Our Germany Adventure: 45 Years in the Making

Welcome to the first installment of another series on our travel adventures. We began planning for this trip before we even spent our first day in Italy in 2024. You can find the first installment of our adventures in Italy by clicking here. We typically plan our trips this way. Once one trip is finalized, we'll start pre-planning the next adventure. Not only does this give us something to look forward to, it allows us maximum flexibility to choose what we want to do, how we want to do it and when we want to do it. 

Schloss Lieser

As I mentioned earlier, we had pretty much finished planning our Italy trip when we decided upon our next destination. Both Cindy and I enjoy the sweet white wines of Germany, specifically the Mosel Rieslings. My absolute favorite is an Auslese. For many years, decades even, I've wanted to visit the Mosel Valley to see where the grapes are grown and the wines are made. We decided this would be our next adventure: Visiting the Mosel Valley and experiencing everything in the heart of the German wine country.

As a reminder, any links in blue will open in a new window. You won't lose your place here. Clicking on a photo will display a larger version of it.

When it comes to travel, we use only one travel agent: William Luke. I first met Will when he was a Personal Vacation Planner for Carnival Cruise Line. Once he left Carnival to open his own travel planning business, Cindy and I naturally started using him for all of our travel needs. He provides concierge-level service and seems to always be available. When I'm on the phone with him, he makes me feel like we're his only client, and will stay on the line until all of our questions are answered. There is no rush on his part to just conclude the business at hand and move on to the next client.

Just how dedicated is Will to helping us out? We sent him an email late on a Sunday evening to begin very preliminary planning for Germany. We expressed that we wanted to stay in the heart of the Mosel Valley, but we were NOT making any solid plans just yet. "This is just for our information only. Please take your time with this, as we won't make any decisions any time soon." The very next morning, we had a huge list of detailed information on several hotels where we wanted to stay. See what I mean about concierge-level service? We made it clear we were just "info gathering" and Will sent us plenty of information to look at. Thank you, Will! 

Fast forward to 2025, and we are now planning our trip in earnest. With Will's help, we selected Schloss Lieser as our first hotel to begin our trip. We specifically booked a "vineyard view" room and they delivered in spades. More on that it a bit, though.

Our original plan was to fly into Frankfurt, then take a commuter flight to Salzburg, Austria to experience a night of Mozart's music and explore Salzburg. After a hard look, though, we realized this would take two days of travel out of our time there, so we scratched that idea and decided to head straight into the Mosel Valley for the first few days. Looking at the map, we discovered just how close to Luxembourg and Belgium we were. 

The lightbulb came on in my head and now Bastogne was a destination to explore. Cindy studied the train system extensively, and we realized that this would be our primary mode of transportation in Germany. We finalized our itinerary, had Will book our hotels, and searched for the best flights. 

Itinerary

Day 1: Arrival into Frankfurt, then train to Lieser

Day 2 (our first full day): Wine tasting, exploring Bernkastel-Kues

Day 3: Day trip to Cologne

Day 4: Wine tasting and exploring Bernkastel-Kues

Day 5: Depart Lieser for Bastogne via train and bus

Day 6: Explore Bastogne and depart for Luxembourg

Day 7: Depart Luxembourg for Traben-Trarbach

Day 8: Depart Traben-Trarbach for Frankfurt

Day 9: Day trip to Fulda/Point Alpha

Day 10: Depart Frankfurt for home

On the surface, it looks like a full speed ahead itinerary, but we did build in some slack time as well, as you'll read later. As with any plans, we hit a few snags along the way, but managed to adapt, improvise and overcome. Besides, those "snags" usually make for good memories later. 

Cindy and I try to use points for travel when we can, instead of paying cash. This might limit some of our options, but overall it does save a lot of money and we still have many options to choose from. Optimally, we wanted a direct flight from Houston to Frankfurt, but based on our actual travel dates, we ended up booking KLM from Houston (IAH) to Amsterdam (AMS) then onto Frankfurt (FRA) with KLM's regional carrier Cityhopper. We flew with Cityhopper from AMS to Venice (VCE) on our Italy trip in 2024, so we were already familiar with them.

