Want one more way to get some new games into your collection at WashingCon? Of course you do! As board game hobbyists a lot of us have collections brimming over with games we barely play any more. And the best way to find folks willing to trade games you want for the ones that just aren't making the table at your house any more is through a math trade. By signing up, listing the games you are willing to part with, and the games you are interested in trading for, the site's algorithm figures out the best way for the most games to be traded amongst participants. Then bring you games to the convention on Saturday September 8th, and exchange them for fresh, brand new (used) games! If you still have questions about the process, click the "learn more" button below for Board Game Geek's detailed primer. This costs you nothing except for your unloved games and few minutes of your time, so register now!
North Star Games Evolution Tournament
Our friends from North Star Games are coming back to WashingCon this year and will be hosting a tournament of Evolution, their strategy game of species and specialization! To win at Evolution you must guide to your species to victory by carefully selecting adaptations, while acquiring enough food to feed your rapidly evolving species and keep opponents at bay. Watch out for other species that evolve sharp teeth, though, or else you become the alternative source of food for your friends' creatures! This tournament will take place on Sunday at 10:30 am and has limited seating so sign up here.
North Star Games will also be in the main hall demoing their amazing stuff and doing some play testing so come on down to their booth and check out games like Warsaw: City of Ruins, Most Wanted, Monster Match and many, many more fine products. They have been incredible supporters of the local gaming community over the last few years we're thrilled to have them at WashingCon again, representing the DC area's game publishers.
RPG Sign Ups Are Open!
What would a tabletop convention be without some RPGs?? Not a good one thats for sure. But there is no need worry about inferior convention-going in DC this year because our many generous GM's have volunteered their time again and WashingCon 2018 is proud to offer two days of tabletop RPGs! Sign up for the classic adventuring of Dungeons and Dragons 5th ed, the eldritch horror of Call of Cthulhu, the far future science fantasy of Numenera or many others. Dark, heroic or absurd, there's a story telling adventure at WashingCon for all tastes. Both Saturday and Sunday schedules have been set and sign ups are now available. These fill up fast so reserve your seat at the table ASAP!
Event Schedule Is Up!
Most of you know that WashingCon is more than just our huge open gaming hall. Beyond providing you the opportunity to enjoy some new games with friends we also have events, tournaments and speakers for all of your additional gaming-related needs. Well, we're less than four weeks away and the schedule of events is now up!
This year we have several tournaments back from last year such as Catan, Pitch Car and Carcassonne, as well as a ton of new new events like Codenames, King of Tokyo and Giant Between Two Cities! In addition we're going to have a series of panels with local designers talking about what it takes to create your own games, an introduction to Wargaming with Jason Matthews and the event that we are so excited to present: Tiny Dungeon!
Almost all of our events are free with your admission, but many require a reserved seat to participate. These seats tend to go fast so we strongly encourage you to sign up as early as possible, right here, if you want a spot!
We will have additional events being added as the details are figured out so be sure to check back here for details!
Opportunities For Aspiring Game Designers
One of the best things about tabletop conventions is the opportunity they provide for the games enthusiasts working on their prototypes to get them in front of tons of new people. New ideas and designers are the lifeblood of the hobby and we hope to do our best to encourage them at WashingCon! Due to the limited space in the convention, which you all know is crammed to the gills with gaming, we can only allot so much extra space to demos. Thankfully the folks from Unpub, the unpublished games network, will be back at Washingcon this year managing a demo area for all of you designers who are still working on their game. If you are an unpublished designer who would like a slot to test your game out with the public please go to Unpub's website and register for a place a WashingCon. Participation in Unpub is free but please note that we request that you sign up for no more than 2 slots as otherwise there will not be enough table time to go around for everyone. And for those of you who feel that they are ready for more time or space to demo their product, WashingCon can, for a fee, provide a dedicated table for you to work on your product all weekend. These tables can be reserved by contacting WashingCon's staff here. Thanks and we look forward to seeing all of your ideas in September!
WashingCon Hotel Rates Available
Good news, everyone!
