Hi Happy Gamer. I'm sorry to hear you did not enjoy the game at Gen Con, but thank you for having taken the time to try it out. The game is designed to have a balance between when to play actions, and when not to. 1/3 of the actions are designed to make any player, regardless of their situation in the game, able to open up new opportunities for victory. This may make the first game seem more chaotic than normal, especially at higher player counts, as people learn when to play, and when not to play the actions they hold. All playtesters of No Escape have also reported that they have completely different play experience at different player counts. The 7-8 player count game often plays more as a beer and pretzel style of game, which has been included as a recommendation in the final version of the rules.

Thank you for your reply. My GC experience may have been partly due to the demo-er showing up 15-20min late due to being in a line to obtain promotional product for his personal game collection. I'm also wondering if it might be ideal to demo the game in its optimal player count ... Two games of 4 instead of one 8-player game. That many players when everyone is learning really hurt the flow of the game, which based on this video is a key part of the enjoyment. I always give a game two tries before making a final personal rating, but the first impression here was not good.

Thank you for your honest Feedback, this is something we did not know happened, and we will be following up on this. We actually had recommended to demo the game at 4-6 players for first-time players to give everyone the best chance to learn the game, and 2 copies were available. We'll make sure future game demo's (for any of our games) are done at the ideal player count for learning the game (and start on time).

Thanks again and no problem. I'd much rather provide constructive feedback, and appreciate your interest in the "why" ... The more design/production companies that thrive only makes this an even more incredible hobby than it already is.