Our travel day finally arrived after more than a year of detailed planning and we were ready to go. A co-worker drove us to IAH from our house so we wouldn't have to pay for parking. He'd also pick us up on our return. 

IAH - AMS

KL662

PH-BQM (777-206ER)

dep IAH rwy 15L, arv AMS rwy 18R

Of all the trips we've flown internationally, this was the first time flying on a B-777 for either of us. Fun fact: the GE-90 engines on a B-777 are about the same diameter as the fuselage of a B-737. Wow!

A quick general note about our air travel preferences. To avoid confusion, I call the seats we select "business lite." Different airlines call these seats by different names, such as Premium Select, Premium Economy, Premium, etc. Rather than using the specific marketing term for each segment, we just call it "business lite." The seats are a little wider than standard economy and usually follow a 2-4-2 configuration, or something similar. There's a bit more legroom and most of these seats have an extendable footrest. While not quite the luxury of Business Class, it works just fine for us. We pick the window and adjoining seat, which means it's just Cindy and me. Perfect! Most of the time, Business Lite also gives us priority check-in and better meals, too.

We planned to get to IAH a few hours early to allow time for international check-in, baggage drop, and the never-ending threat of bad Houston traffic. With TSA Pre-check through Global Entry, we breezed through baggage drop and security with minimal waiting....about 25 minutes total from drop off to walking into the lounge. Thankfully, we had access to the KLM Crown Lounge through one of our cards, so we were able to relax, keep our phones fully charged, and enjoy complimentary food and drinks before our flight. In all, we spent about two hours in the lounge before making our way to the gate. 

I love to take photos of our aircraft from the gate, but due to the way it was oriented, I couldn't get a clear shot of it. No worries, there will be plenty of other photo ops. 

Boarding was fast and efficient, and we got settled quickly. As is our custom, we purchased some Lindt and Dove chocolates as a thank-you for our cabin crew. We like to do this with each international flight we take. Flight Attendants have a tough job, so if this gesture makes even a little difference (it did!), then our goal was accomplished. 

View from our seats

Obligatory boarding selfie (OBS)

Yep, this is a Newman tradition: We have to take an "OBS" because....

Well, because!

We're traveling and having fun. We need to capture these fun times for memories.

With no scale, it's hard to appreciate just how massive the 777 is. It's huge! We pushed back right on time and taxied to 15L for departure. The acceleration was both rapid and smooth. The one minor downside to this aircraft was the lack of overhead gasper vents. These are those swiveling, adjustable air vents found on most passenger aircraft. Throughout the flight, this made the cabin feel stuffy, at least to me. 

Climbing out of IAH

Our route took us northeast out of Houston then a more easterly course as we approached the New England area. Our amenity kits included the standard sleeping mask, ear plugs and a toothbrush, as well as a menu for our meal selections. 

Dinner

Drinks

For the vast majority of my international flights, most of them tended to depart in the early evening or even at night. Our flight to AMS, though, left just after 3 pm. I mention this only to illustrate that when trying to get some sleep on the flight to mitigate the jet lag, leaving in the early afternoon made it difficult for me to take a long nap. Well, it wasn't just the earlier departure. It was also the cabin temperature. I'm warm-natured in general, and with the lack of an appreciable airflow, the whole flight felt unduly warm to me.

Let's try the Negroni

It was....different. Not necessarily bad, but.....different. I offered Cindy a sip and the look on her face told me everything I needed to know. "Ugh, this tastes like cough syrup!" That's exactly how I describe Southern Comfort. Would I have another? Probably not. Was I happy to have tried it? Definitely. I've discovered some tasty cocktails by just....trying it.

Not long after our drinks were served, our meals arrived. Both of us selected the chicken in adobo. I debated back and forth between that and the beef, but ultimately the chicken won. 

Time to eat

Real silverware with a cloth napkin made this feel like more of a restaurant meal than an inflight meal. Those peppers were tender and sweet, and the chicken wasn't dry as it tends to be with these types of meals. Overall, I'd order it again.

