To many people in the industry, gaming is in its Golden Age, and people who love board and card games have taken the concept to a whole new level. Beyond video games, which is its own cultural phenomenon, comic books, board gaming, miniature wargaming and card gaming has also sparked a national cultural trend that brings together people from all ages and walks of life.
“To give you an example on how big of a cultural phenomenon this is, next weekend is a convention in San Antonio. It’s called the Alamo City Comic Con. It attracts about 70,000 people,” said Wanda Green, assistant director with the Tom Green County Library. At the Stephens Library, the staff there wants to make San Angelo a destination for an annual "Comic Con" type event. They've started working on next year after realizing a great start this year.
Green said because of the success of the Comic Con events held nationally in the U.S. and the interest in board gaming in San Angelo that started after the Tom Green County Library began its Table Top gaming program in April of 2014, Green, Library staff and local specialty gaming vendors decided to follow the same concept of Comic Con and held its first West Texas Table Top Con on August 15-16 in the Library’s Community Room.
“We just finished our first Table Top Con, and it attracted about 600 people,” Green said. “We had people from Houston, Dallas, Midland/Odessa, Abilene and the smaller surrounding areas, and the only advertising we did outside of San Angelo was in Abilene. We’re expecting a lot more for the next event.”
Because of the success at the event, the positive outcomes for three local vendors—Specialties Games, War Dogs Gaming and The Gathering Place—and the plan to execute a much larger event next year, Jill Donegan, director of the Library, appeared before the Tom Green County Commissioner’s Court at its regular meeting Tuesday morning and requested approval to hold next year’s Table Top Con in the large meeting room at the McNease Convention Center.
After learning about the program and the overall success of this year’s venue, all members of the Court approved the request.
“This was the first year it had ever taken place in West Texas,” Donegan explained. “It’s an event where board game enthusiasts gathered to play games and learn about game making. We even had some vendors, Specialties, War Dogs and other places doing demonstrations. We had an auction, drawings and activities for kids. It’s a different world with board games.”
Donegan also stated that the first Table Top Con went on until 1 a.m., and people came in and out during the two-day affair.
“We estimated about 700 for this event, and the next will be in the thousands,” Donegan added. “We kind of made a name for ourselves, so I really see interest from Midland/Odessa, Abilene and the surrounding areas. Even in Austin, there’s a lot of chatter already.”
For Green, chatter is good. Since the Library started the Table Top Game program, Green said she has noticed an audience that’s not typical for the Library.
“It has attracted families of course; however, college-age and the 20-somethings who are not big library users also come and enjoy table-top games,” Green stated.
These games aren’t just the typical Monopoly-style games either, Green added.
“When I say table top games, many people think of Monopoly, but the types of board games I’m talking about are really much better,” she said. “They’re more strategic; they have more depth. It’s not just going around and around the board over and over again. So you’re doing different types of things—different types of activities.”
The Library also has Magic: The Gathering card games, and games where people can dress up and role play. In fact, at this year’s Table Top Con, Green said they held a Cosplay Contest, which is considered a performance art where people dress up in costumes and adorn fashion accessories to represent a particular character.
Green said the amount of talent during this event astounded her and the attendees. She said, “We got some really phenomenal costumes. People came dressed up as their favorite superhero, or in something of their own creation. It could be anything, and people put a lot of time and effort into making those hand-made costumes and props. They even did a little skit where they acted out in character. We had Dr. Horrible. We had Star Lord from Guardians of the Galaxy. We had a Ghost Buster—Venkman—but his costume was completely hand made, including the proton pack with lights and everything. It was also functional in the fact that it lit up and made sounds.”
During that event, two lucky winners from the adult division and the kid’s division took home a $50 and $25 Amazon gift card.
Even the three local vendors mentioned previously were impressed with the outcome of the first-annual Table Top Con.
“I think it’s a great thing,” said Rene Rodriguez, owner of War Dogs Gaming. “I think a lot of people were surprised at the amount of talent that is here locally.”
Overall, Rodriguez said he thought the whole Table Top Con and the approval for the bigger venue next year “pretty awesome.”
“I think San Angelo got a great opportunity and a look at how many people are interested in this genre of merchandise and hobby,” he said. “It was a great social event, a lot of sharing, a lot of new opportunities to meet each other and to take a look at different products. I think it was a great event.”
Table Top also brought Rodriguez and the other vendors great exposure and good numbers.
“I know we had a real good day,” Rodriguez said. “I would say a better day than just the average day. We have certain days where we’re strong, including Wednesdays because we get new comic books in, so there’s a tag on that. Friday nights are also strong because we host Magic Night, but that weekend was real strong.”
