Origins attendance falls for first time since pandemic despite rising revenue, hall space, events volume

GAMA’s long-running tabletop gaming convention Origins has seen its annual attendance fall for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic, even as revenue, exhibitor space and the volume of scheduled events continued to expand.

Attendance slipped to 18,700 at this year’s event in June from a post-pandemic record of 19,171 at last year’s 50th anniversary event – and remains below the all-time high of 20,642 posted in 2019.

While that attendance reflect a recovery from the lows of around 10,500 and 11,500 in 2021 and 2022, when many people were still reluctant to attend large gatherings post pandemic, other major shows such as Gen Con, Spiel Essen and the UK Games Expo had all recovered to beat their pre-Covid highs by 2024.

UKGE has had a particularly strong post-Covid recovery, with its unique attendance roughly doubling compared to its 2019 total to reach 51,000 this year.

Despite this year’s slide in attendance, however, Origins continues to grow in other areas, with new GAMA communications director Kevin Ronnebaum telling BoardGameWire the 2026 show made more revenue than ever amid significant ongoing growth in its scheduled events programme.

More than 8,600 events ranging from industry panels and seminars to tournaments, RPG sessions and creative workshops took place at Origins this year, up 10% year-on-year and growing almost a third compared to 2024’s total.

Underscoring the event’s ongoing reputation as a show to play games at rather than just for shopping, more than 8,000 games were checked out of the on-site game library this year – a new record, and up 22% compared to 2025.

The number of exhibitors remained steady at 413, almost identical to last year and up about 26% compared to the 305 who ran booths at the 2025 event. But this year’s exhibitors ran larger booths on average, Ronnebaum said, with the total space taken up by exhibitors growing 10,000 sq ft to reach 62,720 sq ft.

Big names from 2025 who did not return to exhibit this year included Hachette Boardgames, Cephalofair Games, Chip Theory Games, and Queen Games, although the show did attract attendees such as Blue Orange, Eagle-Gryphon Games and CoolStuffInc who did not run booths last year.

Ronnebaum said that positives about the event from GAMA’s point of view included a better registration experience and care of VIP and premium badge holders, further growth in RPGs and improved organisation in how exhibitors were onboarded, which he said received positive feedback.

He added that challenges which reared their heads included the decision to stagger booths this year rather than position them in a neat grid, which he said had proved “a little confusing” for attendees.

That confusion was apparent in online discussion of the event, with some visitors reporting that locating specific exhibitors had become more difficult and that the show floor felt harder to browse efficiently.

Not all feedback was negative, however, with some attendees acknowledging the layout changes seemed to aid in persuading visitors to dwell at individual booths rather than just rushing along the aisles.

Origins, which takes place at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Ohio, is set to return between June 9 and 13 for its 2027 show.