The sun cast a big glare through our window, so Cindy asked me to close the shade. No worries. I had a nice IFE (inflight entertainment) screen to occupy my attention. I started re-watching The Hail Mary Project, but eventually picked a suitable audiotrack to listen to while alternating the different map displays.

Are we there yet?

This was about the time I tried, I really tried, to take a nap. No joy, though. Between the warm cabin and it being just too early by my biological clock, I managed only a short, light nap. Better than nothing, I guess. 

I mentioned earlier that the FAs seemed to appreciate our chocolate gift. At least six different Flight Attendants, including the Purser, dropped by our seats to thank us for the candy. Both Cindy and I were happy that they enjoyed a small treat.

About an hour out of AMS, our breakfast arrived. A cup of black coffee and this breakfast would help get us through the next several hours.

Breakfast menu

Those that know me know that I detest bananas. As in really, really despise them. Even as a baby I didn't like bananas. So, I gave Cindy my banana serving and she gave me her French Toast serving. Win-win all the way around.

One more meal

With breakfast done, and landing just a short time away, we got ready for the next part of the trip, a short flight to FRA then trains to Wittlich and a taxi ride to Schloss Lieser. It was, literally, "planes, trains and automobiles." 

We arrived on 18R, just before sunrise. From previous experience, we weren't going to waste any time, other than a bathroom break, before passing through passport control. The last time we did that was our trip to Italy in 2024, and the lines there were enormous. We made the mistake last time of fooling around in the terminal before going through passport control and were stressed about missing our connecting flight. We did make it, but neither of us wanted to experience that stress again. Our bags were checked through to FRA, so we didn't have that extra hassle of baggage claim and re-clearing security.

With the new European Entry/Exit System (EES), everything is automated. That's great, when it works. We heard horror stories of chaos when the system crashed, so we planned for the worst and hoped for the best. 

Turns out, it went pretty smoothly, at least for me. The hardest part was figuring out the proper orientation of my passport in the reader. Once that was done, it scanned my right four fingers and my initial processing into the Schengen was done. It sent me to "Route 2," which is one side of the room, yet Cindy was directed to "Route 1." I stood in line for maybe five minutes, scanned my passport and had my photo taken and that was it. Done!

It took Cindy about 25 minutes due to some technical issue or other, but it was still much faster than what we experienced in 2024. For those who want to collect passport stamps, this new system doesn't do that. Sorry folks, but those days are gone until something else comes along.

With passport control out of the way, we stopped for coffee and walked to our next terminal. Schiphol is huge, but this walk allowed us to stretch our legs and helped us wake up. 

My next installment will cover the flight from AMS to FRA, the train ride to Wittlich, and the rest of our arrival day. 

Have any of y'all experienced the new EES yet? What did you think about it? I'd love to see your thoughts in the comment section below. 

Until next time.....

carpe cerevisi

Board Games, Biscuits and Gravy

It should come as no surprise to anyone who's been following my blog for any length of time that I tend to procrastinate. I will let several months lapse between blogs or attend an event and put off writing about it until it's no longer timely. This one is no exception, either. Better late than never, right?

So, I'll fix at least one of these transgressions and write about our time at the Southern Board Game Festival in Lafayette, Louisiana. "SoBo," as it's commonly referred to, is a board game convention that is "the premiere annual fundraiser" for the New Hope Lafayette foundation for under-resourced kids.  This year's SoBo was our fourth time attending, and both Cindy and I consider it to be our "home con." I'll elaborate on that a bit later. 

As a reminder to my readers, clicking on any link in blue will open in a new window. You won't lose your place here. Clicking on any photo will open a large-format version in a new window as well.

I first heard about SoBo in July of 2019, just a few months after that year's event. I found it after stumbling across an intriguing game called Captains of the Gulf on BGG.com. I don't remember exactly how I came across this game on BGG, but fate decided we should meet. In this game, you play the captain of a fishing boat in the Gulf of Mexico. One of the "homeports" in the game is Corpus Christi, Texas. That immediately caught my eye, and I knew I just had to have this game. What are the mechanics? How many players? Complicated or easy? I don't care! My hometown is featured in it, and I want it....now!

