The massive tabletop gaming convention Gen Con is only four days long, which just isn’t enough time. Here’s what we didn’t get a chance to play in the 2017 edition but would’ve if the show were, say, four times longer.

• Too Many Bones (Chip Theory): We’ve heard so much hype for this board game/role-playing game hybrid that uses dice-placement as its main mechanic (and we sure do love dice-placement games). But the reported three-hour-plus playtime plus $120 price tag scared us off.
• Civilization (Fantasy Flight): This is supposedly a more streamlined update to the previous (long) board game that’s based on the famous (long) PC game of the same name.
• Bob Ross: The Art of Chill (Big G Creative): It’s a game about Bob Ross. Damn right we’re curious.

• Spirit Island (Greater Than Games): A switch-up from the typical colonization game where the “workers” are always dark-colored pieces. Here, you play cooperatively as gods protecting natives and their island from invading “white” colonists. (Hey, no political statements here -- the enemy pieces are literally made of white plastic.)
• Edge of Darkness (AEG): We’re still waiting to fall in love with a game that uses AEG’s supercool and clever card-crafting system (with clear cards that you sleeve and customize throughout a session). Maybe this will be it.
• Dinosaur Island (Pandasaurus): We backed this dino-park sim on Kickstarter, but this would’ve been a great time to get a preview play in. Plus the hot pink was just calling out to us.

• Ex Libris (Renegade): Who will collect the most magnificent magical library? This game sold out quickly, and players raved about its satisfying book “shelving” play.
• Centipede (IDW): Part of a new series based on classic arcade games -- others include Asteroids and Missile Command -- with fantastic-looking retro-style pieces and a clear reverence for the subject material.
• Gekido: Bot Battles (CMON): Yeah, so what if we’re shallow and were instantly interested in this bot-battling game because of its cool figures? Don’t judge us.

• The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31 (Mondo): Why were so many people laughing and cheering while playing this game based on a terrifying horror film? We didn’t have time to find out for ourselves, but the premise is interesting: Players’ roles are hidden, but more and more become infected through the course of the game.
• Pandemic Legacy: Season 2 (Z-Man Games): It really doesn’t make sense to demo a game that we know we’re going to buy that we don’t want spoilers for. But how else could we make our Season 1 play buddies Matt and Stephanie feel the FOMO for not going to Gen Con with us this year?

• Feature