{"id":651,"date":"2023-06-27T14:48:43","date_gmt":"2023-06-27T13:48:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/boardgamewire.com\/?p=651"},"modified":"2023-09-21T09:40:52","modified_gmt":"2023-09-21T08:40:52","slug":"origins-game-fair-attendance-jumps-38-still-down-on-pre-pandemic-highs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/boardgamewire.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/27\/origins-game-fair-attendance-jumps-38-still-down-on-pre-pandemic-highs\/","title":{"rendered":"Origins Game Fair attendance jumps 38%, still down on pre-pandemic highs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

GAMA’s annual tabletop gaming convention Origins Game Fair<\/a> failed to draw record crowds last week despite a marked jump in attendance compared to last year’s event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 16,000 attendees visited Origins in Columbus, Ohio between June 21 and 25 this year, figures released to ICv2 show<\/a> – up 38% compared to visitor numbers at the 2022 fair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Origins is lagging behind other major tabletop gaming events in terms of its return to pre-pandemic size. More than 20,000 people visited Origins in 2019, 22% more than attended in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A month ago the UK Games Expo, the UK’s largest hobby gaming convention, welcomed a record 32,000 visitors<\/a>, blowing away the 25,704 posted in 2019, its last pre-pandemic year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GAMA’s own GAMA Expo at the end of April this year also attracted a record crowd, with visitor numbers up more than 20% compared to 2019<\/a> – although the number of retailers attending that event were still below pre-Covid levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Origins had 330 exhibitors this year, ICv2 said, up 63 from 2022, and hosted 6,400 events – a huge increase on the 5,000 from last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tabletop game publishers, designers and players will now turn their attention to Gen Con, the largest and longest-running game convention in the US, which opens its doors on August 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 50,000 people attended Gen Con last year – and organisers will be hoping this year’s event can outdo the 70,000 visitors who descended on the Indiana Convention Center for 2019’s convention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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GAMA’s annual tabletop gaming convention Origins Game Fair failed to draw record crowds last week despite a marked jump in attendance compared to last year’s event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[21,153,279,11,278,280,277],"class_list":["post-651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-21","tag-attendance","tag-columbus","tag-gama","tag-game-fair","tag-ohio","tag-origins"],"blocksy_meta":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t