Gaming convention

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

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.com are 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 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:

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.

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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaming_convention"
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