As the pandemic enters a new phase with the mass roll out of vaccines, a number of tabletop gaming conventions announced their 2021 dates for in-person conventions. Some of these shows have moved their dates to later in the year which in turn is causing a glut in a short span. Working across a compressed calendar, six tabletop gaming related conventions occur across 50 days. These conventions range from notable regionals to conventions that include a sizable tabletop gaming section to international industry staples. Three of the big four tabletop gaming conventions that normally run from mid-June through late October are hosting their shows over a 30-day period, one show every two weeks. Looking at the wider calendar, there are six conventions in 50ish days with two weeks between each.
As a fan, it’s a lot to digest and budget for. As an industry, it’s an interesting compression that is likely to cause publishers to juggle their 2021 plans. In this multi-article series, I look at how the tight scheduling of the 2021 tabletop gaming conventions may impact the fans, publishers, product launches, the other conventions, and even crowdfunding projects. In the first part, I focus on where the conventions landed on the calendar and why.
CONVENTION AS YOU SEE FIT
I want to take a moment to acknowledge that the pandemic led, and leads, to horrendous loss of life. It’s a horrible situation and one that we all wish would never have occurred. In 2020, many assumed that the pandemic would abate with the arrival of a vaccine in 2021 and we’d resume life as we had before, including in-person conventions. Going to a convention, or any public gathering, is a personal choice whether there’s a pandemic or not. Some folks will not go to conventions due to the pandemic, some will go no matter what. This article isn’t about judging choices and, while I personally always recommend caution with any gathering or travel, your decisions are your own. These events will require safety protocols and start late enough in the year that it’s hard to say what the results of attending these gatherings will be. Again, I recommend safety first, but this piece is not about the personal choices that you make in terms of travel, gatherings, and conventioning. Instead, this series is about the conventions and looking at the impact of moving their 2021 dates.
HOW MUCH HAVE THESE CONVENTIONS RESCHEDULED?
UK Games Expo in Birmingham, United Kingdom moved to July 30th to August 1st.
- 2019 dates were May 31st to June 2nd. Delayed nearly two months in 2021.
Dragon Con in Atlanta, Georgia runs from September 2nd through September 6th.
- 2019 dates were August 29th to September 2nd. Same weekend and holiday every year.
Gen Con in Indianapolis, Indiana is moved to September 16th through the 19th.
- 2019 dates were August 1st to 4th. Delayed nearly six weeks.
Origins Game Fair in Columbus, Ohio moved to September 30th through October 3rd.
- 2019 dates were June 12th to 16th. Delayed nearly 3 and a half months.
Internationale Spieltage SPIEL ‘21 in Essen, Germany is scheduled from October 14th to the 17th.
- 2019 dates were October 24th to 27th. Moved up by 10 days.
Con on the Cob in Richfield, Ohio runs the same weekend as SPIEL, October 14th to the 17th.
- 2019 dates were October 3rd to 6th. Moved back by 10 days.
Gamehole Con in Madison, Wisconsin happens from October 21st through 24th.
- 2019 dates were October 31st to November 3rd. Moved up by 10 days.
MACE 2021 in Charlotte, North Carolina occurs from November 12th through the 14th.
- 2019 dates were November 8th to 10th. Relatively unchanged.
PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is planning to run from December 10th to the 12th.
- 2019 dates were December 6th to 8th. Relatively unchanged.
MomoCon in Atlanta, Georgia will move to a shorter, smaller convention, Winterfest by MomoCon on December 18th and 19th.
- 2019 dates were May 23rd to 26th. Delayed (and reinvented) nearly 7 months.
NOTE: All of these dates are subject to change due to the pandemic and/or state and Federal laws around gatherings.
Not every convention moved their traditional dates due to the pandemic, but several did. Some of the North American tabletop gaming conventions are pushing their dates back to after summer trying to give as much time as possible for the public to get vaccinated. Comparing the 2019 dates to the 2021 dates for nine tabletop gaming related conventions produces four with significant date changes. Gen Con delayed about six weeks, UK Games Expo by two months, and Origins Game Fair by three and a half months. Origins announced their move early (January 12th), bypassing summer and moving closer to Internationale Spieltage than they normally would.
Some of the moves resulted in the conventions falling during holidays in 2021. Dragon Con has not moved their dates (so far) which means they are set to fall on their traditional Labor Day weekend. On the other end of the holiday spectrum, Gen Con moved from August 5th to the 8th to a later set of dates. The time frame they settled on falls during Yom Kippur (September 15th to 16th). As the holiest holiday on the Jewish calendar, this led to controversy that Gen Con discussed here. Outside of the tabletop gaming field it’s worth noting that San Diego Comic Con moved their convention to the US Thanksgiving weekend which led to a number of unhappy fans. While Dragon Con’s holiday is tradition, the moves for Gen Con and SDCC left some individuals upset that they cannot attend with sacrificing religious or family time. But it’s not just fans and publishers that were impacted, these conventions will experience a reduced Jewish or family-oriented presence, a true blow to them as a crossroads of the gaming community. While I’m not making excuses for them, it is worth noting that we live in unexpected times and the conventions made the decisions that they felt they had to for their businesses. Getting into the difficulties and ramification of those decisions is beyond the scope of this series, but each convention is reviewing how they decided on those dates and the hurt that they’ve caused. As a fan, all I can do is hope that this is a one-off and they’ll return to their easier to accommodate dates in 2022.
WHY HOST IN 2021 AT ALL?
While I don’t want to justify any decision they made, it’s important to ask: If these conventions can’t find the right dates and allow everyone to attend, why host a convention at all? Clearly, regardless of the holidays, there’s a scramble for each of these conventions to host an in-person event during 2021. Based on my reading of Gen Con and JordanCon, all of these enterprises and nonprofits have their reasons: bills. Each of these ventures have fixed expenses and they need to restart their conventions to bring in revenue to cover their expenditures or the convention will cease to exist. The window to generate 2021 revenue to cover those costs is limited by the time it takes to get the nation vaccinated, reduce the number of COVID cases to ensure a large, healthy crowd, find an open weekend in their host city and convention center, and let the gaming world know that they’re opening back up for business. Effectively, that’s the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2021 before the US holiday season makes large gaming conventions secondary to family. As a result, this caused a great deal of calendar crowding as the conventions are coming back for 2021.
IN PART TWO
With the return to in-person conventions comes a new challenge: How close together their dates are. Yet, if the conventions are coming, that’s all good news, right? These rescheduled gatherings answer some of that question, but they come with a new set of challenges. What will the impacts of these new schedules be? In part two, I’ll look at how these moves will impact the tabletop gaming industry, fans, publishers, and even Kickstarters.
You can read part two here and part three here.
Disclosure: While I pay for my travel, hotel, and food, certain conventions discussed in this article provide complimentary entry to their cons because I register as a member of the press/media.
Latest posts by Egg Embry (see all)
- New Gamemaster Month 2023 - January 20, 2023
