It’s hard to believe that Origins 2008 has come and gone already. For
those of you who have never heard of Origins, or those who’ve heard of
it but never been there, this article will try to convey some sense of
what Origins is all about, why people go there year after year, and why
you might want to consider attending Origins 2009.
The Origins
Game Fair is an annual event run by the non-profit Game Manufacturers
Association (GAMA). There are essentially two sides to the show, an
exhibition of games and game-related products, and a nearly
round-the-clock opportunity to play just about any kind of game you
might be interested in. Game players from around the world converge at
Origins to play their favorite games, meet game designers, talk with
game manufacturers, and pick up the latest releases.
Origins
runs for 5 days, usually at the end of June, at the Greater Columbus
(Ohio) Convention Center. Some 4,000 tournaments are held during the
convention, in addition to hundreds of casual and serious games.
Origins 2008 offered attendees the chance to play these and other card
games:
- Pokemon
- World of Warcraft
- Yu-Gi-Oh!
- Star Wars
- Magic: The Gathering
- Shadowfist
- Chez Goth
- Vs. System
- Chaotic
- Naruto
- Vampire: The Eternal Struggle
- Dragon Ball
- EVE
- Kingdom Hearts
- Star Trek
- Middle Earth
- Dungeoneer
- Chez Grunt
- Bleach
Boardgames and “traditional” games played at Origins 2008 included these and many more:
- Fantasy Imperium
- Dragon Storm
- The Settlers of Catan
- Fluxx
- Wits and Wagers
- Texas Hold ‘Em Poker
- Clue!
- Scrabble
- Taboo
- Diplomacy
- Risk
- Twilight Struggle
- Federation and Empire
- “Oh My God! There’s an Axe in My Head”
- Advanced Civilization
- Carcassonne
- Munchkin
- Pirate’s Cove
- Puffing Billy
- Star Fleet Battles
- Car Wars (Card Game)
- Kingmaker
- Lord of the Fries
- Trailer Park Wars!
- Power Grid
- Redneck Life
- Venus Needs Men!
- Are You a Werewolf?
- Axis & Allies
- Arkham Horror
- Tannhauser
- Ticket to Ride
- Tide of Iron
- Bootleggers
- Robo Rally
- Age of Napoleon
- Battlestations
- Zombies!
Miniatures games are a big part of the fun at Origins. This year’s miniatures games included the following, among many more:
- Star Trek Starship Tactical Combat Simulator
- Victory at Sea
- Desperados
- Saganami Island Tactical Simulator
- Heroscape
- Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures
- Attack Vector: Tactical
- Full Thrust
- Seapower II
- Warhammer 40,000
- Injurius Games
- Silent Death
- Battle of Verdun
- Clear for Action
- Command at Sea
- Rezolution
- Car Wars Deluxe Edition
- Classic Battletech
- Red Actions
- Reich of the Dead
- WARMACHINE/HORDES
- HeroClix
- Zombie Hunters
- Heirs to Olympia
- Midway
- Volley and Bayonet
- Dark Age
- AT-43
- Sailpower
- Classical Hack
- Liberty or Death
- Seekrieg
- Star Wars Miniatures
Origins also features a number of role-playing and live-action role-playing (RPG and LARP) games, including the following:
- Call of Cthulu
- Champions
- d20
- Fantasy Imperium
- Witch Hunter
- Dungeons & Dragons
- Spycraft
- Twilight: 2000
- Star Wars Saga Edition
- Werewolf: The Apocalypse
- GURPS
- HackMaster
- Hero System
- Stargate SG-1 d20
- Nobilis
- Aces & Eights
- Hollow Earth Expeditions
- Shadowrun
- Star Trek
- Mutants and Masterminds
- Ubiquity
- National Security Decision Making Game
- Serenity
- Legend of the Five Rings
- Amtgard
- Rising: Live Action Survival Horror
- Mind’s Eye Theatre
- Shattered Glass: A Murder Mystery
- Heirs to Olympia
- Werewolf: The Forsaken
- Pokethulu
Origins
also offers a number of educational and entertaining events for those
who need a break from gaming or perhaps don’t enjoy gaming at all:
- Heroes
of Peacetime: A small band of airmen during the interwar period risked
all and lost much. Matt Caffrey decribes their deeds. - Little Big Horn: Pete Panzeri presents videos and photos to support his conclusions regarding the Battle of the Little Big Horn.
- Global Trends 2008: LTC Jaime Laughrey examines the common causes of conflict – population, culture, resources, and economics.