I searched the BGG forums for this game and found this thread specifically asking about the availability of "CotG." For those who don't want to follow that link, I posted a comment on that thread, and someone named "BJ from Board Game Gumbo" told me about SoBo. Well, since we just missed the previous event, sign me up for next year!

Did you notice that I started that conversation in 2019? We all know what happened later that year, and how COVID shut down everything. It wouldn't be until 2022 that SoBo would get going again. 

SoBo: A Brief History

While I could rehash SoBo's history, that guy "BJ from Board Game Gumbo" has already done so, quite eloquently, on his own blog, which you can find here. I encourage you to read it before proceeding with my blog. It will give you a great background on SoBo and set the stage for what's to come. In fact, I encourage you to peruse his blog site for other fantastic blogs on SoBo and board gaming in general. That's not all, though, oh, no! If you're more of a visual person, like me, BJ has a YouTube channel and a Facebook page dedicated to gaming. Look for his "Gumbo Live" on either of these platforms. 

During the COVID shutdowns, I interacted with BJ on these platforms and built a strong rapport with him in these virtual settings. I had yet to meet him in person, but I knew it would be just a matter of time before I did. 

This year marked the sixth SoBo festival. OK, not bad, we only missed the first two. 

2018: SoBo debuts

2019

2022: Our first time attending

2023

2025

2026

As 2020 came to a close, we became hopeful that  2021 would see a return of SoBo and our chance to experience it in person. In either 2020 or, more likely, 2021, we actually bought tickets to attend the 2021 SoBo, which was canceled as well. At the time, SoBo offered to refund the price of our tickets or "hold" them as a credit for when SoBo eventually resumed. Being the optimists we are, we asked them to just keep our funds as credit. 

Now what?

We improvise!

Cindy and I decided to hold our own "mini-con," one weekend in September of 2021. We picked several games as our "library," including Captains of the Gulf and the follow-on Crescent City Cargo. I backed Crescent City Cargo on Kickstarter and opted to include a re-print of CotG. We dedicated all of that Saturday to gaming. No chores, no errands, or anything not related to board games.

"Seaux Beaux (West)"

Fast forward to early 2022. SoBo was.....a GO! Yay! Hotel room booked in Lafayette, Higgins booked for boarding at "The Biscuit," and a few of our personal games packed and ready to go. Many years ago, when I worked as an offshore rig medic, we would crew change out of Intracoastal City, LA. From the Houston area, "I took I-10 east and hung a right in Lafayette." Having made that drive several times, I knew we could do it in about 3 1/2 hours. That's actually half an hour shorter than our drive to San Antonio. Go figure.

SoBo was scheduled to run Saturday and Sunday, 3/19 - 3/20. We left mid-morning on Friday and planned to stay until Monday morning to give us as much time as possible to enjoy the experience and avoid driving so early in the morning or late at night. It's not that we can't drive early in the morning or late at night, it's that we choose not to. We'd rather seep in and take a more leisurely pace. Besides, the hotel had a breakfast buffet included in the price.

Right this way...

Through these doors...

Let's do this! After receiving our badges, we walked through the doors and into a wonderland of games and fun. After "getting the lay of the land," my next goal was to finally meet, in person, BJ (not to be confused with Hawkeye's friend). Ah, there he is, let's go, Cindy!

BJ Rozas: The man, the myth, the legend!

Throughout the con, we would run into BJ and meet several others who made SoBo such a success. We even got a chance to play a game or two with BJ, despite how busy he was. All of the SoBo staff are volunteers, and devote many hours of their time to ensure a smoothly run operation. After four times at SoBo, I have yet to see any major problems or issues. 

