Origins Game Convention: A View from the Pig

I haven’t been to Origins since 2012. A lot has changed, yet a lot remains the same. I intended to write an insightful, and slightly humorous, blog on the convention, but as I recently told a friend, my world is exploding in a very good way, and it’s difficult to find time for all the opportunities. Therefore, for those of you looking for an Origins state of the union, here is the bulletized version. First, the good stuff.

• There are more quality vendors. Back in 2006, the con was booming, by 2011, much less so. I get more of that booming feel now. Many big names like Mayfair, Whizkids, IELLO, Decision Games, Cryptozoic, and Academy. Lots of smaller companies such as Flying Pig. The vendor hall was full.
• And the vendor hall was vibrant. Definitely a fresh feel to the gaming public. Waist lines are thinner. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with a few extra pounds, I’m just saying that the gaming public now looks more like the public at large. And women. I’d bet women comprised 5-10% of board gamers in 2012. We counted heads a couple of times during the weekend and I’d say that percentage is closer to 35% now. It’s great to see the diversity.
  
• Plenty of wargamers. Rap on Origins is that it’s not a wargaming con. Fair enough. To be honest, it’s not a wargaming world, not if you define a wargamer as someone who only plays board wargames. That, however, is not my definition. A number of my wargaming friends also play Pathfinder, Legendary or Dominion, many folks who don’t primarily play hex and counter wargames, dabble in them. Bottom line, there were plenty of wargame companies on the floor, including Flying Pig, Academy, Decision Games, Enterprise (repping GMT), LNLP, and Lost Battalion, to name a few. And Brant Guillroy’s Grogheads held four days of Wargaming events, AND you could also play Battletech, Malifaux, or any number of other strategy games if you wanted to get your fire and maneuver fix.
• Pre-convention vendor support is better than it used to be. Not sure how long Betsy Kaplan has been running this, but she answered almost all my calls and emails, making it much easier to prepare for the con.

Here’s the less-than-good stuff

• Onsite, GAMA (the folks who own/run Origins) still have problems, some of them the same ones they have had since I returned to boardgaming in 2003. Not all badges are ready for pickup, even when pre-paid months in advance, parking passes are double charged, and the charge for pre-paid parking is almost double what you pay if you use local, non-GAMA-affiliated lots. To exacerbate matters, fixing these problems on sight can take over a two-hour wait in line. Why? It appears that GAMA relies a bit too much on unreliable volunteers. Help lines, which should be crewed by three customer representatives (judging by the terminals and stations), are crewed by one, harried representative. When asked why, the dude said, “The other two positions are for volunteers who didn’t show.”  From the outside looking in, you just wonder why GAMA doesn’t hire temps at $12-13 an hour and train them to do the job well.

Overall, however, we had a great time and made good money. I’d love to see the show continue to grow. The U.S. needs more than Gencon. 

Mark H. Walker served 23 years in the United States Navy, most of them as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal diver. He is the owner of Flying Pig Games as well as Tiny Battle Publishing the designer of the aliens-invade-Earth game Night of Man, the author of Desert Moon, an exciting mecha, military science fiction novel with a twist, with plenty of damn science fiction in it despite what any reviewer says, as well as World at War: Revelation, a creepy, military action, with a love story, alternate history, World War Three novel thing, Everyone Dies in the End, and numerous short stories. All the books and stories are available from Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing right here. Give them a try. I mean, what the hell? Dark War: Retribution will release in July of 2016.