Solo Games I Got At Gen Con…

I came back from Gen Con with so many new games… and another round of Covid. Neither should be surprising at this point, given both my love for collecting physical copies of games and my multiple-infection ravaged immune system. Though I saw a not-insignificant number of people masking at the convention, I witnessed exponentially more wandering the floor and the invitation-only industry events without any protections against an infectious disease that has killed over seven million people in the last four years. Total infections are closer to eight hundred million world wide, with roughly 1-in-5 of those now suffering from Long Covid symptoms, which has long-term ramifications on “organ damage affecting the heart, kidneys, skin, and brain.”

The most recent Covid variants, nicknamed “FLiRT” variants (what a cool and funky name for a deadly disease) are more contagious than previous strains. According to infectious disease modeler JP Weiland—whose models have been used in outlets like Newsweek, Face The Nation, and New York Magazine—this has resulted in a summer wave where roughly 1-in-37 Americans are currently infected with Covid and 900,000 new cases occur daily. Though, given the gutting of CDC protections and tracking data, our only reliable source of these rates are wastewater data and not hospital records.

Of the 71,000 people who were at Gen Con, some rough napkin math means about 2,000 people walked in there with Covid—who knows how many took it back home with them. That’s what we call a superspreader event. So, while I quarantine for at least the next ten days (only re-entering the world 24 hours after I test negative again, rather than the new CDC guidelines which recommend five days, or in some cases, only 24 hours) I’m gonna be playing a lot of solo games. I’ve already played a couple on this list, and I gotta say, while the world generally sucks, games are great.