Game Designer Bruno Faidutti Guests at Orccon Los Angeles

Online, February 12, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Prolific French board game designer Bruno Faidutti will be guest of honor this President's Day Weekend, February 18-21, at the Orccon games convention in Los Angeles, held at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel, near the Los Angeles International Airport.

Faidutti will hold a Question and Answer session Saturday morning at 10 am. Gamers can take on the designer at his own games in one of three different sessions - Friday at 5 and 7 pm, and Saturday at noon. Event attendance requires registration for entrance to the convention - $10 for Friday, $25 for Saturday, or $50 for the entire convention. For a limited time, online pre-registration (which costs only $40 for the entire convention) for the convention will allow attendees to pre-register for events, and is highly recommended - sign up is available at http://www.strategicon.net.

His most recently released game Isla Dorada, was designed by Faidutti in collaboration with Andrea Angiolino, Alan R. Moon, and Pier Giorgio Paglia. In Isla Dorada, the player is one of a group of explorers crash-landed onto a mysterious island filled with treasures from ancient civilizations. Players use maps and clues to discover treasures while braving the dangers of Isla Dorada.

Faidutti enjoys playing many types of games. His favorite games to play? "A few years ago, I would have answered poker, but I've started to be bored with it," said Faidutti. "So, depending on the moment, one of Cosmic Encounter, Ticket to Ride, Settlers of Catan, Ave Caesar, Gift Trap, Faces, [or] Compatibility."

Faidutti's favorite of his own games is Isla Dorada. "I'm also quite proud of Citadels, Castle, Fist of Dragonstones or Key Largo," said Faidutti. "What I like in Isla Dorada is that it's extremely fun and interactive without being a party game.... it feels like a classic eurogame and is nevertheless really fun and interactive."

Will attendees to Faidutti's Q&A session get tips to winning his games? Probably not -- "I tend to think that a game for which there are winning strategies is not a good game." Faidutti says. "I try to have games enough well balanced so that there is no definite winning strategy. I also try to design games [that are] unpredictable so that you cannot decide in advance on a strategy for the whole game."

Faidutti is surprisingly most proud, not of his games, but of his Ph.D. in history -- and his dissertation, a treatise on the reality of the unicorn in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. More about Faidutti, including his dissertation (in French only), his philosophy on games, and the list of games that would make up his "ideal game library" (in French and English) can be found at http://www.faidutti.com/.

Strategicon hosts conventions in Southern California including Orccon (Presidents Day Weekend), Gamex (Memorial Day Weekend), and Gateway (Labor Day Weekend). Orccon offers attendees the chance to play a variety of board games, card games, miniatures, roleplaying, collectibles, and computer games.

ORCCON 2011
LAX Sheraton Gateway Hotel
6101 West Century Blvd., Los Angeles, California 90045
Presidents' Day Weekend
February 18th-21st
http://www.strategicon.net

$50.00 Full Con Pass ($40 if pre-registered)
$10.00 One Day Pass (Friday, Monday)
$25.00 One Day Pass (Saturday, Sunday)
$5.00 Child One Day Pass (with pass purchase by accompanying adult)