Rolling for Initiative is a weekly column by Scott Thorne, PhD, owner of Castle Perilous Games & Books in Carbondale, Illinois and instructor in marketing at Southeast Missouri State University. This week, Thorne discusses overcrowding at GTS seminars and remembers Ernie Gygax, Jr., who passed away on February 28, 2025.
As I mentioned last week, I did not have the opportunity to attend this year's GAMA Expo, and given the announced dates, will probably not get to go in 2026 (see "
Seminars of Interest"). The show set a record for attendance this year with just under 1,100 stores and 3,425 people attending (see "
New Attendance Record"). The big problem this year was the overflowing seminar rooms, which left stores not able to get into seminars and get the codes to enter in the show app to qualify for this year’s retailer swag box. From what I understand, several presentations were crowded enough to violate fire codes. Stores also reported that the time frame for entering the codes to qualify for the gift box was shorter than expected and closed before they could finalize their submissions.
The gift box originated as a method of subsidizing retailer attendance at the GAMA Expo. Many retailers found taking time away from their stores to attend the show cut into their profitability too much, especially those that were a one- or two-person operation. Attending the show would require closing the store three days to a week. The idea behind the gift box was that stores could take the items in it, resell them in the store and recoup the cost of attending. WizKids especially promoted this idea with limited edition items such as the
Mage Knight Apocalypse Dragon and
MechWarrior Dropship (which still sells for around $300).
Unfortunately, some stores started viewing the gift box as a way to subsidize a Las Vegas vacation, so they would check in and then skip most of the seminars and publisher presentations in favor of hitting the casinos and seeing the sights. This, of course, annoyed publishers who were footing the bill for the convention and the gift box and expected that attendees would listen to them talk about their new products.
Ergo, the requirement of attending not only the show but publisher presentations was born and a new set of problems as well. I'm leaning towards one of three options to deal with them:
- Drop the gift box entirely. The hobby game industry is far more professional than it was when retailers needed a subsidy to attend and the GAMA Expo is valuable enough on its own.
- Include the gift box automatically. A store attends GAMA Expo, it gets the gift box. Again, stores today are far more professional than 20 years ago, with fewer looking at a trip to GAMA Expo as a vacation.
- Make the gift box optional with an attendance requirement. That way, stores wanting the gift box can attend the presentations necessary to qualify while those more focused on the presentations can choose the ones most valuable to them.
Ernest "Ernie" Gygax, Jr., son of E. Gary Gygax (see "
Gary Gygax"), a game designer and
Dungeons & Dragons evangelist in his own right, passed away from undisclosed causes last Friday. I never had the opportunity to meet him, but from what I understand, he played in the first ever session of
Dungeons & Dragons. In that session, he played the first magic user character, Tenser, which lent his name to several still used in game play today. Gygax, Jr. was a playtester on Jim Ward's
Metamorphosis Alpha (arguably the first sci-fi RPG), the first manager of TSR’s Dungeon Hobby Shop, and worked on the
Dungeons & Dragons television cartoon. Later in life, he co-published
Gygax Magazine and was involved with two attempts to revive TSR as an independent company. He was also known for his willingness to introduce younger gamers to
AD&D, treating them as equals in the game and hosting sessions in home that could run 6 to 10 hours. That's a fine legacy to leave, R.I.P. Ernest Gygax, Jr.
Thoughts on this week's column? Email
castleperilousgames @gmail.com.
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
