I had originally wanted to do one post on conventions, but then the entry got to be super long and involved, so the plan is for four of them! There’s a ton of conventions out there that you can attend and each of them have pros and cons to attending. While it’d be great to be able to afford and have the energy to attend all of them, we all have to pick and choose which ones to go to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here’s some of the conventions I’ve experienced and why I go to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Type of Convention: <\/strong>Gaming, General<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have I attended?<\/strong> This was my second time attending. I super enjoyed it last year, so I decided to go again and it was fantastic! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Easy to meet with publishers or playtest?<\/strong> Not a lot of publishers were there, but PlaytestNorthwest does usually have tables where you can get a free badge to attend. I didn\u2019t do this, but playtesting was very easy to do in open gaming and there were always people interested in playtesting, as the Seattle Design community is both really great and has a ton of people in it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Booth or no Booth?<\/strong> I did not have a booth, but it\u2019s possible to talk with the booths there and to try to do game consignment. Last year I did this and sold a few games, but nothing major. The Exhibit hall has a few booths, with two game vendors, but the rest of the booths are mostly art related. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Why am I attending?<\/strong> The people that attend OrcaCon are amazing, OrcaCon really works to make people feel welcome and has a focus on diversity, and I could stay with a friend and get the cost down, plus there\u2019s great food trucks! The food trucks are pretty good diversity wise and food safety wise, having several gluten free, vegetarian, and paleo options. (I\u2019m not sure on the options if you\u2019re all of those, but if you\u2019re one of them, you typically have choices!) <\/p>\n\n\n\n OTHER:<\/strong> If you go to OrcaCon, PlaytestNorthWest has tons of playtesting events around and there\u2019s a great design night on Wednesdays, so if you can stay a few extra days, it could definitely be worth it! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Type of Convention:<\/strong> General Gaming, but with an Unpub Mini<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have I attended?<\/strong> I\u2019ve attended at least four times! It\u2019s a great local convention and I run the Unpub Mini, which had it\u2019s second year this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Easy to meet with publishers or playtest? <\/strong>Usually there\u2019s only a few publishers there, but I have signed a game for Weird Giraffe Games there before, so there\u2019s that at least! With the Unpub Mini, you can playtest a bunch! It\u2019s relatively small, so it\u2019s pretty easy to get at least a few of your games playtested. You\u2019re also free to playtest outside the Unpub hours and there\u2019s enough of the community that knows about playtesting that you can usually get people interested in giving you feedback. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Playtesting Type: <\/strong> There\u2019s tables for playtesting and times, but usually no specific table assignments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Booth or no Booth? <\/strong>I typically run a booth, but sales aren\u2019t that great. It\u2019s a small convention of 300 people, so you only need one person at the booth, which is nice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Why am I attending?<\/strong> It\u2019s a local convention I can drive to, the gaming library is amazing, there\u2019s a large amount of play to wins, I run the Unpub and tend to get a lot of great playtesting in, plus the Southern Design community has some great people in it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Type of Convention:<\/strong> Playtesting<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have I attended?<\/strong> This year was my first time attending. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Playtesting Type: <\/strong>Open playtesting<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why am I attending?<\/strong> Flight costs were super cheap, I have a friend in the area I can stay with, I was able to get a free ticket, and I\u2019ve heard that Cleveland has a good design community. So, for under $100 plus food, I could try out a new convention and hopefully make some more friends and get some playtesting in, so why not try it out? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Type of Convention:<\/strong> General Gaming<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have I attended?<\/strong> I haven\u2019t attended before, but I really want to! This year, it was on the same weekend as Cleveland Protospiel, but hopefully in the future it won’t be. I’d like to attend as I’ve heard good things and I also haven’t been to South Carolina before. Plus, I’ve only had good experiences with the Tantrum House Team, so it’d be great to get to know them better. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Type of Convention:<\/strong> General Gaming<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have I attended?<\/strong> I haven\u2019t attended before, but I do want to try it out at some point! It\u2019s very close in timing to GAMA, so if I could find someone driving between the two, I\u2019ll probably attend at some point. I\u2019ve enjoyed Dice Tower East, so I\u2019d like to try this one out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Type of Convention:<\/strong> General Gaming<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have I attended?<\/strong> I have not attended! I\u2019ve heard good things, though and it\u2019s within driving distance. There\u2019s no booths, but there are a few publishers based out of Nashville. Plus, Nashville does have a design community, so playtesting should be a thing that can happen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Type of Convention:<\/strong> Gaming Trade Show<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have I attended?<\/strong> I have not attended, but I\u2019m going to this year. GAMA has a lot of retailers, publishers, and other industry people, so I\u2019ve heard it\u2019s great for both designers and publishers. I\u2019ve had Fire in the Library, Stellar Leap, and Dreams of Tomorrow in retail for a few months, so I figured this would be a great time to get a booth and to see what GAMA is all about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Easy to meet with publishers or playtest?<\/strong> I\u2019ve heard that it\u2019s a good place to meet with publishers, as the convention is supposed to be more laid back than the other larger conventions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Booth or no Booth?<\/strong> There is an exhibit hall, but it\u2019s not for selling, mainly for demos. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Why am I attending?<\/strong> I\u2019d love to get more retailers to know about Weird Giraffe Games and Galactic Raptor Games, in addition to showing off my next game to hit retail, Big Easy Busking. I also have a few games that I\u2019m trying to find homes for, so hopefully I can meet up with a publisher or two for that! There\u2019s also a design retreat right after the convention and I\u2019ve never visited Sacramento before, so it\u2019s a chance to do those things without having to buy another plane ticket. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Type of Convention:<\/strong> Playtesting <\/p>\n\n\n\n Have I attended?<\/strong> I have not and I believe this is the first time the convention is being run. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Easy to meet with publishers or playtest? <\/strong>There should be at least a few publishers and it\u2019s a Protospiel, so playtesting should be a major part of the event. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Why am I attending?<\/strong> It\u2019s within driving distance and I could always get more playtesting in. I know a few people in the Tennessee area, but I could always meet more and the ticket should be free for being a publisher and speaking at panels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Did you enjoy this entry? Please let me know I\u2019d love to hear what you think and what kind of things you\u2019d like to see from this blog. Feel free to send me an email<\/a> or comment with your thoughts!<\/p>\n\n\n\nRocket City Gamefest.<\/a> Huntsville, AL. January 22-24, 2021<\/strong>.<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
Cleveland Protospiel<\/a>. Cleveland, OH. January 31 – February 3, 2020. (2021 date TBA)<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
Tantrum Con.<\/a> Spartanburg, SC. February 4-7, 2021<\/strong>.<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
Dice Tower West.<\/a> Las Vegas, NV. February 26 – March 1st, 2020. <\/h1>\n\n\n\n
Tennessee Game Days<\/a>. Nashville, TN. March 6-8, 2020.<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
GAMA.<\/a> Reno, NV. March 9-12, 2020.<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
Knoxville Protospiel.<\/a> Knoxville, TN. March 27th<\/sup> \u2013 29th<\/sup>, 2020.<\/h1>\n\n\n\n