Before heading out from DHMG HQ, Stephanie Straw sacrifices her fingers and thumbs to create a beautiful Brew Crafters prototype.

This year, the Mini had to get an upgrade so we could load up all the games and goodies for the con!

Tuesday night Stephanie and I met up with Ruth, Tiffany, Darrell and TC to check out the empty booth. I have no idea what’s going on in this photo.

Our favorite little gaming spot at Origins is the Big Bar on 2 in the Hyatt. Here, TC acts creepy. Well, creepier than usual.

Sonne und Mond! I didn’t get a chance to play, but the cards and art are amazing.

Darrell is not too crazy about his roll in Wurfel Bohnanza. The dice version of the classic card game might just be better than the original!

Darrell’s mini game, Bottom of the Ninth, got a ton of play at the con. He and Mike Mullins created the baseball game on a whim at PAX East and the game is already publish-ready.

Matt Wolfe tries his hand at bat in Bottom of the Ninth.

Since we had a huge group at the bar, we decided to break out Don’t Get Eated from TC. Look for Don’t Get Eated from Dice Hate Me Games on Kickstarter early next year!

Don’t Get Eated even has a spinner! And it’s awesome.

The seedy side of Origins After Dark at Char Bar.

The double-sized Dice Hate Me Games booth!

The Stronghold Games booth, home of our convention buddy and booth island partner Stephen Buonocore.

Our corner of the con in the exhibitor’s hall.

A flurry of action in the booth playing Diner before heading out to eat on set-up day.

An Origins tradition – BD’s Mongolian Wok.

Late night Marvel Dice Masters with Darrell Louder. We wanted to get in some practice before our sealed booster draft tournament later in the week.

Launius!

Our good buddy and leader of The Geek All-Stars, Dan Patriss, teaches Belle of the Ball in the booth on opening day.

Darrell running demos of Compounded in the booth. That table was never empty.

The Great Heartland Hauling Co. designer Jason Kotarski signs a copy for a fan. We sold out of the game in a day and a half!

Stephanie throws down against a challenger in Angry Dice.

Diner!

TC cuddles up with the Dice Hate Me Games floor cling – proving, once again, that I can’t have nice things.

Matt Riddle steals my seat in a game of Glass Road.

An after-hours demo run of Brew Crafters! The game was played several time during the convention and the buzz was really high.

Splendor! I wasn’t exactly impressed by my first play of this game, but that may have been because of all the hype.

One of the cutest games of the con was Fun Farm. Several of us brought copies home. Here, Stephanie demonstrates her cat-like reflexes and Rain Man brain. It was pretty ridiculous trying to play against her.

This was one of my favorite moments of the con – a couple of minutes before Ken Grazier proposed to his girlfriend Sam during a game of Compounded.

TC demonstrates VivaJava Dice for The Dice Tower.

The heart of the booth!

I got a big shock Friday night – a surprise 40th birthday party thrown for me at The Three-Legged Mare.

My awful/awesome friends! Probably one of my most memorable birthday celebrations.

The amazing cake! Of course TC Petty III steals the spotlight, once again.

The Watch It Played card game, designed by Seth Jaffee. In the game, you’re trying to create the most buzz around your board game videos. The humor in the game is great, with hilarious user names and video comments that anyone who is familiar with the hobby will find spot on.

Camp Khaki with designer Jason Kotarski. In the game, players are playing scouts on a retreat, trying to take pictures of nature and earn merit badges. There is a unique “messy card” mechanic that is a ton of fun.

Matt Riddle and Ben Pinchback join the Dice Hate Me Games booth to show off their real-time dice-rolling racing game, Monster Truck Mayhem. Mayhem did, indeed, ensue and the game drew a big crowd to the booth. Look for Monster Truck Mayhem from Dice Hate Me Games in spring of 2015!

Diner action with game designer Matthew O’Malley! Diner will be available for retail in September.

Marvel Dice Masters tourney at the Big Bar on 2! All of us were really into it. Well, most of us, anyway.

Wizkids had some previews of the dice from the upcoming Marvel Dice Masters X-Men expansion.

New Bedford in the DHMG booth on Sunday morning. New Bedford will be on Kickstarter this fall!

It wouldn’t be Origins without the plague bin over at the Chessex booth.

Caption this.

Playing Roll For It! at the Three-Legged Mare on Sunday night.

Blueprints at the Big Bar on 2. I still have yet to play this game, even though I ruined a copy with a glass of whiskey at Unpub 4.

Fasttrack from Blue Orange Games! This classic dexterity game is the perfect bar game, and I highly recommend it for anyone’s collection.

Darrell decides that TC’s face is a better canvas than the transparency sheets in Doodle Quest.

Doodle Quest was surprisingly fun and challenging. I wish I had picked up a copy at the show.

Stephanie hugs it out with a poofy Kaiju on our last day at Origins.