Two Newmans (but not related)

We met John Newman, who's the CEO of New Hope Lafayette and overall "showrunner" at SoBo. An avid gamer himself, John spent his time between checking on operations and sitting at a gaming table. I got to play CotG with him later than evening. He clobbered me, if I recall correctly. Just you wait, John, I'll have my victory yet! Maybe. I came close this year, in Food Truck Race. I didn't win, but at least I scored higher than he did. I'll take it!

Main gaming area

This main gaming area, also known as "open gaming," is where most of the action takes place. People would use their badge to check out a game from the library and play it. Have your own game that you'd like to play? Cool, bring it out and see if you can get others to join you. This is the perfect opportunity to play your favorite game at a higher player count. Since Cindy and I usually play by ourselves at home, playing a game with more players changes the experience, sometimes by a lot. This past year, we played Wine Cellar with the maximum number of players: eight. While perfectly fine to play with just two players, up to this point, the most we've ever played with was four, including us. This year we played wth eight and the game's dynamic changed drastically. Whatever strategy I thought I had went right out the window. 

While the primary purpose of us attending a board game convention is to play games, most cons, including SoBo, also offer other activities. "Geaux Pub" is a place to playtest games that game designers are hoping to publish. Just think of the rulebooks you've (hopefully) read when unboxing a new game. In the back, there's usually a "Thanks to the following playtesters, who made this game possible," followed by a long list of names. Wouldn't it be cool to see your name on a list like that? At our first SoBo, I actually got to playtest two different games. 

Hurricane

I've said over and over that a game with a good theme will always catch my eye. Being raised on the Texas Gulf Coast, we lived with the threat of hurricanes every summer. Particularly bad storms leave lasting impressions not only on the land and buildings, but people, too. When Hurricane Celia struck my hometown in 1970, I was still a young boy, but it left me with profound memories. You can read all about it here. In the playtest area, this game called "Hurricane" naturally caught my eye, and I started talking to Woody Hutsell, Co-founder of HutChu Games. A game about hurricane response management? And much like Captains of the Gulf, the Texas Gulf Coast was part of the play area. Sign me up! 

Cindy and I signed up for one of the playtest sessions, and Woody talked us through the game. As we played it, and asked questions, Woody had his wife note all the questions and comments we made. Even at this early stage of development, I told Woody that I'd seen enough and was ready to back his project on whatever crowdfunding platform he used. We talked more about the game after the session ended and promised to stay in touch. Imagine my surprise, then, when a few weeks after the con, I got an email from Woody asking what I thought about two different cards from the game. "I like version A better, because...." About a year later, we met up at BGG Con for another playtest of Hurricane. He had incorporated a few changes that improved the game's flow. As of now (2026), he's still polishing it and making it the best game he can before launching a crowdfunding campaign. I'm looking forward to it!

T-Helper

At last year's SoBo, Woody introduced me to another work in progress, then called T-Helper. It's a card-based game involving cellular immunology, and I loved it! Don't let the title or my description alarm you. You DON'T need a medical or science degree to play or enjoy this game. Boiled down, it's essentially a set-collection game with a strong science theme. See? There's that whole "theme" thing again. 

I played an updated and revised edition this year, and it has only gotten better. According to Woody, it's alllllmost ready for release. Just like Hurricane, my finger is poised on the "Back this Now" button. 

THE Jay Bell

Jay Bell is a fixture at SoBo and another game designer. We playtested his prototype game LudoCraft, which is a game about... games. Yes, you read that correctly! It's a game about designing, publishing, and selling board games. This was another fun game to play, even at its early design stage. 

LudoCraft

This year, we playtested his newest creation, "Decklaration." Jay, if I got the title wrong, please let me know so I can correct it. Jay described this as a "deck crafting" game instead of a deck-building game. It also has a unique negotiation mechanic that promotes high player interaction (and a LOT of laughs). I was so caught up in playing that I forgot to take any photos of this game. Oops!