The Georgetown Hotel and Conference Center, where we hold WashingCon each year, has reserved a block of rooms at a discounted price for our attendees! We know that for many of you it will be inconvenient or downright impossible to make it back and forth from home to the convention in one night. And, for those of you who need to find lodgings in the DC area, the alternatives can be grim: find another hotel who-knows-how-many metro stops away from the Con or, worst of all, maybe even spending a night on a friend's spine-destroying air mattress. But you don't need to suffer like that for a weekend of excellent gaming! To maximize back comfort and gaming time while minimizing your travel we recommend staying with us, right here, at the conference center.
The hotel will only guarantee the reduced rates if you purchase before August 7th so don't delay!
In addition, as some of you already know, WashingCon has an excellent slate of late night events as well. Two Rooms and A Boom, social deduction games and a whole lot more hit the floor right around 8 pm on Saturday. And once those wrap up, even though the main hall closes, we will still have space open, adjacent to the main hall, where the most die hard gamers can keep it going until the wee hours of the morning. We certainly will, and we hope a lot of you can join us.
So, if you are interested in prolonging your gaming time, grab a hotel room Saturday!
Exceptional T-Shirts for Sale!
There are a lot of good ways to remember your WashingCon experience. Taking pictures, slapping your memories up on Instagram or reliving your board game glory by endlessly reminding your friends of how you came from behind to win the Ticket to Ride tournament. But NOTHING memorializes your convention-going like fine chestwear!
WashingCon's 2018 official shirt, available here, is the best way to wear your love for WashingCon quite literally on your sleeve. Emblazoned with this year's sweet DC themed logo, this is the shirt 100% most likely to make your eyes mist over while thinking "Damn that was a fun convention" every time you put it on. Guaranteed to lower analysis paralysis and substantially improve your dice rolls while looking stylish, these shirts can be purchased at our website and will be available for pick at the convention. Reserve your's today!
Calling All Volunteers
Making WashingCon happen is a lot of work. Throughout the year a handful of us set our time aside to make sure everything is ready to go in September. But when the actual day of the convention is upon us we need a heck of a lot of more help for it all to go smoothly! That's why we rely on our volunteers to help staff the convention and assist with registration, events, the games library, rules tutoring, and everything else that goes into making WashingCon fun.
If you like WashingCon and want to be a part of it, we'd love have you as a volunteer! In exchange for two volunteer shifts we will comp your badge so you can spend the rest of your time enjoying the weekend for free. In addition we will provide you with a sweet WashingCon 2018 volunteer's T shirt designed by the director. This fine chestwear immediately identifies you as a true board game enthusiast of substance and the only way to get one is to volunteer right here. We look forward to seeing you in september!
Game Night at Port City Brewery!
WashingCon 2018 is still weeks away and we're sure that a lot of you are amped to get there and play some dang board games already! Well we can't bring the date any closer but, in the meantime, we can bring you the next best thing: boardgames and beer! This Thursday, July 26th, from 5pm until 10pm, members of the WashingCon staff will be at Port City Brewing Company in Alexandria, VA hosting a game night for everyone in the community.
We'll have a selection of games on hand but feel free to bring some of your own as well. Bring friends, play with some new folks and enjoy Alexandria's finest local beer. Tickets are free but, if you're intending to come, please sign up here so we have an idea of how many tables we'll need. We look forward to seeing you all there!
Final Day Of Reduced Price Badges!
One final heads up to everyone from the WashingCon staff: Today (6/9) is the last day for reduced price 2018 badges! At midnight tonight our very last early ticket sales drive will end and prices will return to their standard level for the remainder of the summer. Although badges will be available up to the convention, as well as at the doors, we encourage you to get yours today, right here, to take advantage of the best possible price.
We looking forward to seeing all of you in September!
Standard Prices Begin This Saturday
Here at WashingCon we rely on early ticket sales to get the convention off the ground each year. When you buy your passes ahead of time it allows us to pay for the deposit on the convention center as well as the annual startup costs. Without these sales it wouldn’t have been possible. For this reason we greatly appreciate those of you who have bought your tickets early and would like to say: Thank you, thank you, thank you.
