Tantrum Con 2023

February 24, 2023

a tote bag with a graphic that reads 'tantrum con' sits on a table in a large hotel conference room full of people playing board games

TantrumCon is a board game convention by Tantrum House, a board game media group. There are 100s of games you can learn to play, tournaments, prizes and giveaways. There’s also some sort of table flipping event (tantrum) that I don’t quite understand, but it was fun to watch.

Day 1

a conference room is filled with a large group of people sitting at different tables playing board games — 28mm Elmarit ASPH / Leica M10-P

So many people, so many games. There’s a library where you can check out games and learn to play. Most tables had a sign that you could display saying either “players wanted” or “teachers wanted.”

a wall lined with wire shelving full of different board games — 28mm Elmarit ASPH / Leica M10-P

The first game I learned was Tiny Towns . A cute, quick-paced game where you build your town on a 4x4 grid and use resources in specific layouts to create buildings.

there's a small game board on a table with different shaped game pieces on it. the table has other small game pieces scattered about — 28mm Elmarit ASPH / Leica M10-P

It’s pretty fun. The rules are simple enough and each round doesn’t take very long. A good group game.

There was also the Parks game which is beautiful. Another great group game. You play the role of hikers and make your way through different national parks.

a group sitting around a table playing a board game that consists of a horizontal board with lots of small pieces and cards — 28mm Elmarit ASPH / Leica M10-P

We eventually took a break and met some friends at Protagonist. A brewery/pizza place. The pizza was very good. We ordered way too much food, as usual.

a man places an order at the counter of a pizza restaurant. there's a man tossing dough in the air under a neon sign that reads 'we make pizza' — 28mm Elmarit ASPH / Leica M10-P

The next game I learned was later in the evening, called Atlantis Rising . We may have played this one wrong, but either way it’s very long and kinda complicated. The instructions seemed to be poorly written.

people sitting around and playing a large six-point shaped board game — 28mm Elmarit ASPH / Leica M10-P

On the way home, Mitch watched a fairly long YouTube video on how to play. I think we were at the table playing this until midnight. It was a few hours, for sure. Still fun, even if we played it a little incorrectly.

Day 2

I arrived a little late. Mitch and Chase were playing Creature Comforts while John, Powell and Raleigh were playing Wonderland's War (a highly anticipated game of the weekend from what I recall.) They were playing this for 3+ hours or so.

a group of people sitting around a table are instructed on how to play Wonderland's War, a board game based on Alice in Wonderland — 28mm Elmarit ASPH / Leica M10-P

The first game I played with everyone was Werewords , which was really fun, and definitely a great group game.

After a few rounds of Werewords, we tried this game called Kites , where you have to play a card and then flip a sand timer, but you also have to make sure none of the timers run out. It goes extremely fast, and is very difficult to reach the end goal, even when there are six people working together.

We had dinner with Raleigh, Ethan and Chase at Saigon Palace. Probably the most consistently good restaurant I’ve ever been to. I had stir-fried curry with vermicelli noodles. So good.

Day 3

I wasn’t at Tantrum Con very much on day three. On the first day, everyone gets a raffle ticket when you pick up your pass and swag at the registration desk. They draw numbers throughout the whole event. I won a game called Bulldonkey , which we haven’t played yet.

a group of people sitting around a table playing a rectangular board game with small pieces laid out on a grid, each player has cards. a box on the table reads 'cat in the box' — 28mm Elmarit ASPH / Leica M10-P

I did get to play Cat in the Box which was a lot of fun. I feel it’s better explained at the provided link. It has to do with Schrödinger’s cat.

a bearded man in a hat sits at a restaurant table, smiling for the camera — 28mm Elmarit ASPH / Leica M10-P

Our buddy Mike ended up having a layover in Charlotte long enough to have a quick dinner. The conference was held at a hotel near the airport which made things a bit easier. Really great to see him. It’s been about six years.