Beyond strong numbers, Rodriguez said as a retailer, he and his staff got to see new customers, and Table Top Con was a great way to get War Dogs’ name out there and to tell people about what the business does. His store opened approximately three years ago. Rodriguez was in the U.S. Navy for 22 years, and during that time, he, his wife, and sons traveled and spent time enjoying their hobbies. As they did so, they would discuss ideas about opening a store and amassed collectibles of different things. Since that time, his business and events like Table Top have been a great way for he, his now-grown sons and his wife to come together and do something they love in the community they love.
“We just wanted to help the community out and establish a strong event, and it was a great opportunity for us to promote our new location at 2412 College Hills,” Rodriguez stated.
This new store, Rodriguez continued, will display all the company’s newer items, including its wide-selection of comic books, new games and toys while the original store at 101 Paint Rock Rd. will carry all the collectibles and vintage items.
Rodriguez said he got to display these items at Table Top Con, and next year he now knows to take a larger display of comic book items because of the interest.
“We’re looking forward to next year and making it another big event and doing our part,” Rodriguez said.
Another vendor looking forward to next year’s Table Top Con while still enjoying the outcomes of the August one, Jared Demartini, owner of The Gathering Place in San Angelo and Abilene, said he thought the event was also a great way to showcase his San Angelo location that just opened three months ago.
Demartini said, “I thought that the event was wonderful. It was executed in a very organized and methodical way. It was a lot of fun. We got to meet a lot of people. It was good for our store in that it dramatically increased our visibility. It allowed us to showcase products that we only carry in the San Angelo area, and it allowed us to run some events for communities that haven’t had them run before."
When Demartini heard the Commissioner’s Court approved the new venue for next year, he said he foresees great possibilities.
“We would definitely like to draw a more regional pool,” Demartini said. “We, already being a multi-store business, have a lot of business relationships with the surrounding region extending all the way to Amarillo, Fort Worth and Big Spring, so we intend on bringing in some more of those stores to help them both with the planning and the execution that should allow for a larger, more unique event. We also intend on increasing the capacity of merchandise to demonstrate and take out there, so people can see games and see product lines they haven’t seen before. I think we can extend on what was done so well to make it larger, more diverse and cater to that through product and the event.”
Like Rodriguez, Demartini said beyond the business aspect, he too enjoyed the fun and community feel of the Table Top Con.
“The Con allowed us to meet new people and to view the competition, which I felt to be helpful. More importantly, we were happy people were having fun because that’s what they’re there for,” Demartini added.
Previously, The Gathering Place was located on Goodfellow AFB grounds, but Demartini decided not to renew the bid and opened a store off the base instead. Goodfellow didn’t work under the same business model as the business.
“Our store is more than a store to sell things. It’s about building relationships and bringing people together to enjoy their hobby. It’s very important to our business model. We couldn’t execute that from there,” he claimed.
However, the interest that immerged on the Base is what prompted the business owner to establish the San Angelo location.
Demartini said, “We run the most organized events out of the store in San Angelo, and we expand across three product sectors: miniatures, card games and board games. We run an organized play for all the major card games. We’re the only active store running UBL events, Magic, Pokémon leagues, Vanguard, Weiss Shwarz (a card game based on anime), Anime clubs play, miniatures games, Star Wars League and board game demos.”
These types of gaming activities draw both a diverse community and people of all ages Green, Rodriguez and Demartini added. People from 8 and 9 years old to 70 years old attend the Library Table Top Game events held on the third Saturday of every month, and this same diverse group visit Rodriguez’s store and attends Demartini’s many scheduled events. Since the gaming community is tight-knit and Table Top brings it together, Demartini said he hopes the other specialty game stores in San Angelo will come to work together to standardize how things will run and roll that out in their stores as well as provide a model for other vendors across Texas. This way people can play in any city and expect the same thing.
“It’s incumbent on us as vendors that we meet those expectations by having well-run fun events that bring people together and not only to work with the customers, but to also work with ourselves as well,” Demartini said. “In this industry, the stores should be working together to make sure community events are run in a way that makes sense. Even if people don’t play at the Gathering Place, at least they’re playing.”
Finally, to ensure the Library meets the expectations Demartini spoke of, Green said planning for next year’s Table Top Con is now in place, which is why Donegan set out immediately to secure the McNease Convention Center. The event will be held September 9 and 10, 2016. Green added that she and the other planners will work hard to bring in more vendors and make Table Top one of the best events in West Texas. She also hopes to add a video game component, which will bring in all facets of gaming people enjoy today.
For those people interested in attending the monthly Table Top program, attending Table Top Con, or getting involved, Green said, “Right now, there is not a fee for attendance. I’m also hoping to keep [Tabel Top Con] free to the public. If people are interested in vending, I’m working right now to set up that fee structure, but I’m not sure what that’s going to look like yet; however, that’s something I’m working on. If someone is interested in vending, [he or she] can contact me at (325)655-7321.”
Until that time, people interested in Table Top can click here, or visit one of the three specialty stores in San Angelo.
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