As a small, additional show of gratitude to everyone out there getting passes ahead of time we have kept prices discounted past the original opening week sale. But all good things must come to an end and standard prices will go into effect this Friday at midnight. So for everyone hoping to get in on the last of the discounts this is the final week. Beginning Saturday, tickets will be set at the regular price until doors open so if you have not yet reserved your passes do it here ASAP!
Last Day To Get Discounted Passes!
Just a reminder that today is the last day to get your WashingCon badges at the reduced rate of just $40 for all weekend passes and $25 for Sunday only passes. After midnight, tonight the discount will end so, if you have a group you are hoping to attend with, now is the time to remind everyone to reserve their tickets for the best possible deal.
We’re already blown away by the response from the gamer community this year. Passes are going faster than ever and we want to say a big thank you to everyone who has already put us on your calendar for September! We hope that our early ticket discount lets everyone know how much we appreciate the enthusiasm you've shown for WashingCon. And for all of you who have yet to buy your passes, today is your chance. Remember to get your tickets here before midnight!
Get Your 2018 Passes Early!
With WashingCon 2018 passes primed to go on sale, we’d like to remind everyone who is as excited as we are for this year to get their passes early! As a way to show our appreciation to all of our awesome attendees who make WashingCon what it is, full weekend passes will be available for one week at the historic price of $40. Also, to make sure that families feel welcome, children’s full weekend passes will remain at $25 as long as passes are available.
Although the discount on adult badges will end after March 8th we wanted to do something for everyone who has attended in the past, groups on a budget, and the real board game lovers who have already put WashingCon on their schedule. As with last year we expect passes to sell out so we hope that our first week discount will encourage all of the DMV's most passionate gamers to get them before they’re gone!
Reserve yours right here, March 1st starting at 8pm.
Let's Talk About Free Games
For the past two WashingCons we have been able to offer a free game to every attendee as they walked in the door. This is a concept we borrowed from BGG.CON and it has been a highlight of our experience each year. Those of you who attended WashingCon 2017 will remember that the selection of games in the giveaway pile was unbelievable. One of our sponsors really came through for us and it was their generosity that allowed us to bring you that cardboard smorgasbord. Our director (Matt Grosso) got to feel like Gaming Claus for about 6 hours on Saturday this past year and it was probably the highlight of his weekend.
With that being said, we'd like to talk about expectations. It is our dearest hope that we will be able to continue the giveaway tradition again this year but, until we can make arrangements for those game donations, we can't promise anything. This is not to say that we won't have amazing games available again this year! But what we are able to offer is dependent on the largesse of our sponsors and we hope you will all keep your expectations at a reasonable level.
In the end we hope you agree that, while free games are great, WashingCon is about meeting new people and sharing our passion over an amazing weekend of games.
Remember, tickets go on sale this Thursday March 1st at 8:00pm at washingcon.com.
WashingCon 2018 Tickets go on sale March 1st!
We are excited to announce that Washington DC’s own tabletop gaming convention will return to the Georgetown University convention center in 2018 on September 8th and 9th! Passes go on sale Thursday, March 1st at 8pm and, as a big thank you to all of our previous attendees, for one week adult passes will be available at last years prices:
- Adults Full Weekend $40 (until March 8th)
- Kids (12 & Under) Full Weekend $25
- Adults Sunday Only $25 (until March 8th)
- Kids (12 & Under) Sunday Only $15
We have limited space at the event and expect to sell out again this year, so reserve your passes ASAP! And don't forget to keep up with us on this blog, Facebook, and Twitter for updates over the following days about hotel room pricing, events and other Washingcon 2018 details. We look forward to seeing all of you there!
Thank You for Another Amazing WashingCon!
Now that WashingCon 2017 is over, we wanted to take the time to thank several organizations and individuals for helping us put together the best WashingCon yet.
First, we would like to thank North Star Games, Labyrinth Game Shop, HABA USA, Looney Labs, Evil Hat Productions, Peaceable Kingdom Inc., Bully Pulpit Games, Learn LARP, Panda Game Manufacturing, ThinkFun, Twogether Studios, Gamewright Games, Green Ronin Publishing, Ravensburger, and Dragons Demize for being wonderful sponsors.
