Newberg Game Con Returns for Second Year

The second annual Newberg Game Con is set to take place September 28-29 from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., offering local gaming enthusiasts of all ages a chance to gather and play a wide variety of tabletop games.

The event, organized by Hobby Games of Newberg group creator Paul Otto, Ph.D., George Fox University (GFU) Library, and a team of volunteers, will be held at George Fox University’s Canyon Commons.

Otto, who hosts a weekly Saturday game night at Barley & Vine Tavern, started the convention last year after attending a similar event in McMinnville.

“We modeled it a lot after the McMinnville Game Con because they had such a successful experience,” Otto said. “And we wanted an excuse to play games all day too, so we brought the idea to Newberg.”

The convention will feature more than 160 games in its library, with only a few duplicates. There are also tabletop role-playing games (TTRPG) like Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, and Wizard Crack.

Attendees can bring their own games or choose from the library’s selection. Some games will be prescheduled, with experienced players guiding both seasoned and novice gamers through the intricacies of various board games.

In other cases, people will bring a group of friends, pick a game from the library, and grab a table to play. Some attendees may come solo and look for tables with orange cones, which indicate they’re looking for additional players.

“We saw all sorts of people and groups come through last time,” Otto said. “The common thread is an interest in playing board or role-playing games.”

Glen Zulaski, a longtime member of the Newberg gaming community, is helping organize the event. He emphasized the welcoming nature of the convention for newcomers and experienced gamers alike.

“If you’re on the fence about joining or trying a game, I understand—it can be intimidating,” Zulaski said. “You don’t know who you’ll play with, but most people are excited to have someone new at the table.”

The convention will occupy multiple spaces around Canyon Commons, including three side rooms and an additional room in a nearby building. Role-playing games will be held in a separate area to provide a quieter environment. The goal is to offer a fun and engaging experience for everyone.

Three local game stores—Newberg’s Expansions Games, Sherwood’s Glimpses of Wonder & Warfare, and Lafayette’s Mana Cloud Geek Boutique—will be vendors at the event, selling board games, TTRPG tokens, dice, and more. The convention will also feature demo games from vendors and designers, including some that may soon launch on Kickstarter.

The organizers hope to attract up to 200 attendees per day, an increase from last year’s attendance of around 160 on Saturday and fewer on Sunday. Badges are $8 per day or $12 for the weekend which gets you all day play.

“We’re not making money. I mean, it’s not to make money,” Otto said. “I just want people to try it out and have a good time.”

For those new to gaming or unsure where to start, volunteers will be available to help guide attendees to games that match their interests and experience levels.

“We’ll try to group people together based on their interests and help those who might need guidance,” Zulaski said.

The organizers see the convention as part of the area’s rich gaming history. Zulaski mentioned a now-closed museum in King City called the Interactive Museum of Gaming and Puzzlery, which housed a significant collection of games. Zulaski himself owned Camelot Comics and Games, a comic and game store in Newberg, for over a decade.

“We’re kind of living the dream that the owner of that museum wanted,” Otto said. “He wanted spaces where people would regularly come and play games.”

For more information or to register for Newberg Game Con, visit the event’s website or contact the organizers through social media.

A Few Games to Try

I asked Paul and Glen to offer a few great starter games that are easy to pick up and understand while still feeling fun and unique. Here’s what they sent over:

Azul

“In the game Azul, players take turns drafting colored tiles from suppliers to their player board. Later in the round, players score points based on how they’ve placed their tiles to decorate the palace. Extra points are scored for specific patterns and completing sets; wasted supplies harm the player’s score. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.” (boardgamegeek.com)

Carcassonne

“Carcassonne is a tile-placement game in which the players draw and place a tile with a piece of southern French landscape on it. The tile might feature a city, a road, a cloister, grassland or some combination thereof, and it must be placed adjacent to tiles that have already been played, in such a way that cities are connected to cities, roads to roads, etcetera. Having placed a tile, the player can then decide to place one of their meeples on one of the areas on it: on the city as a knight, on the road as a robber, on a cloister as a monk, or on the grass as a farmer. When that area is complete, that meeple scores points for its owner.” (boardgamegeek.com)

Mysterium Park

A regular game for newcomers at the Barley & Vine boardgame nights.

“In this cooperative stand-alone game, the ghost sends visions with illustrated cards. The psychics try to interpret them in order to rule out certain suspects and locations. Then, they’ll seize their only chance to piece together what happened to the director. Mysterium is a milestone in immersive and eye-catching experiences close to role-playing; with Mysterium Park, you can enjoy the heart of it in a more condensed way.” (boardgamegeek.com)

Ticket to Ride

“With elegantly simple gameplay, Ticket to Ride can be learned in under 15 minutes. Players collect cards of various types of train cars they then use to claim railway routes in North America. The longer the routes, the more points they earn. Additional points come to those who fulfill Destination Tickets – goal cards that connect distant cities; and to the player who builds the longest continuous route.” (boardgamegeek.com)

Cascadia

“Regionally themed and good introduction to some common eurogame mechanics” — Paul Otto

“Cascadia is a puzzly tile-laying and token-drafting game featuring the habitats and wildlife of the Pacific Northwest. In the game, you take turns building out your own terrain area and populating it with wildlife.” (boardgamegeek.com)

Settlers of Catan

“In CATAN (formerly The Settlers of Catan), players try to be the dominant force on the island of Catan by building settlements, cities, and roads. On each turn dice are rolled to determine what resources the island produces. Players build by spending resources (sheep, wheat, wood, brick and ore) that are depicted by these resource cards; each land type, with the exception of the unproductive desert, produces a specific resource: hills produce brick, forests produce wood, mountains produce ore, fields produce wheat, and pastures produce sheep.” (boardgamegeek.com)

Alhambra

“The best master builders in the whole of Europe and Arabia want to demonstrate their skill. Employ the most suitable teams of builders and make sure that you always have enough of the right currency. Because no matter whether they are stonemasons from the north or horticulturalists from the south, they all want a proper wage and insist on their “native” currency. With their help towers can be constructed, gardens laid out, pavilions and arcades erected and seraglios and chambers built.” (boardgamegeek.com)

Corvids

“Become birds who have gained an interest in small objects for whatever bird-related reason you may have. Flip and move cards using your fingers or the provided ‘beak’ tweezers to find what you want and cover the cards of your opponents. Reveal the nests of other birds to learn their goals and steal their coveted treasures.” (boardgamegeek.com)