GTS 2011 At the Airport

GTS 2011 is over and we survived! Two days of gaming, hiking the exhibitor hall and generally working our tails off was well worth the trip. There were 110 vendors and the posts about each one will start going up over the next couple of days. I would like to take this time to thank all of our Kickstarter supporters that made the trip possible.

A few thoughts on the show itself. Overall we both thought the show was much better organized than last year. I would like to make special mention of game night on Wednesday where the vendors run demos in a mini-convention atmosphere. Last year’s game night was terrible, but this year 50 vendors showed up for the event and we actually got to play the games. Here is where we also found our “Best of Show” winner, but more on that in the coming days.

Unlike previous years, I attended a non-gaming seminar, specifically a presentation by Michael Stackpole on digital publishing. Some interesting stuff, but I disagree with his thoughts on ebook pricing.

No real issues or problems, which is unusual. One oddity was some of the major sponsors, like Osprey Books and Paizo did not set up booths. There were some reps running around, but no booth. Made tracking them down a bit difficult. Wizards of the Coast had a tiny booth and skipped the second day of the exhibitor hall entirely. Seemed a bit strange to sponsor a show and then barely attend.

Publisher seminars, at least the AEG, Bandai and Wizkids offerings had space issues. Literally standing-room only and they spilled into the hallway. Great to see the strong retailer attendance. The economy’s recent, albeit small improvement probably accounts for this. Attendance numbers are not out yet, but I expect they will be as good or better than last year.

Enough typing in an airport, I will be back with more in the next few days.

Trask, The Last Tyromancer

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trask

Trask is a long-time gamer, world traveler and history buff. He hopes that his scribblings will both inform and advance gaming as a hobby.

One thought on “GTS 2011 At the Airport

  • March 29, 2011 at 11:30 am
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    The AEG crowd was created by 2 factors. First, they were giving away Nightfall to anyone who attended. Second, their first slot was moved so that a lot of people missed it. So their second slot was mobbed.

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