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The World of Georic 1989-Present

Friday, April 10, 2020

Origins Game Fair Postponed to October

Pulled from another site, others seem to confirm.

Origins Game Fair Postponed to October;
Origins Online Scheduled for June

COLUMBUS, OH – April 9, 2020 – The Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA), the non-profit organization serving the hobby games industry, today announced that it will postpone the 46th Annual Origins Game Fair, originally scheduled for June 17-21, 2020 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, to October 7-11, 2020. The tabletop convention attracts more than 20,000 attendees from around the world to central Ohio to play thousands of board games, collectible card games, miniatures and role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Catan, and hundreds of other titles.

The decision to postpone the convention follows extensive discussions with its membership, the city of Columbus, the Greater Columbus Convention Center, hotel partners, and exhibitors. "The decision to postpone the convention was not one we made lightly," said GAMA Executive Director, John Stacy. "The safety and well-being of the Origins community is our number one priority. Given the current health situation, we believe that it is best to move the convention to October."

With the postponement, GAMA also announced that they would be hosting an online gaming convention during the original show weekend, June 19-21, 2020.

Origins Online 2020 will be a fully virtual convention for tabletop gaming fans to enjoy from their devices and will feature an Exhibit Hall where attendees can demo and buy games and merchandise. In addition, the virtual convention will offer streaming workshops and educational seminars with guest authors, artists and game designers, plus hundreds of games online that attendees can sign up to participating in.

"We are all in this together. The postponement of the in-person event and introduction of Origins Online is an opportunity for the hobby games industry and broader gaming community to get excited together and come back stronger on the other side of this pandemic," Stacy continued.

Details regarding the postponement of Origins Game Fair and Origins Online will be shared soon on the event website.

Pretty much a no-brainer on the part of GAMA, especially with the size and scope of Origins.  It also bodes poorly for a positive decision to keep Historicon going a month later.  HMGS gave a hard decision date of June 1st, and so far this year a month has been an eternity (Consider a con run around Valentine's Day vs St Patty's Day vs Easter.  Huge differences), but unless the curve plummets rather than stabilizes, I'm thinking its a good time to prep a game for Fall-In!

One positive from this whole shelter in home phenomenon is businesses and individuals improving their online skills.  Online games, online conventions, virtual exhibitor halls/swag bags will continue to grow in acceptance. 

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