We also want to thank our vendors and partners including UnPub, Catlilli Games, Stone Circle Games, Twistocity, Smirk&Dagger, Dice Dungeons, Extra Life, Hope City, and all the other companies and individuals who shared their games with our attendees who loved the opportunity to try new and exciting products.
We also want to thank all of our guest designers and panelists including Susan McKinley Ross, Jason Matthews, Andrew Looney, Volko Ruhnke, Keith Baker, Jenn Ellis, Hal Mangold, Ross Cowman, Dave Chalker, Fred Hicks, Jonathan Gilmour, Jerry Taylor, Miranda Evarts, and Jason Morningstar for giving our attendees a new view into game design.
Finally we would like to thank all the volunteers and attendees for making this the best WashingCon yet. Without your support, we could have not given the tabletop community another opportunity to come together to share and enjoy their favorite games. We had a great time and look forward to sharing photos and interviews from WashingCon 2017 soon.
Final Announcements for WashingCon 2017
WashingCon 2017 is this weekend and we're excited to see new and return attendees play their favorite tabletop games with old and new friends, meet guest designers, and attend our panels. Before the games and festivities begin, however, we would like to make some important announcements:
- Tickets can be purchased online and will remain the same price until Friday at noon. After that, tickets will be available at the door (starting Saturday at 9:15am) and will be more expensive.
- Online event sign-up will also end Friday at noon. After that, event sign-up will be in-person starting at 10:00 am Saturday morning.
- If you pre-ordered your ticket, you can pickup your badge at Labyrinth Games & Puzzles until noon on Friday. After that, you can pickup your badge at will call at the convention center beginning at 9:15 am Saturday morning.
- The shuttle will remain in operation until about 10:45 pm on Saturday and Sunday this year.
If you have any additional questions or concerns, please email contact@washingcon.com. We look forward to seeing all of you this weekend.
More Events and Panels at WashingCon 2017 and Information About Kids Events
WashingCon is excited to announce a new set of panels to our roster of panels and events:
- RPG Design: Essential Elements and Innovation: Jason Morningstar, Ross Cowman, Hal Mangold, Dave Chalker, Keith Baker, and Fred Hicks will discuss the essential elements of good tabletop RPG design and where it's headed in the future.
- War Games: Design and Evolution: Jason Matthews, Christian Leonhard, and Volko Ruhnke will discuss designing these games and where the genre is headed in the future.
- The Future of Game Design: Industry professionals and WashingCon VIPs discuss the future of board game design: new mechanics, themes, and the evolution of the industry.
- Ghost Court with Jason Morningstar: Ghost Court: is a ridiculous party game for six or more players about ghosts and the people who sue them. Jason Morningstar, the game’s designer, will join players for this event.
If you want to register for these events, please visit our events page and don’t forget to buy your tickets if you haven’t picked them up yet.
WashingCon will also have a dedicated Family Area inside the main gaming hall with kid-friendly games and activities. In addition to games and demos from companies such as Peaceable Kingdom, Peaceable Kingdom will also host a costume contest for children ages 12 and under on Sunday from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm. All participants can dress in their favorite fantasy-themed costume contest and receive special prizes.
Night Owls Rejoice, WashingCon Will Be Open Late
WashingCon has good news for attendees who like their gaming to go all night. We've talked with the hotel and they have agreed to let us keep one large piece of the gaming hall open until 3:00 am on Saturday night.
So, let your games run long and have fun late but don't forget to set your alarms for Sunday so you don't sleep through day two of WashingCon!
Registration is Now Open for New RPG Events and Information About Donations for U.S. Troops
We’re excited to announce another round of RPG signups for WashingCon 2017. We will be running Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition: The Haunted Keep and Numenera: Escape from the Jade Colossus in our RPG game rooms. You can learn more about the panels and RPGs and register for them on our events page. As always, you will need tickets to register for these free events.
We are also happy to announce that WashingCon will take donations of board games that a member of the WashingCon community will send to for U.S. troops and their families stationed overseas. WashingCon will have collection boxes around the convention, so bring your board games and show your support for our troops. If you have any questions about the donations, please email volunteering@washingcon.com.