Jim Zabek meanders the conventions, and reports thusly >>

The Night Before the Convention and All Through the House…

It’s summertime and I’m in Columbus; that means one thing: the Origins gaming convention is underway. I used to live far enough away that I had to fly to Columbus. But this year I was easily within driving distance. I hopped in the car and headed down the road.

Driving cross-country in a car is clearly a more scenic way to see the country than from an airplane seat, but it’s doubly a pleasure when you get off the interstate. That’s the route I took – the road less traveled. It also happened to be the fastest way to get from my origin to my destination (see what I did there?).

The cottonwoods were in full tilt and periodically I would zip through a cloud of them. It wasn’t difficult for me to imagine I was in a starship navigating through an asteroid cloud. Is that a little geeky? Yes, but I’m at a gaming convention.

Speaking of being at a convention, upon checking into my hotel it was immediately obvious that not only was I a welcome guest, but as a gamer I was very welcome, too. Both the front and back of my room key were logo’d with Mayfair Games’ Catan: Explorers & Pirates artwork. The guy behind the desk told me he was a gamer, and had a friend who is developing a new wargame. I gave him my number and told him to have his friend call me. It may come as a surprise, but I do happen to be friends with a few publishers in the industry and I would be more than happy to introduce him.

On the way up to my room the bellhop chatted me up about gaming – he plays Warhammer. And Dystopian Wars. This is the only time I have checked into a hotel and had guys bragging about being gamers. Thank you Hyatt for encouraging your staff to get into the spirit of the convention!

Driving in on Thursday night gives me the opportunity to settle into my room, look around the area to see what gamers are up to, and get ready to hit the ground running on Friday. I can already tell it’s going to be a great weekend.

Strolling down to the second floor I take a look around and find the upper lobby is packed with gamers. The first game I see is BattleTech. The second is the Star Wars X-Wing minis game. The third is a game of Gloom…and the list went on.

Back in the corner there were tables from Geek Chic for which gamers could make reservations and play on them. They are every bit as sexy as their website advertises and it is abundantly clear to me that I need one of these tables like I need oxygen to breathe. Yes, this is indeed going to be a great weekend.

Friday

It’s been a few years since I last attended a convention, so I was interested to see what might have changed. From year to year the changes are often subtle and can be difficult to discern, but this year the contrast was obvious: advertising.

From the time I hit the outskirts of the convention hall I noticed ads everywhere: banners on walls; ads wrapped around columns in the hotels; yeah, my room key from last night; projectors flashing companies’ logos. Ads were everywhere. Some people might have been annoyed, but I know better. I’ve been on the business end of having to draw in revenue to keep the lights on, and to me ads mean one thing: survival. One thing is clear: Origins should – at least in theory – be drawing in significantly more revenue than in the past. That’s good news because it means they are much more likely to be hosting conventions for the foreseeable future. And for a Friday I’m pleased with the con-goers I see. The numbers I see feel healthy. I’ll try to pry some official numbers out of Origins management later, but my gut tells me this place is booming.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Ads are everywhere

There was plenty to see in the exhibit hall.  Here’s a completely random and non-sequential taste!

[tribulant_slideshow gallery_id=”3″]

photos by Corinne Mahaffey

We’ve got Collins Epic, Columbia Games, Lost Battalion, LPS, and Omega Games, with a cameo from High Flying Dice all in the GrogHeads Central Command, and all playing some great games in the gaming hall with us.  In the meantime, we’re wandering around the exhibit hall looking for all things incredibly cool in gaming to share with you.

Talk about Origins here >>

Wednesday is a setup day at Origins, but there’s soooooo much going on to make that happen.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

photos by Corinne Mahaffey

Sarcasm by Brant

Talk about Origins here >>