By Dennis BivianoColumbus
PUBLISHED 10:09 AM ET Jun. 14, 2019PUBLISHED 10:09 AM EDT Jun. 14, 2019
PUBLISHED 10:09 AM ET Jun. 14, 2019PUBLISHED 10:09 AM EDT Jun. 14, 2019
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Columbus resident Ryan Lockwood says he never misses the opportunity to attend the Origins Game Fair.
- One of the longest running and largest board game conventions in the world is back in downtown Columbus for the weekend.
- Origins Game Fair is expecting to bring in more than 20,000 people over the course of the next few days.
- The event has taken place for 45 years in Columbus
“This is different because you get a more human interaction. You can see people's reactions, you can see their game play a little more. You get to demo different games, you get to meet some of the designers. It's great for the city itself. It brings in people from all over,' says Lockwood.
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The family friendly event, now in its 45th year in Columbus, offers a wide variety of tabletop games, electronic games, live role-playing, card games, props, and books.
Stop by Union Station Ballroom C and playtest games designed by local art students of @CCADedu! pic.twitter.com/5kXkLKgIW9
— Origins Games Fair (@originsgames) June 13, 2019And if you're not familiar with a game, there are plenty of instructors on hand to teach you the rules.
“So we've got over five-thousand scheduled events at the show. Some of them are competitive tournaments. We actually have a couple publishers here giving away over 10-thousand dollars in prize support. So there is an aspect of competition but there are also tons of events that are free play, casual, introductions to gaming,' says The Game Manufacturers Association, Danni Loe.
It's fun for all ages and a gaming getaway of sorts for Seth Overdeer of Indiana, who shares one of his biggest hobbies with his 10 year old son Logan.
“He likes playing and he's picking it up pretty quick. I have a board gaming group in my area, there's a bunch of us that play and we decided to start coming to this. It's kind of like a gaming getaway,' says Overdeer.
Atlas games Chief Operating Officer Jeff Tidball has attended the Origins Game Fair for two decades.
He says despite the popularity of the video game industry, interest in table top games remains at its highest level ever.
Fifteen minutes until the Exhibit Hall is open! Who’s ready to kick off #Origins2019?? pic.twitter.com/nBtfasAs7i
— Origins Games Fair (@originsgames) June 13, 2019“It's a much bigger hobby now then I ever thought it would become, you know back in the late 90s when I was first doing this. A lot of people assume, massive multi-player games were basically going to render a game like Dungeons and Dragons obsolete, but what we see now is that its exactly the opposite,' says Tidball.
Tidball and may others we spoke to agree, the Origins game Fair has national character, but its much easier to carry on a conversation and interact as opposed to mega-events such as Comic-Con.
Origins Game Fair runs thru Sunday at the Columbus Convention Center.
Tickets range from $30 for a single day ticket to $70 for a multi-day pass.
Origins Game Fair | |
---|---|
Genre | Gaming |
Venue | Greater Columbus Convention Center |
Location(s) | Columbus, Ohio |
Country | United States |
Inaugurated | 1975 |
Attendance | 20,642 uniques in 2019 |
Organized by | Game Manufacturers Association |
Filing status | Non-profit |
Website | http://www.originsgamefair.com/ |
Origins Game Fair is an annual gaming convention that was first held in 1975. Since 1996, it has been held in Columbus, Ohio at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.
Origins is run by The Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA). Origins was chartered to serve gaming in general, including wargaming and miniatures gaming.
Registration area of Origins
Origins is the site of the annual Origins Awards ceremony. For many years, the Charles S. Roberts Awards for historical boardgames were presented at Origins, but these are now presented at the World Boardgaming Championships. Board games, trading card games, LARPs and role-playing games are also popular at Origins.
Origins Game Fair was formerly known as the Origins International Game Expo. The name was changed in the summer of 2007.
Origins typically has a theme each year, which affects some of the events and decorations like banners or art, and the Origins mascot will be depicted wearing an outfit related to the theme as well. The theme in 2012 was Time Travel. In 2014 it was Monster. 2014 was also the 40th Origins convention and, keeping with the Monster theme, they introduced the mascot Crit.[1] In 2015 the theme was Space. In 2016 it was Robots. 2017 was Dragons. 2018 was Mystery. 2019 was Mythical. A survey was distributed online to help select the theme for the 2020 show. The options were: Scary Fun, Games Around the World, Adventure, Futuristic, and Top Secret. According to the 2019 Origins Sitebook, the theme for 2020 will be Game Around the World.
- 1History
History[edit]
Exhibitor's Hall
Origins started in 1975 with a gathering of game players in Baltimore, Maryland. The Interest Group Baltimore, a local wargaming club, worked with the Baltimore-based Avalon Hill game company to put on the first show that year at Johns Hopkins University.
Avalon Hill produced the first commercial war games back in 1958. In a nod to Baltimore's position as the home of Avalon Hill and the birthplace of the commercial wargame hobby, Don Greenwood, a game designer with Avalon Hill and founder of the convention, suggested calling the show 'Origins'.Over the next few years, both Avalon Hill and SPI (another wargame company) ran the show. As the show continued expanding, the Game Manufacturers Association assumed management in 1978.
