Gaming convention

A gaming convention is any event gathering focused primarily around role-playing games, collectible card games, miniatures wargames, board games, video games, or other types of games. These conventions are typically two or three days long, and often held at either a university or in a convention center hotel.

The largest gaming convention, Spiel, is a trade fair held in Essen, Germany that focuses on German-style board games and RPGs. A similarly large event is Festival Ludique International de Parthenay (FLIP), a games festival held over twelve days in France.

Gen Con is the largest gaming con in the US for RPGs, with 21,700 attendees over four days in 2005, while Origins is the largest gaming convention focused on miniatures wargames and live-action role playing games. 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.

World Boardgaming Championships, PrezCon and Euro Quest are game conventions representing the hobby of Tournament, Board Gaming Open Gaming, Demos, Jr. Events and more dedicated to the face to face board game hobby. WBC http://www.boardgamers.org PrezCon http://www.prezcon.comare your largest pure board game events. WBC runs the first week in August each year and PrezCon runs the last week of February each year..

Gaming convention events

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 aka CCG's, like Magic: The Gathering & Pokémon
• Board games
• Role-playing games aka RPG's, like Dungeons and Dragons, Shadowrun & Traveller
• RPGA games
• Table-top miniatures games like Battletech, HeroClix, Car Wars, Flames of War and Warhammer 40k
• LARPs
• 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.

See also

• List of gaming conventions

External links

Helpful Links for Preparing for Gaming Conventions

• Running Games At Conventions - advice and tips
• 3 Great Days of Gaming, Anime & SciFi
• Epic Weekend Convention Gaming: A Tale From The Trenches
• 4 Tips For Whipping Up Scenarios For Conventions,
• Mensa Site on Games
• GamingCons.com Listing of upcoming Gaming Cons

Examples of Gaming Conventions- links included

• Events For Gamers Collective repository and news source for game events, including conventions.
• Avalon Game Conventions Organizers of five gaming conventions on the West Coast, including the West Coast Boardgame Championships.
• Boardgame Players Association Sponsors of the annual World Boardgaming Championships.
• PrezCon "The Winter Nationals" Sponsors of the annual PrezCon 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.
• TempleCon One of the largest multi-genre gaming conventions in New England, with a Retro-futurism Theme.
• Winter War Gaming Convention Winter War: The Midwest's Longest Consecutively Running Independent Gaming Convention!
• Dragonflight One of the longest running gaming conventions in the Pacific Northwest.
• Nuke-Con's Weekend of Games- A gamer-centric gaming convention of the Central Mid-West in the Omaha, Nebraska Metro Area.
• Strategicon A series of gaming conventions held in Southern California on President's Day, Memorial Day and Labor Day Weekends.