Some of the more complex games might be a bit intimidating to someone who's used to "lighter" games. At a board game convention, I don't want to spend half an hour or more just reading the rulebook to learn how to set up and play a game. That's where guided playthroughs come in. A guided playthrough is a game that is taught by someone well-versed in it, or, better yet, the actual game designer. This person will already have a game set up, teach it to the participants, and then guide them through the actual gameplay. Remember when I mentioned how I even learned about SoBo? That's right, Captains of the Gulf! I acquired this through a Kickstarter campaign when Crescent City Cargo was launched as part of a set. I signed up for a guided playthrough of Crescent City Cargo hosted by none other than the actual designer of both games: Jason Dinger. How cool is that?

I contacted Jason before the con and asked if he'd consider signing my rulebooks. He was delighted to do so, and I made sure to bring both books with us to the playthrough. Cindy and I had already played "CCC" a few times at home, but I thought this would be a good way to ensure we were playing it correctly. I also wanted to get his insight on why certain actions in the game were designed the way they were.

Crescent City Cargo

I discovered during this playthrough that while I was playing the game correctly according to the rules, I wasn't necessarily playing it efficiently. Jason offered some tips on improving my "engine" on future plays that would boost my score. He explained his reasoning to us from a thematic perspective, which changed how I looked at the game.

The following year, 2023, he brought his prototype of Acadiens, the third game of the trilogy. Much like Woody and Jay, even the prototype of this game is enough to make me want to buy or back it the second it's ready to go. 

BJ teaching/guiding Vantage

 I've had my eye on the game Vantage since it came out. Unlike most of the other games from Stonemaier Games, this one offers a free-flowing "sandbox" type of game that gives players a huge amount of freedom to do whatever they want. The only reason I haven't obtained this game yet is the price. I'm happy to wait a little longer for the price to come down before buying it. I'm sure it's well worth the current price, given everything I've heard about it thus far, but I also need to be realistic. 

At this year's SoBo, I was given the privilege of hosting two guided playthroughs. I had never hosted a playthrough before, so this would be my first. Naturally, I was a bit anxious about doing a good job and knowing the games well enough to not have to constantly look through the rulebooks. The first game, Food Truck Race, was one I backed on Kickstarter and only recently received. Cindy and I got to see a demo version of this game two years ago at BGG Con before it went live on Kickstarter. This game will be the subject of a future blog, so I won't go into too many details here. Given that this has only recently been released, none of the players were familiar with the game. I kept the teach as brief as possible while still covering all the important aspects of the game. I then let them play on their own until specific questions came up. By the end of the game, everyone seemed happy with the playthrough, so I'll count that as a win. The player in the black hoodie, in the background, had an inherent knack for the game and won handily over the other three as if he'd been playing this game for a while.

Ugh, I take terrible selfies! I wanted to capture the moment, though, and the players were happy to oblige. During the playthrough, the owner of Cousin Joe's Cater De Cajun food truck was walking through the venue, letting everyone know lunch was ready. He saw this game and asked if I would take the box outside to his truck after the game for some pictures. Of course I would! Besides, I was hungry and wanted some of his delicious jambalaya he had prepared that day. The following photos are from his camera, and he graciously allowed me to use them here.

After lunch, it was time for my second guided playthrough: Clank! Catacombs with the new Underworld expansion. Like Food Truck Race, I backed the Underworld expansion on Kickstarter. Clank! Catacombs is already hard enough to win, but the Underworld expansion adds a whole new level of danger: "big risks for big rewards." When playing with this expansion, it's not mandatory to visit the Underworld to win. It's there to offer the unwary player a chance for big treasure. Just watch out for all the hazards you'll encounter. 

Clank! Catacombs base game

Underworld expansion

Notice how the Underworld is separate from the main dungeon? You access the Underworld through specific tiles that have a ladder or chute to the Underworld. 

All four players who signed up for this playthrough were already familiar with Clank! Catacombs, but not the expansion. This allowed for a shorter teach and more time for them to play. Two of the four were obviously well-versed in the Clank! world and routinely played many cards from their deck each turn, allowing for some pretty impressive play. I learned some useful strategies from them to use the next time I play.

After the game, two of the players stayed behind to help me pack up, which was much appreciated. Both said they had fun and were glad to have a chance to play the new expansion.