- Live-Action Teaching Tools: A seminar/workshop designed to utlize Live-Action Role-playing in the education environment.
- GM Mastery: Seminar for beginning and experienced game masters.
- Miniature Painting
- Modifying Games for Classroom Use
- Leatherworking 101
- Special Ops in Vietnam
- Design Your Own Games
- LARP 101
- Soviet Tank Units in WWII
- Advanced Game Design for Teachers
- Modern Tactics
- Art Show
- Card Workshop (make greeting cards)
- Various film screenings
- Morning Yoga
- Beginning Tatting
- Beginning Scrapbooking
- Belly Dancing Basics
- Nifty Knits
- Beginning Counted Cross Stitch
- Family Scavenger Hunt
- Beginning Knitting and Crochet
- Basic Meditation
- Origins Live Game Auction
Hopefully
these long lists have given you some idea of the kinds of activities
you might take part in as an attendee of Origins. All I can tell you
is that I’ve only scratched the surface above. Origins manages to keep
around 20,000 people entertained 24 hours a day for 5 days.
In
the area near the Columbus Convention Center where Origins is held are
a number of restaurants. Some of my personal favorites include the
Japanese Steak House, Barley’s Brew Pub, and various stands in the
nearby North Market. Barley’s Brew Pub, as one example, features an
on-premises brewery and offers several micro-brew draft beers to enjoy.
The Columbus Convention Center itself offers a wide selection of
restaurants, too.
Since you still might not have a picture of
what a day at Origins can be like, I’ll recount one of my days at
Origins 2008. I woke that morning around 9am, showered, and headed to
the Convention Center with my brother. We parked in the garage on Vine
Street, practically across the street from the convention. We entered
the convention center, grabbed a morning beverage at the coffee shop,
and headed to the exhibit hall or “dealer room” to look around. We
spent an hour or two looking around at what the various vendors had to
offer, making mental note of where we’d seen the best deals. I stopped
at the “Paint and Take” area to pick up a free miniature and sat down
to practice my painting skills while waiting on our first game to
start. We had lunch, and a couple of beers, at the Brew Pub across the
street. We walked around and looked at some of the setups in the
miniatures room before heading off to our first game, a Mayfair Games
card game called “Family Business”.
When Family Business was
over, we went to the Japanese Steak House across the street to have
dinner. After dinner, we went back to the convention center and
arrived at the Red Shirt Games area to play “Injurius Games: Keep What
You Kill”. This game ran until around midnight, whereupon we went home
for the night.
During the course of my time at Origins, I had the opportunity to play in full or demo versions of all of the following games:
- Zombies
on the Moon: A miniatures game where a squad of astronauts must defend
itself against a horde of zombies while attempting to reach (and
destroy) a strange alien artifact at the center of a moon base. - Family
Business: A gangster-oriented card game by Mayfair Games, where the
object is to eliminate the members of the rival mobs. This was so much
fun I ended up purchasing it. - Injurius Games – Keep What You
Kill: This miniatures game by General Glen of Red Shirt Games is
reasonably light on rules, with a subtle arcade-game feel, plenty of
action, and is a perennial favorite with my brother and me. If you
manage to kill an enemy unit, you’re awarded an unpainted version of
the same miniature at the end of the game. Needless to say, I have
quite a few of the minis in my collection. - AT-43: This Fantasy Flight Games product relies pretty much on the standard six-sided die and a
relatively simple but effective set of rules. Matt and I found it pretty straightforward and easy to play, not to mention fun. - Dungeons and
Dragons Miniatures – Monster Bash: This Red Shirt Games variant of
D&D Miniatures allows you to get a feel for the full game, in a
battle to the death between good and evil. Red Shirt Games made it
very easy to pick up and play this game without my ever having seen it
before. - Trailer Park Wars: This card-based title by Gut Bustin’ Games places you in command of a trailer park.
On your turn, you play cards from your hand which might place a
desirable tenant in one of your trailers, place an undesirable one in
an opponent’s trailer, add an amenity (such as an above-ground pool) to
your trailer park, or cause a disaster to befall an opponent. The
object is to collect as many pink flamingos as possible. The player
with the most flamingos at the time the “bank” runs out wins.
In
addition to the games, I attended a “Miniatures Painting Basics” class
taught by the very capable and talented Heather Blush. Ms. Blush
covered prepping and priming a miniature, applying a wash, applying a
base coat, mixing colors, drybrushing, and more in an
information-packed 90 minutes or so.
Matt and I had a great time at Origins 2008, as we do every year at Origins, and are already looking forward to next year.
