We attended Origins Game Fair, organized by the Game Manufacturer’s Association (GAMA), in Columbus, Ohio for the first time this year, and found it to be a bustling event crammed with hard-core games on Thursday, the first day the exhibit hall was open. Exhibitors say that people come to play at Origins, they come to buy at Gen Con, and the heavily occupied gaming spaces showed that to be true (although we also saw lots of commerce taking place).
Although final numbers had not been released, pre-registrations were reported to be up substantially over 2016.
Attendees appear older and male-er at Origins than at Gen Con, at least on Thursday, although exhibitors said that the family-friendly weekend crowd is more mixed in gender and age. We saw almost no cosplay, reflective of the mix of the crowd.
Here are a few photos to give you a feel for Origins.

Thursday
Posted by Milton Griepp on June 19, 2017 @ 4:19 am CT

MORE GAMES
New 'Flesh & Blood TCG' Booster Set
July 3, 2025
Legend Story Studios announced Super Slam, a new Flesh & Blood TCG booster set.
New Riff of the Classic Game of War from Chip Theory Games
July 3, 2025
Chip Theory Games will release Fight Five, a new card game, into retail.
MORE NEWS
Story Inspired by H.G. Wells' 'The Invisible Man' Returns in Hardcover
July 3, 2025
First published by Vertigo, Lemire’s reimagining of the classic H.G. Wells novel The Invisible Man will return in a new hardcover edition.
Via an EQL Lottery Sale
July 3, 2025
Ravensburger will re-release a limited run of Disney Lorcana: First Chapter booster boxes, via an EQL.