Tabletop Gaming Magazine and Miniatures Wargames have this week announced Spring Showcase. It’s a virtual event designed to get you your tabletop gaming fix.
The event will run from the 27th of March to the 28th, and you can find it on the gaming convention calendar.
Geek Native spoke to Christopher Eggett about the Spring Showcase. What can we expect?
What sort of games are going to be featured in the Tabletop Gaming Spring Showcase?
We’ve got tons planned, but just a little taste: we’ve got a playthrough of the new Undaunted: Reinforcements expansion, a close up look at the exciting play-dough smashing wargame Necromolds, and a spotlight on indie designer The Dark Imp’s new game Uranus!
It’s going to be a look forward at what’s coming over the next year or so. You expect announcements and previews from publishers, designers and content creators that you already love – and a few you didn’t knew you loved yet. We just want to give everyone a chance to focus on the good stuff that’s coming.
Equally as exciting though, we’re opening up our virtual stands and show content for those who want to get their prototypes out there. The idea here is that smaller designers can get a chance to get their prototypes in front of people as they would at other shows.
It’s all very relaxed and taking place on www.tabletopgaming.co.uk over the weekend of 27-28th March 2021, set the date and come have a look and what we’re offering.
We’ve had nearly a year of event restrictions. How has it changed life at Tabletop Gaming?
We’ve remained resilient here and continued publishing the monthly magazine, creating podcasts and video content and playing games as normally as we can throughout all of the lockdowns.
While there are challenges, we know that gaming is a lifeline for the community in these tricky times – and being part of that lifeline is the most important thing.
On the practical side, many of our writers and reviewers don’t have access to their larger gaming groups as the usually would. This means that games with a 3+ player requirement have had limited reviews. It’s been a bad year for mass participation and party games! We’ll be paying some attention to these kinds of games in an upcoming special issue of the magazine, once we can all get back to something like normal.
What have you seen that works for virtual events and showcases?
Everyone has approached it differently – and it really depends on what kind of show you’re going for.
We’re focused on good video content that’s really accessible. While our show is time limited, there’s none of the panic of being double booked – if you miss when the announcement goes up, you can always catch up. Our goal is to avoid burnout for our visitors, it’s a free virtual show, you shouldn’t be too exhausted from it!
Our invitation is always to come and have a chill weekend, find out some cool news about your favourite games, and discover some new designers and publishers you might not have bumped into otherwise. It’s not the same as us all getting together – as we hope to later in the year at our Tabletop Gaming Live show – but it’s maybe the next best thing.
What can games publishers and designers do to get the most out of virtual events like the Spring Showcase?
Be excited and get involved! Right now we’re still looking for publishers and designers who want to shout about what they’ve got coming up for the rest of the year, so get in touch and let’s work together.
The most engaged with videos from last year’s show were the ones where publishers and designers really dug deep and told us exactly why they made the games they make. If you love your games, then it’s just a matter of letting us know why!
For those that want to give visitors a bigger, more rounded experience we also have exhibitor stands. These are your own area of the event website.
Any tips for gamers? In your experience, what’s the best way to make the most of a virtual event?
Firstly, and most importantly, follow us on social media as you’ll be able to catch all the schedules and teasers there (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube). Staying connected is good advice at the best of times, and even more so now.
Once you’ve done that, just take your time and enjoy what you want from the show. We’d always recommend digging deep into the show’s exhibitor stands and into areas of gaming you wouldn’t usually consider looking into. There might be something there to convince you that it’s worth trying something new. This way you get the sense of being joyously distracted as you would wandering around a convention hall at our live show.
And also: reach out. To us, to the publisher and the designers – this is one of the most friendly hobbies out there, and we’re all ready to talk games any time. We’re always looking for an excuse to talk about games more, so why not be that excuse! Everyone feeds off one another’s excitement in this hobby, so do your bit and be excited in a way that others can get a buzz off.
Generally though, remember that just because it’s easier to click from one thing to another than walk across a convention hall, you don’t have to be everywhere at once. Just enjoy the show, it’s what it’s there for!
Fully refundable tickets are on sale for Tabletop Gaming Live in September. Is it too scary to make any predictions for that event?
Not at all. All the signs point for a positive recovery and return to something closer to normal by September at the moment, and we believe in being optimistic. We expect to have a full and exciting show, as we normally would.
There is one difference though, which is it will feel extra special for everyone to be back together again – whether that’s so we can sit down and try games ‘in the flesh’, playing games in the open gaming area with new people, or enjoying the talks and tournaments we like to put on.
I can’t tell you how much I miss going to events like Tabletop Gaming Live, the people might be one of the best things about the hobby, and it’ll be great to be gaming together again. Until then, we can enjoy a bit of virtual excitement with the Spring Showcase.
Tempted? If you’re a designer or publisher and think you might want to get involved then either [email protected] or [email protected] can help. Tabletop Gaming Magazine covers similar topics to Geek Native, with loads more emphasis on board games, and arrives in paper via your front door. You can subscribe directly.
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