In each of 1988 and 1992, Origins and Gen Con joined forces to hold a single convention in Milwaukee.[2][3]
Venues[edit]
Year | Dates | Location |
---|---|---|
1975[4] | July 25–27[4] | Baltimore, Maryland |
1976 | July 23–25[5] | Baltimore, Maryland[5] |
1977 | July 22–24[6] | Staten Island, New York[6] |
1978[7] | July 13–16[7] | Ann Arbor, Michigan |
1979[8] | June 22–24[8] | Chester, Pennsylvania |
1980[9] | June 27–29[9] | Chester, Pennsylvania |
1981[10] | July 3–5[10] | San Mateo, California |
1982[11] | July 23–25[11] | Baltimore, Maryland |
1983[12] | July 14–17[12] | Detroit, Michigan |
1984[13] | July 5–8[13] | Dallas, Texas |
1985 | June 27–30[14] | Towson, Maryland[14] |
1986 | July 3–6 | Los Angeles, California |
1987 | July 2–5 | Baltimore, Maryland |
1988 | August 18–21 | Milwaukee, Wisconsin (with Gen Con) |
1989 | June 29 - July 2 | Los Angeles, California |
1990 | June 28 - July 1 | Atlanta, Georgia (with DragonCon) |
1991 | July 4–7 | Baltimore, Maryland |
1992 | August 20–23 | Milwaukee, Wisconsin (with Gen Con) |
1993 | July 13–16 | Fort Worth, Texas |
1994 | July 7–10 | San Jose, California |
1995 | July 13–16 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
Columbus, Ohio[edit]
'Alan Smithee' (the man in the gaudy jacket) consulting with his helpers at the 2007 Smithee Awards at the Origins International Game Expo
Throughout the first twenty years of its life, Origins migrated from city to city, until in 1996, GAMA decided to anchor Origins in a single location. After considering a number of possibilities, GAMA chose Columbus, Ohio.
Year | Dates | Attendance (Unique) |
---|---|---|
1996 | July 4–7 | |
1997 | July 17–20 | |
1998 | July 2–5 | |
1999 | July 1–4 | |
2000 | July 13–16 | |
2001 | July 5–8 | |
2002 | July 4–7 | 10,500 (approximate) |
2003 | June 26–29 | 12,600[15] |
2004 | June 24–27 | 13,980 |
2005 | June 30 - July 3 | 15,061 |
2006 | June 29 - July 2 | 11,852 |
2007 | July 5–8 | 11,104 |
2008 | June 26–29 | 10,110 |
2009 | June 25–28 | 10,030[16] |
2010 | June 24–27 | 10,669[16] |
2011 | June 22–26 | 11,502[16] |
2012 | May 30 - June 3 | 11,332[16] |
2013 | June 12 - June 16 | 11,573[16] |
2014 | June 11 - June 15[17] | 12,902[18] |
2015 | June 3 - June 7[17] | 15,938[19] |
2016 | June 15 - June 19 | 15,480[20] |
2017 | June 14 - June 18[17] | 17,001[21] |
2018 | June 13 - June 17[22] | 18,648[23] |
2019 | June 12 - June 16[24] | 20,642 |
References[edit]
- ^'Origins Game Fair 2014 – Time For a Monster of a Weekend!'. wormholeriders.org. Retrieved 2019-05-22.
- ^Laws, Robin D. (2007). 40 Years of Gen Con. Atlas Games. p. 72. ISBN1-58978-097-3.
- ^'The History of TSR'. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2008-09-24. Retrieved 2005-08-20.
- ^ ab'1974'. Charles S. Roberts Awards. Alan Emrich. Archived from the original on 2012-02-10.
- ^ ab'1975'. Charles S. Roberts Awards. Alan Emrich. Archived from the original on 2008-08-28.
- ^ ab'1976'. Charles S. Roberts Awards. Alan Emrich. Archived from the original on 2008-01-30.
- ^ ab'1977'. Charles S. Roberts Awards. Alan Emrich. Archived from the original on 2008-08-28.
- ^ ab'1978'. Charles S. Roberts Awards. Alan Emrich. Archived from the original on 2008-08-28.
- ^ ab'1979'. Charles S. Roberts Awards. Alan Emrich. Archived from the original on 2008-11-20.
- ^ ab'1980'. Charles S. Roberts Awards. Alan Emrich. Archived from the original on 2009-01-05.
- ^ ab'1981'. Charles S. Roberts Awards. Alan Emrich. Archived from the original on 2008-11-20.
- ^ ab'1982'. Charles S. Roberts Awards. Alan Emrich. Archived from the original on 2008-08-28.
- ^ ab'1983'. Charles S. Roberts Awards. Alan Emrich. Archived from the original on 2008-08-28.
- ^ ab'1984'. Charles S. Roberts Awards. Alan Emrich. Archived from the original on 2012-02-10.
- ^'14,000 To attend Origins Game Expo at Greater Columbus Convention Center'. Press Releases. Experiencecolumbus.com. 2004-06-22. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2013-09-04.
- ^ abcde'Facebook Post from Convention Management after 2013 event'. 2013-06-18. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
- ^ abchttp://www.originsgamefair.com
- ^'Facebook Post from Convention Management after 2014 event'. 2014-06-18. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
- ^Nicole Bunge (June 10, 2015). 'Origins Attendance Up Over 23%'. ICV2. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
- ^'Origins Attendance Report'. June 20, 2016. Retrieved June 20, 2016.
- ^Niebling, William. 'Origins Attendance Up'. ICv2. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
- ^'Future Dates'. Origins Game Fair. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
- ^'Origins attendance up substantially this year'. ICV2. Archived from the original on June 22, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
- ^'Origins Game Fair Where Gaming Begins'. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
External links[edit]
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