Gaming convention

A gaming convention is typically a two- or three-day event at which people play role-playing games, collectible card games, miniatures wargames, board games and many other types of games. Many also have rooms of networked computers to play video games.

The largest gaming convention is probably Spiel in Essen, Germany. In 2004 this convention, which focuses on board games, had 150,000 visitors and 690 exhibitors from 24 nations. The FLIP (Festival Ludique International de Parthenay - link to French Wikipedia) is probably the second largest gaming convention with 140,000 visitors during twelve days in 2005. Another large gaming convention in Europe is Spellenspektakel in Eindhoven, Netherlands. This largely commercial convention had 12,000 visitors in 2004.

Gen Con is probably the largest gaming con in the US for RPGs ("Gen Con Indy," which is the convention most gamers refer to when they refer to "Gen Con," had 21,700 attendees over four days in 2005); Origins is probably the largest for miniatures wargames. Exact numbers, however, are debatable. DragonCon, for example, is a large convention also aimed at gaming, and has huge numbers of attendees (however not all of them are there to play games; it might be one of the largest conventions where people can game but gaming is only a small part of the convention (and there are few (non-RPG) retailers). A smaller genre of gaming conventions are those devoted to the hobby of historical miniature wargaming, many of which are sponsored by the Historical Miniatures Gaming Society.

What goes on at a gaming convention

Gaming conventions typically have games scheduled for various time slots. Most gaming cons use some system of pre-registration to ensure that games are neither over-full nor under-full.

Competitive games, such as Magic: The Gathering, typically have tournaments set out where players meet in matches. Prizes can be quite large for the winners. There are also competitive role-playing games, where the best roleplayers, most successful parties, etc. get rewarded. The RPGA runs competitive D&D and other RPGs at many conventions. Most scheduled RPGs, however, are not competitive.

The types of games often include many of the following:

• Collectible card games like Magic: The Gathering
• Board games
• Role-playing games aka RPGs
• RPGA games
• Table-top miniatures games like Warhammer 40k
• Electronic games

Open gaming goes on throughout any such convention, and it is common that all seating in common areas will be taken by people playing pick-up games. Pick-up gaming is not generally discouraged by the convention management; in fact, pick-up games are a large part of the appeal of gaming conventions.

There is almost always a dealers' room where various game manufacturers and related companies sell their products. Many game companies choose game cons to reveal new products. Creating consumer excitement is greatly facilitated at gaming cons, but word can spread fast, and games may equally well become instant failures at conventions.

Often there are other activities at a gaming convention as well. Costume balls, art auctions, and screenings of movies may all take place. Lectures, workshops, or panel discussions on gaming might be part of the programming, or for some cons, even the focus.

List of gaming conventions by location

Various

• Gen Con - various locations in the US and Europe
• Knutepunkt - Scandinavian conference on role playing theory
• oni-l-con - The Internet's First Fully Online Gaming/Anime Convention
• ICON - in Johannesburg, South Africa the Friday to Sunday nearest to July 14.
• UPCON - In Pretoria, South Africa @ University of Pretoria on the first weekend back at university after easter holidays.

Asia

• Ziggurat Con - Tallil Airbase, Iraq. Premiere of this event and the first con in a combat zone.

Australia

Australian Capital Territory

• CanCon - Canberra, in January
• Phenomenon - Canberra, in June

New South Wales

• Necronomicon - Sydney, at Easter (March/April)
• MacquarieCon - Sydney, in December. One of the oldest in Australia, having been run since 1980.
• Sydcon - Sydney, in October

Queensland

• The BIG Weekend - Brisbane, in May

South Australia

• VorpalCon - Adelaide, in September

Victoria

• Arcanacon - Melbourne, in January
• Conquest - Melbourne, at Easter (March/April)
• Dwarfcon - Noble Park North, in June/July
• FauxCon - regional Victoria, in April
• Friends for Dinner - Melbourne, in October
• Retrocon - Melbourne, in June
• Unicon - Melbourne, in September

Western Australia

• GenghisCon - Perth, in September

Canada

Alberta

• Pure Speculation [1] - Annual sci-fi and gaming convention held in Edmonton

Manitoba

• KeyCon [2] - Annual gaming convention held in Winnipeg
• Prairie Con - Annual gaming convention held in Brandon

Ontario

• EximCon Toronto, in June [3]
• Great Canadian Baycon 2006 - Hamilton, in May
• Wizard Fest 2007 - Niagara Falls, June 30 [4]
• Hot Lead 2007 - Stratford, ON, MARCH 9, 10 & 11, 2007 [5]

