Tom and Timm Talk Dice Tower West

Tom Vasel and Timm Metivier discuss the time they had at Dice Tower West 2024.
00:00 Intro
01:17 TCG Room
02:33 Ready Set Bet Tournament
03:40 Demo Zone
04:45 Hot Games Room
07:36 Panels, Prototype Room, Games Games Games
09:13 Lord of the Rings Room
10:10 The Friendliest Conventions on the Planet
10:49 Next Year Info
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[@ThinkerThemer]

It was such a wonderful convention - I think it gets better and better every year. A huge thank you to Timm & Tom (& everyone behind the scenes) for all of the effort that goes into pulling this together and for having us involved. See you in 2025 🎉❤

[@seang.8328]

Timm is the best! Always happy to see him on The Dice Tower. Congrats on a successful con.

[@millsmills1486]

Tim and tom rock! You guys put on the best conference. It was my first time, I had so much fun, I miss it already, and can’t wait for next year! Until then happy gaming!

[@gaucholaw1]

Timm did a great job! The DTW LIBRARY is amazing and so well run! It would take decades to play all the games he’s assembled there. So I better get started!!!

[@DimeNDice4]

These two need to do some top 10 lists together. Just a fun pair to watch.

[@joannahayes2009]

Props to Timm and the team - DTW was amazing last year, sounds even better this year, very much looking forward to coming again. It really does just seem to get better and better. Looking forward to the Westgate as well!

[@thedicetower]

It was great having you last year! I know it's a bit of a journey for you, but hope you can make it again soon. Give Phil my regards! ~Chris

[@joannahayes2009]

Will do!! @@thedicetower

[@JimmyWorld]

I LOVED the Demo Zone. It was easy to find a new game to play when my group was busy playing other games. Definitely a stand out from other cons.

[@silvermcdaid]

Thanks for a great convention. Life on the Amazonia was great and we bought it in Vendor Hall after we played it. So that was smart to have copies available to buy in Vendor hall

[@kevinbhieey9188]

As for the Hot Games, Wyrmspan was definitely #1. Two tables and I only got in there once, on the first day. (I also saw it played a lot in the Open Play rooms.) Vale of Eternity was popular early but by Friday I walked by a lot and most of the time one of the tables was empty. (I think the nonstop reading was getting to people.) World Wonders started off the same, with one table often open by the weekend. I would say that overall, Thunder Road: Vendetta got played more than those two. Buonocore was in there a lot teaching it to people. As for the one-table games, Amazonia and Path of Civilization were always full. Foundations of Rome and Ark Nova were usually going, though I did find both open on occasion. I was surprised to see Heat be open more than both of those. I think the hype is dying down. People all like it, but I didn't get that it was a Must-Have for anybody. I think Apiary was more popular than Heat. The heavier games mostly stayed busy - they're not my thing so I didn't pay much attention to them - but I did notice Voidfall being empty quite a bit.

[@svallee]

I really hoped to try out Thunder Road and every single time I ended a game I would walk there to check if they had an available seat, but never got the chance in 5 days. The two TR tables were always filled up and playing from morning to night.

[@foyoGames]

Oooh ...TCG room!

[@jettryker]

We had a great time at DTW! It went by WAY too fast! Sooooo much to see and do. The library was outstanding and the demo section was indeed great! The only thing I feel could use an improvement is the hot games room. Not having people in there teaching the games drastically increases the times that people are there trying to learn them and actually play, or just give up and leave. Especially for more complex games. I would have loved to try out some of the bigger games like Dune: War for Arrakis, but I wanted to make the most of my time. I feel like it would be pretty easy to find some volunteers (compensating them with a badge) who would be willing to spend a few hours each day teaching a few games. Potentially bouncing between a few tables, helping with teaching, rules questions. I feel like it would get more games played faster, allowing for more people to enjoy them. :) I know there were a few people volunteering for Gamefound but that was only for a few of the games. Anyways, thanks again for putting on a great convention! ...oh and btw, increasing the size of the flea market was a great improvement! Even with all those people, it didn't feel cramped.

[@VexylObby]

How do people manage to afford to go on these trips/events?

[@smoogums89]

I spent like $600 probably between weekend stay, gas, and food. Not sure what you're doing in life where you can't swing that once or twice a year.

[@VexylObby]

Tickets expensive? @@smoogums89 Also, life is just expensive. I hardly make it each month. Even with a full time job. *shrug*

[@VexylObby]

Also, don't people fly to these things?@@smoogums89

[@VexylObby]

@@smoogums89 I'm sure that there are other costs like flights, the event itself. I was more curious if people did things differently or had different circumstances to make a fun event like this possible. (I am single and only make 35k/year, and just make it by each month)

[@Singulitarian]

How often do games come back damaged or missing pieces? I hope none.

[@svallee]

The demo zone was the one negative for me, but other than that, DTW was FANTASTIC and I cannot wait to go back next year!

[@dandurkin9735]

What was your negative with the demo zone? I had a somewhat difficult time with people signing up for my events, holdings spots, and then canceling close to con.

[@svallee]

@@dandurkin9735 I was pretty excited to finally try famous/popular games and learn from professional demo-er the right way. The first game I went in, the demoer didn't know the game well, and after nearly two hours we finished the game and he realized we had played it completely wrong the whole time. I shrugged it off as just bad luck, and giving him the benefit of the doubt: it's possible he had to cover someone else's shift at the last minute. But then the second game I went in was really bad. The demoer rushed through superficial explanations, told us they had to manage 3 tables and could not play with us, then dashed out to... join a table of friends there they just hanged out doing nothing and chatting. We had to struggle with the rule book and walk to their table to bother them for rules clarifications. Then when we ended the game they walked over, realized we had played it all wrong, and somewhat blamed us from missing a key rule on the cheat sheet. Great. If you're not interested in demoing a game, maybe don't? Anyway at that point I cancelled all my other booked demos, just not worth it. On the plus side, later on I gave it another try for Earth, and the demo went super great. The demoer did a great job explaining the rules, stayed the whole game to make sure we played right, and helped with the final scoring. This is how I imagined all demos should go, but maybe I had too high expectations?

[@rizzzou]

Sad to hear next year is moving back to the westgate. The location of the rio is much better and closer to more restaurants and other locations

[@thedicetower]

But the hotel and convention space are better! And it is on the train line.

[@smoogums89]

My room at the Rio absolutely sucked I had water issues, my remote broke, the room was dirty when I checked in. Not to mention to construction in the halls. I'm glad were leaving that crappy hotel.

[@svallee]

How is the rio location better? It's off the strip in the middle of an industrial area with little to no restaurants (unless you have a car). And the Rio as an hotel is the worst I've experienced in Vegas. I've never been to the Westgate but the rooms can't be worse, and it's right on the Strip train line.

[@rizzzou]

@@svallee its a relatively (for vegas) short walk to a ton of chinatown restaurants. I went to DTW at westgate and it definitely felt more isolated

[@rizzzou]

@@smoogums89 I was at DTW in westgate a couple years back. Rio isnt great when it comes to room quality, but westgate is about the same.