All Year I Dream About Gaming Conventions

Just in time to get excited for Gen Con 2026 event and badge season! Listen in as Aimee of the Pod, Aimee interviews Rachel, Bethany, Drake, Jayden & Lily, NotThatDrake, and Vino Veritas from around the Indiana Convention Center! As an added bonus: We have gone back and rehabilitated some of our interview with Munchkin Champion of the Pod, Diana. No promises at the sound quality, but it's an i...

On this episode, Quarex and Ben review a gaming convention we didn't attend: BGG CON in Dallas, TX! The flagship convention from the Board Game Geek team, this is perhaps the largest and most preeminent of the gameslibrarycons in the US. It also happened on the same weekend as PAX Unplugged, meaning that we weren't able to make the convention. One of your own was in attendance, and he helped us co...

On our second longest episode to date, Quarex and Ben provide you with all the conventions you'll want to check out during the first third of 2026, including: Super MAG Fest, Winter WGG Con, Windy City Skirmish, Geekway Mini, Tundracon, Midwinter Gaming Con, SnowCon, AdamCon, PAGE 3, Chattanooga Rail Gaming Challenge, RiverCityCon, Star City Games Con, VerminCon, Winter Offensive, Winterfest Warga...

We hope our dreamers have enjoyed their Thanksgiving as much as we did! On this episode, we review Ben's time at PAX Unplugged 2025 in beautiful, marathon-ridden Philadelphia, Pennsylvania! Pick up a Button Shy Game! ( link ) Lead into game night with Super Show: Super Lucha! ( link ) ARTOVISION's excellent shadowboxes! ( link ) Get notified when Chicken Fried Dice goes live on Kickstarter! ( link...

On Saturday of Gen Con, Quarex and Ben recorded a live episode of our podcast in the presence of nearly 30 dreamers! As we recover from PAX Unplugged, we are releasing most of the episode from the Lucas Oil Media Room 10 for those who missed out. And if you want to know more about Quarex's fudge, you really gotta come to these magical events! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informa...

On this episode, Quarex and Ben provide all the late and late-breaking news from PAX Unplugged 2025, such as: Philadelphia Marathon Road Closures Special Guests from Sit Down & Shut Up Oops All Himbos (and Quarex Impersonator) Jay Foster AEW Wrasslers at the 9th Level Games Booth Twilight Imperium Tournament for Those Who Make Great Decisions AEG Big Game Night Better Boothing: Making the Most...

On this very off-cycle episode, your hosts are reviewing some important deadlines you'll want to pay attention to (and soon), like: Gen Con VIG Badge Applications are open! Get them in before your chance closes on December 1! Origins Game Fair has already opened up its event submissions for June 2026, while badges and hotels go up for sale in the coming weeks! We'll return tomorrow with our regula...

On this episode, we're joined by three creators doing cool stuff in and around the expo hall at PAX Unplugged 2025! Not only have they designed Garbage & Glory , Wrastlevania , and Boom Patrol , Nicole Amato is also the games outreach coordinator at Kickstarter. They're attending the convention in their official capacity, and you might even find some time to meet and show the next great game!...

On this very special episode of All Year I Dream About Gaming Convention, your hosts dig into some of the details you'll need to know about the overlap and overlay of PAX Unplugged and the Philadelphia Marathon, such as: Saturday's 8k run ( link ) Saturday's half marathon ( link ) Sunday's children's races ( link ) Sunday's whole hog marathon that goes right past the convention center ( link ) The...

PAX Unplugged, the last of the 2025 Rushmore conventions, is being held in Philadelphia, PA from November 21-23 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Not only will your other host Ben be in attendance for all three days, we have recorded our 1 Day Badges before they sell out! Spot Hero for parking in Center City The hotel block , which is sold out but still open Pre-registration events , outside...

On this episode, Quarex and Ben are strangely silent while Aimee of the Pod, Aimee, handles the interviews in the Gamehole dealer hall! Listen in for interviews with: Matt with Chaosium Scott from Trinamyk John and Bri from Bright Bard Games Jordan from Goosepoop Games Richard from Monster Tiles And for our supporters on KoFi , check out our interview with Erica from Broken Brain Games ! Hosted on...