Quebec

• RoyalCon Annual gaming convention held in Montreal in September [6]

Denmark

• Fastaval - Århus, at Easter
• Viking Con - Copenhagen, in October

Finland

• Ropecon - Espoo, in August

France

• FIJ (Festival International des Jeux) - Cannes, in February
• FLIP (Festival Ludique international de Parthenay) - Parthenay, in July

Germany

• Games Convention - Leipzig, in August
• Internationale Spieltage - Essen, Germany, in October
• Nuremberg International Toy Fair - Nuremburg, in February

Ireland

• Gaelcon - Dublin, Ireland, in late October [7] (usually at Clontarf Castle)
• Sillicon - At Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland, in early April [8]
• Ubercon - In Cork, Ireland
• Warpcon - At University College Cork in late January [9]
• Vaticon - At University College Dublin in early June [10]

Italy

• Lucca Comics and Games - Lucca, in November

Japan

• JGC (Japan Game Convention) - Yokohama, Japan, in August [11]

Netherlands

• Spellenspektakel - Eindhoven, Netherlands

Sweden

• GothCon - Gothenburg, Sweden
• LinCon - Linköping, Sweden
• Fejkon - Karlstad, Sweden
• NärCon - Örebro, Sweden
• UppCon - Uppsala, Sweden

UK

• Excaliber - Cornwall, England in April
• Salute - London, April
• Colours - Newbury Racecourse, September
• Warfare - Reading, November
• Are you Game? - Game 07 and onwards, hosted in Manchester, June/July.
• Q-Con - Northern Ireland in June
• Gen Con UK - The University of Reading, England in August-September
• XCaliber 2 - Cornwall, England in October

US

Alabama

• MOBICON - Mobile, Alamama, in May

Arizona

• LepreCon http://www.leprecon.org/
• Phoenix Con Games http://www.conevents.com/page/phx/main.asp
• CopperCon http://www.casfs.org/cucon/
• HexaCon http://www.casfs.org/hexacon/index.html

California

• BlizzCon - Anaheim, California, in October
• ConQuest SAC - Sacramento, California in April
• ConQuest SF Pacificon Game Exposition - San Francisco, California in September
• ConQuest SoCal - Ventura, California in October
• DunDraCon - San Ramon, California, in February
• Games Day - Los Angeles, in May
• Gamex - Los Angeles, California, in May
• Gateway - Los Angeles, California, in September
• KublaCon - San Francisco, California, in May
• OrcCon - Los Angeles, California, in February
• PolyCon - San Luis Obispo, California, in June
• Protospiel West - Santa Monica, California, in January

Colorado

• GenghisCon - Denver, Colorado, in February

Connecticut

• AnonyCon - Stamford, Connecticut, in December [12]
• ConnCon - Stamford, Connecticut, in March [13]
• ConnectiCon - Hartford, Connecticut, in July [14]

Florida

• MegaCon - Orlando, Florida in February

Georgia

• DragonCon - Atlanta, Georgia, in August
• Games Day - Atlanta
• Momocon - Atlanta, Georgia, in March, free admission

Idaho

• Snake River Con - Idaho Falls, Idaho, in late June - http://www.hinsel.com/snakerivercon.htm

Illinois

• CAPRICON - Annual SF & Gaming convention (since 1980) in the NorthWest suburbs of Chicago, in February. - http://www.capricon.org/
• Chi-Tag - Schaumburg, IL, in November. It targets mainstream America, trying to "turn them on" to games. - http://www.chitag.com/
• CODCON - Annual gaming convention held in mid-April at the College of DuPage in the Western suburbs of Chicago. - http://www.codcon.com
• DUCKON - DucKon is an annual fund-raising convention in the Western suburbs of Chicago, in November. It supports the Golden Duck Awards for Excellence in Children's Science Fiction given at WorldCon each year. - http://www.duckon.org/
• Games Day - Chicago
• KITCON - Twice-yearly game day held by the EAGLES gaming club in Elgin, IL. - http://groups.msn.com/ElginEAGLES/kitcon.msnw
• Windy Con - Annual SF & Gaming convention (since 1973) held in the Chicago area on the weekend closest to Veteran's Day. - http://www.windycon.org/
• WOLFCON - Gaming Convention in Chicago, held on Thanksgiving Weekend (Friday & Saturday) - http://www.wolfpackgamers.org

Indiana

• PentaCon - Fort Wayne on the first weekend of November
• Gen Con - Indianapolis in August

Iowa

• Gamicon - Eastern Iowa in February
• MAGE Con Fall - Sioux City in September
• MAGE Con Spring - Sioux City in April
• Fields of Honor - Des Moines in September

Maine

• PortConMaine - Maine

Maryland

• Euro Quest - Timonium, focus on Eurogames
• D-Day Timonium, tournament for boardgame Breakout Normandy
• Games Day - Baltimore, in May

In Canada, the venue is the Metro Toronto Convention Center located in downtown Toronto.