To the SoBo organizers, THANK YOU for trusting me to host my very first guided playthroughs. I sincerely hope I did a good job and that there were no complaints on your post-con survey. I had fun and will happily do it again should the need arise.

Both Cindy and I have adopted a plan for any game con we attend. We try to balance playing both longer, heavier games with shorter, lightweight games. Game cons are a fantastic way to "test drive" a game before actually buying it. Some games get a lot of hype on game forums or surge in popularity polls. When we sit down to play them, though, the game falls flat for us. And that's perfectly fine. Different strokes for different folks, right? 

Conversely, we'll be looking through the con's library and find something that might be interesting to play, or it might not. Reading the box, it looks like a short-playing game, so we'll give it a try. And sometimes be very pleasantly surprised. This year, a few games turned out to be real gems for us.

Sunset Over Water

The artwork in this game blew me away. I was impressed with all the cards, and this lightweight game would be a perfect fit for our library. Average play time per game was just 20 minutes. Perfect for a game night "palate cleanser."

Kites

In contrast to the serene beauty of Sunset Over Water is the frenetically paced game Kites. This is a real-time game like Kitchen Rush, where those sand timers you see are your worst enemy. Kites is a cooperative game, so all players win or lose together. Once those sand timers are flipped, it's controlled chaos at best. This game is the perfect antidote for the post-lunch lethargy. The adrenaline rush from this game will chase away the drowsiness and give that needed energy boost. Once any of those sand timers run out, it's game over. Easy game to learn, difficult game to win.

Geaux Parade

This cute little card game was just begging to be played. Produced by Gentilly Games, Geaux Parade pits each player against each other to see who can organize the best Mardi Gras parade. As soon as I played the first game, I knew I had to have it in our collection. It was that fun. But first, though, I had to wait to see if I had won a copy from SoBo. I mentioned these three games specifically because they were on the "Play to Win" table. Check out the game, play it, and return it. Each person in your group who played the game is eligible to win it as long as their badge is scanned at checkout. At the end of each con day, names from all the play-to-win games would be drawn, and the lucky winner would get a copy of that game. Alas, I didn't win Geaux Parade in the drawing, but I did order it as soon as we got back to the hotel that night. 

As a brief aside, I thought Geaux Parade would pair perfectly with two other New Orleans/Mardi Gras-themed games we already have: Big Easy Busking and French Quarter. I see a game night with a Mardi Gras theme in the future. Who's in?

SoBo wouldn't be possible without a cadre of volunteers spending many hours beforehand organizing such an event. Here is a "roll the credits" list of SoBo's organizers. Any omissions are my fault alone.

CEO, New Hope Lafayette: John Newman

Volunteer Director: Mitchell

Head Game Librarian: Marshall

Geaux Pub: Jeremy & Josh

Hot Games: Logan & Jamie

Play to Win (PTW): BJ

Scheduled Games: Connor

Virtual Flea Mkt: Logan

Tech Services: Matt

To ALL the volunteers who make SoBo such a well-run game con, well done! A big round of applause to each and every one of you!

Southern Louisiana's food culture meshes perfectly with SoBo. For our first two trips to SoBo, the venue was the Student Union Building on the University of Louisiana - Lafayette campus. Dining options were either the on-site cafeteria or a service like DoorDash. In 2023, our second SoBo foray, the event was held in October, during Lafayette's annual Festivals Acadiens et  Créoles. Even better, this festival was right across the street in a neighboring park from ULL's Student Union Building! That was a fun year! Entrance to the festival is free, and you can come and go at your leisure. Need a break from hours of board gaming? Hungry? No problem! Just head outside, cross the street, and listen to some good Zydeco music as you satisfy your hunger with a catfish po' boy or some red beans and rice or many other options.

Starting last year, and again this year, the venue moved to the downtown convention center. While you could still use DoorDash if you wanted, SoBo had a food truck there each day of the con to satisfy your cravings. Yummy food just outside the door of the con. Oh, yes, yes, yes!