On this episode, your hosts are joined by Aimee of the Pod Aimee to talk about our time spent at Gamehole Con XII. But also! Quarex and Ben review the newest member of the Street Team, inconveniently named Ben! You won't want to miss it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this very special episode of All Year I Dream About Gaming Conventions, Quarex and Ben delay the dealer hall interviews to bring you an interview with Ron and Phil from PAGE: the Philadelphia Area Gaming Expo. Held this year from January 15-18 in sunny Oaks, PA. They've got everything you'd want from an RPG con: Over 1000 events in their growing event catalog Over 100 special guests who will ac...

This is our previewsode for Gamehole Con 2025... the XII-ening. On this episode, we get you ready for everything you need to know... and the things you don't know you need to know. Mentioned in the episode: The first Wardens of the Eastern Marches adventure ( link ) The rising phoenix of RPEX ( link ) The Dragonbane tourney, The Sinking Tower ( link ) Castles and Crusades for Kids ( link ) Badge Q...

On this episode, your hosts Ben and Quarex get a chance to speak with Madison area illustrator, game designer, and charity biker John Kovalic! In addition to being the artist of the long-running comic strip Dork Tower , John has illustrated Apples to Apples, Munchkin, Kobolds Ate My Baby, and Chez Geek. For the last several years, John and... let's face it, this is really his crew of friends who r...

Everything you wanted to know about applying to exhibit at Gen Con but you were too afraid to ask! (Or read.) Gen Con Exhibitor Page New Exhibitor Application Appendix A: Exhibitor Rules and Regulations Fern Expo Table covers and podiums "Let Them Eat Thomas Paine" taken from Dillinger Four's "Versus God" album ( link ). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, your hosts Quarex and Ben held court for a crowd of attentive dreamers on the 2nd floor of the Greater Columbus Convention Center. You've heard our after action episodes (128-131), now here what it was like in the heat of the moment! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, we're talking with Lyla Fujiwara ( link ) and Ethan Yen ( link ), who are both amazing game designer in their own rights. However, Ethan and Lyla are the driving forces behind the POC Industry Dinner and related seminar events! Over the course of a half hour, they help explain the impetus behind the dinner, what they're doing in year 2, and where they envision the POC Dinner expan...

All the leaves are brown, and the sky is gray... but we won't be feeling forlorn on some Madison autumn days! Gamehole Con is being held from October 23-26 at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, WI, and both your hosts will be present this year. To help you prepare for your own trip to the capital, we are reviewing the best ways to travel, the sliver of a hope at lodging, the parking situation,...

At the prompting of a dreamer, your host Ben checked out a convention in Northern Virginia called Final 3 Con , which focuses on social deduction games like Blood on the Clocktower, Werewolf, and Mafia. Ben had a great time, and we've sat on this interview... until now. On September 14, 2025 at 3 pm ET, tickets for Final 3 Con 2026 go on sale. You'll want to set an alarm, because the full day badg...

From May 1 to September 2 of this year, your hosts Quarex and Ben made it to the following conventions: Congress of Gamers, Spring Session Des Moines Con ... or was it Des Moines Comic Con? Living Dead Weekend Origins Games Fair EGG Con Gen Con Otakon Once Upon a Con ... buckle up for the drama NOVA Open Games and groups highlighted include: Love, Career, Magic by Wonmin Lee 1490 Doom by Buer Game...

On this episode, your hosts Quarex and Ben go through all the conventions you'll want to attend* from September 2 to December 31, 2025, including: Dice Tower Retreat, Council Con 2025, Metagame 2025, Mini-KennyCon, CuseCon, Meeples & Peoples, MegaMooseCon, RockyCon, World Series of Board Gaming, MañanaCon, Barrage 2025, FriendCon, The Ettin, Tabletop Scotland, Game mORe Con, Con on the Cob, IC...

In this selection of interviews from the exhibit hall floor at Gen Con 2025! Luke of Limithron, publishers of Pirate Borg ! Corey from Amigo Games , fine makers of Where Is Mausi? Sarah from Astra Fauna , the accelerant for your other host Ben's nightmare fuel since Gen Con 2024 Bri from Rollacrit , who are the publishers of Heroes of Barcadia, makers of the renewed Bags of Holding, and official m...

On this dreamer-requested episode, Quarex and Ben discuss their best practices for constructing and following a convention calendar to keep track of all the key dates and deadlines for the conventions you want to attend. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rarely imitated, never duplicated — Ben and Quarex are back with our second annual Games of the Convention!!! This is the only annual award given out by a podcast about gaming conventions. Who will win the GOTC for the best kids game, best RPG, or best board game? Who will take home what is undoubtedly the electrum for the game of the year? Will either host ever acknowledge the acronym itself? You...