• Enlightenment - Timonium, tournament for boardgame Age of Renaissance
• TriaDCon - Boardgames, Wargames, and Miniatures [15]
• Winter Activation Meeting (WAM) - Tournaments for card-driven wargames [16]

Massachusetts

• Intercon - Chelmsford, in early March [17]
• Pi-Con
• TotalCon - Mansfield, in February [18]
• Vericon - Cambridge, in late January or early February

Michigan

• Marmalade Dog - Kalamazoo, Michigan, in March
• Protospiel - Ann Arbor, Michigan, in July. Specifically for game designers.
• StarCon - at Oakland University in Rochester Hills, in March. [19]
• UCon - Ann Arbor, Michigan, in November [20]

Minnesota

• Con of the North - Twin Cities, Minnesota, in February (around President's Day Weekend)

• Minnesota Gamers Convention - St. Paul, in November [21]

Montana

• MisCon Missuola MT, over memmorial weekend

Nebraska

• Nuke-Con Omaha, NE, in the Fall around the first of October [22]

New Hampshire

• OGC Manchester, NH, in July [23]

New York

• Council of Five Nations Schnectady, NY, in October [24]
• SIMCON Rochester, NY at the University of Rochester. Held in late March or early April.

New Jersey

• DEXCON East Brunswick, NJ [25]
• Dreamation East Brunswick, NJ [26]
• PrinceCon In Princeton. One of the oldest in the United States, approaching its 32nd year.

North Carolina

• Mace High Point, NC
• Southern Front Raleigh, NC [27]
• Stellarcon High Point, NC [28]
• TrinocCon Raleigh, NC [29]

Ohio

• Bashcon - At the University of Toledo, the last weekend in February [30]
• Capcon - Columbus, typically in May. [31]
• Neovention (formerly NeoCon) - held in the University of Akron's Gardner Student Center (No longer active)
• Origins - Columbus, in late June or early July

Oregon

• Game Storm - Portland, Oregon, in March
• AmberCon NorthWest - Portland, Oregon, in November

Pennsylvania

• Cold Wars - Lancaster County, in March
• Diplocon - Franklin and Marshall College, in November
• Fall In! - Adams County, in November
• GAPSCon - Penn State University, in April
• Historicon - Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in July
• MEPACon - Scranton, Pennsylvania in March/April and October/November [32]
• World Boardgaming Championships - in Lancaster, PA in August
• GASPCon - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in November [33]

Rhode Island

• TempleCon - Providence, in February

South Carolina

• Waterloo - Tournament in Greenville, SC for boardgame Napoleonic Wars
• RoundCon - Annual Gaming Convention held during the spring in Columbia, SC

Tennessee

• ConNooga - Chattanooga, TN, in February [34]
• Hypericon - Nashville, TN
• LibertyCon - Chattanooga, TN, in July
• MidSouthCon - Memphis, TN

Texas

• ChimaeraCon - San Antonio, Texas, in March
• OwlCon - Houston, Texas, in February
• Quakecon - Dallas, Texas, in August

Vermont

• Carnage Con - Fairlee, in November [35]
• Lore Con - South Burlington, in April [36]

Virginia

• PrezCon - Charlottesville, in August [37]
• MAGfest - Vienna, in January [38]

Washington

• ConQuest NW - Seattle, Washington, in February
• Dragonflight - Seattle, Washington, in August
• Penny Arcade Expo - Bellevue, Washington, in August

Washington, D.C.

• D&D Experience - In February. This event (called Winter Fantasy previous to 2007) is mostly for the RPGA, but includes many events for DDM

Wisconsin

• Fire and Ice - Sheboygan, in February [39]
• Rising Phoenix Con - Milwaukee, in May [40]
• Plattecon - UW Platteville Platteville WI, in March [41]

External links

• Boardgame Players Association Sponsors of the annual World Boardgaming Championships.
• consupport A service conventions can use to list events, manage payments, etc. and the conventions that use it.
• GameConventions.net Another comprehensive list of gaming conventions.
• HMGS East Has lists of associated conventions that feature historical miniature wargaming.
• Running Games At Conventions - advice and tips, Epic Weekend Convention Gaming: A Tale From The Trenches, 4 Tips For Whipping Up Scenarios For Conventions