Cindy and I prefer booking a hotel that includes breakfast in the price. We eat a good breakfast before heading to the con and plan on eating lunch (and possibly dinner) on-site to maximize our gaming time. We also bring snacks, but always "game-friendly" snacks that won't leave residue on the game pieces or the board. 

Last year, we decided to celebrate Cindy's birthday with BJ and his wife the night before SoBo started. We asked them to pick a casual place that they liked, and BJ suggested Social Southern Table & Bar. We decided to Uber from our hotel to the restaurant and back so we could both enjoy drinks without having to drive afterward. 

Cindy, me, Linda and BJ

This was our first time meeting Linda, and what a blast we all had. Conversation flowed back and forth all night so easily that someone listening at a nearby table could easily mistake us for lifelong friends. As if the evening couldn't get any better, the food was incredible. We ordered two appetizers to share.

Pork belly burnt ends

Baked feta

Those pork belly burnt ends were covered with a blueberry BBQ sauce, and had it been offered in an entree size, I would've ordered it that way. Deeee-licious! The feta was good, too, but as a dedicated carnivore, those pork belly bites held me captive.

 The entrees were just as good, and by the time I finished mine, I had just enough room for a bite or two of dessert.

Smoke fried chicken and biscuits

Appalachian Heirloom Grits

Blondie with ice cream

With such great food and great conversation, I was surprised when I glanced at my watch and saw it was just past 9 pm. Wow! BJ mentioned that it had been a long day for them, and as much as they wanted to stay and visit, they needed to call it a day. After such a big meal, Cindy and I were ready to go back to the hotel as well. I told Cindy that I'd order our Uber once we paid the bill. "Oh no, you're not," Linda said, "There's no reason why we can't drop you off at your hotel. You're riding with us!" 

Yes, ma'am!

As they drove us back to the hotel, BJ suggested a good Italian place for lunch the next day, since we'd have all day to explore Lafayette before the con started. So far, his picks were spot on. Not that we were surprised by that.

The next day, we stopped by Sarrica's Little Italy as BJ suggested and had another meal that far exceeded our expectations. 

Nice mural!

Bread and olive oil

Pizza Arrabbiata

Limoncello cake

"Social" was such a good restaurant that Cindy and I ate there again this year. I don't know why I even bothered to get a menu, since I ordered the same dishes as I did last year. Our server, Kole, was a real rock star and treated us more like the restaurant's owner than just another customer. I asked to speak to the manager in order to brag about Kole's top-notch service. 

Trevor, the on-duty manager, dropped by our table, and I told him how appreciative we were of such good service and good food. Knowing how busy a restaurant manager can be, I intended to make it a quick "thank you for everything," but we ended up having a most pleasant, extended conversation. I mentioned that we were here for SoBo and had looked forward to eating at "Social" again since our last visit. Trevor, if you happen to read this blog, please know that y'all are at the top of our list the next time we make it back to Lafayette.

This year, we decided to have breakfast at Parish Biscuit Company, another of BJ's stellar recommendations. As a bonus, we got to meet our friend Caroline and get caught up on the last few years. Thank you, Caroline, for joining us. It made our day.

Biscuit Two Step

As much as I love biscuits and gravy, it's not the most healthy choice for breakfast. That's why I limit myself to this scrumptious dish to once every few months. The "Two Step" is two fluffy biscuits with two different gravies: sausage gravy and smoked sausage/Tasso gravy. Like everything else we've had so far, this simple dish packed a LOT of flavor. This is another place that will get top priority when choosing where to eat the next time we're in Lafayette. 

I'll close this blog with one final picture that I think epitomizes SoBo. This is why Cindy and I consider it to be our "home con." We attended our first SoBo in 2022 as strangers and left that same con as family. To me, SoBo is more of a family reunion than a board game convention.

That's a wrap for 2026

photo courtesy of Cody Romero

Coming up next, I'll resume my series on our trip to Madeira and write about our private jeep tour of the island's west side.

Until next time....

carpe cerevisi