Greetings to all! I had an absolutely blast in the Interplanetario. It was cool to meet players from all across the world and chat with them about our common hobby. I also had the luck that every single player I share a table with had a good attitude and the games were with good sport and warm smiles even when the god dice were giving a crushing victory to one side or the other. So I wanted to write my own perspective about the Interplanetario event and its organization. Please understand that even if I am going to say some negative things, in general I had the most incredible of times and I already want to have the chance to attend it again next year. Positive things: * Bracket organization: Splitting the tournament into two different groups was a good move. It made the tournament keep going smoothly given the sheer size of players * Judge Team: The judges did an stellar job as they not only were available to solve any question that raised in the tables. But also they overcome the OTM problems when it failed us. To the judges that were standing next to the stairs with the printed matches: Thanks! * Alternative activities: It was lovely that there were things to do other than playing the tournament for those attending. Demos, free games, and silly but fun activities such as the shooting range and be Bostria for a day. * Pulpigarden: Although I do not have a kid myself, I saw this as a total net positive inclusion on the tournament. In fact, I would love that this would also be extended to our other ‘kids’ that happen to bark! A lot of us have dogs, and being able to carry then to the tournament would help us greatly with the already complicated logistic of attending this event. Negative things: * Table Space: This was surprisingly bad given that this was the very Interplanetario and the one tournament were one would spect the organization would know the reality of an Infinity player. We need space to put our stuff other than the game table itself. In the Pulpis we had 0 space, and all our precious tokens, miniature cases, handbook and other parafernalia had to be put in the very ground for most of my games. Requiring us to crouch every single other activation order to pick up something that was laying there. I literally ended with cramps in my quadriceps as the Interplanetario turned into a peculiar lengthy ‘legs day’ session over the weekend. I really hope that for future Interplanetarios we had at least a 20cm width blank space in one of the sides of the table to put our required gaming stuff. * Heat, lights and A/C: Vigo is humid, Vigo in summer is hot. But this combined with those bright lights in the sides of the tables turns the Interplanetario into a mild sauna session. If you were unlucky to always get assigned a table next to those lights, which I did for all of them except the very last one, you will end drenched in sweat and dizzy in the head. Which is not very comfortable to say at least. * Time Assigned to games: 1hour and 50 minutes is enough for two very experienced players to rush their game and be able to finish it in full. Key words here: ‘Very experienced’ and ‘rush’. I was able to finish my games in full, with both players playing their full 3 rounds. But in opposition a not so experienced player, such as my partner who also played the game, was unable to play more than 2 turns in any game for all the tournament. Giving an extra 15-20 minutes to each round would allow the very experienced players to not have to ‘rush’ at all. Play more calmly and even have time to chill down after a game. And the not so experienced players would be able to play a third turn. Please understand me with this, I get that we are working with a tight schedule, but this would make the game more fun and accesible to everyone. * Schedule Incompatibility: If you were attending the Infinity tournament you were out of time to be able to participate in the demos of the other games. Either the seats for the demos were available, but you were playing the tournament and unable to attend. Or you were finally free for playing the tournament, but then the demo tables were already crowed and there was no free spot for you. A problem who could be solved by scheduling the tournament games better across the weekend. * Table Scenery: I have to admit that most of the tables had ‘acceptable’ scenery. And a bunch of them had stellar scenery in fact. But there were some clearly dreadful tables that offered a bad experience for both players involved. I understand that providing scenery for 90 tables can be a daunting task. But honestly, I would have loved that every single one of the dreadful tables would be filled with scenery that comes from the pre-made packs that CB include in the Code One series rather than the scenery that was offered in the table instead. I played my last game in a table that had scenery more suited to a WH40k table, and would even feel ‘crowded’ in that game, but feel ‘wide open’ and unsuited for a fun Infinity game. The game was still a blast, because my opponent was an amazing person and we both agreed on a handful of quickly made ‘rules’ to overcome the scenery defects partially. But with any other kind of player I can easily see how this WH40k’ish kind of tables can led to an horrible game with both players feeling frustrated… like I saw a couple of times during the Interplanetario. *(EDIT) Infinity Interplanetario Ending: It was a nice thing from CB to put the ending for all of us to watch in the main scenario. But the problem is that as there was no sound of the game to be displayed, neither a caster team commenting the plays, it was impossible to follow what was happening in the game at all. In addition to this, the single camera angle make us unable to see what was on the table. The perspective was such that either the buildings obscured what was happening, or the very players blocked the view with their bodies. A fully cenital camera would have solved this, or at least having another camera from another angle. I really hope that in future Interplanetarios we can properly enjoy the ending match!
Awesome constructive feedback thread . Would love to go myself one day. The new card terrain is so good, it is kind of amazing that they didn’t just use that with maybe some height risers to fill the tables.
Edited the OP with the Interplanetario Ending Match review, as I didn’t include it in the original review.
From a non player's perspective, my own feedback: - Demos: not enough seats, but more important: too little English speakers to demo stuff. Even if most of the crowd is Spanish, there's enough people speaking only English (or not speaking Spanish) at the event for it to be a problem when in the only few drops you can check a demo there's no one available to show you a game because of the barrier langage (I heard that was also a problem within the tournament, amongst players). Only one more folk per game presentend should be enough to cover that. Outside that, demos were very nice and well explained and nicely placed within the venue. - Fan-games and mini activities: on the opposite side of the spectrum, those two things were almost totally absent from the event. I've barely seen the fan-games area being active, maybe only game of Aristeia! and one of Tag Raid/Defiance, I've managed to do the Shooting Range once, but I think there was almost a day where none showed up there, and "Be Bostria for a Day" was full almost every time it was active, but there was half-days were it didn't went on if I recall. - Fast Painting and masterclass: too little seats and way too over-crowded too quickly, but was very fun for the only one I managed to do. Masterclasses were great, loved them, would just be a bit better if properly advertized on where it happens, missed one because of that. - Conferences and on-stage events: perfect, truely adorable cast of speakers and good choices of activities. I agree tho with Rabble about the finale being just a dead silent show. I only understood the game was done for when Weran got announced winner. - About the space/location: city is great and venue is cool. No waiting time, easy in-and-out, cheap food and drinks in the Auditorium to cover needs and the small shop was a nice addition for exclusive stuff. particulary loved the pulpi-coin shop, great idea and nice way of getting some stuff off during the whole event with the slow addition of new stuff each couple of hours <3
