players to master. Its deep strategic elements are impressive, making it a fantastic game for casual and experienced players. Overall, Ecosfera is a remarkable game that leaves us excitedly anticipating its release.

Ecosfera is now on Kickstarter.

Conclusion

AireCon 2023 featured several exceptional games that excel and stand out among other games. The convention atmosphere was lively and vibrant, with thousands of people playing games through AireCon's huge halls. Exhibitors, publishers, game designers, and staff were lovely and helpful, and the convention was well organized. 

We hope Mark Cooke, who created such a unique and incredible convention, keeps surprising us year after year with even more events, workshops, game sessions, fantastic exhibitors, publisher demonstrators, and hundreds of tables for everyone to come, play, and have a great time. We were delighted to be a part of the convention's energy and enthusiasm and look forward to returning in 2024.

Note: This article is provided by Roll & Mind.