Our survey came back and here’s the headline: about half of you have never been to a tabletop convention before. Not “haven’t been to one in a while.” Never. Zero. As in your convention experience currently consists of that one time you played Catan at your cousin’s Thanksgiving and someone flipped the board.
We could not be happier about this.
Here’s the thing about your first con: a packed schedule and a wall of vendors is a lot to take in when you don’t know what to expect yet. WINCon’s first year is a little different — and honestly, a little more your speed.
The Crowd Will Be Manageable
Let’s be honest — this is our first year, so attendance is going to be lower than it will be down the road. We’re not going to pretend that’s not true.
But here’s the upside: you will never once find yourself trapped behind 200 people trying to get to a table across the hall. You’ll actually get where you’re going. Revolutionary, we know.
There’s No Schedule to Panic About
We’re an open-gaming-first con, which is a fancy way of saying: we don’t have a wall of vendors and a jam-packed speaker roster demanding you plan your day at 6am with a highlighter and a prayer. Bring a game, sit down, play. That’s basically the whole plan.
If that sounds less impressive than a 40-page event guide — good. That’s the point. First cons are stressful enough without a spreadsheet.
We Want You to Fall in Love With Something New
We run a Learn to Play program, and honestly? Our whole measure of success is you walking out having discovered a game you didn’t know you needed. Volunteers are there to teach, not to judge how many hours you’ve logged on BoardGameGeek (spoiler: it’s zero, and that’s fine).
Everyone Here Wants the Same Thing You Do
Here’s the part that should actually put you at ease: every single person at WINCon showed up to play games. That’s it. That’s the whole shared personality trait of the entire building.
Nobody’s going to size you up for not knowing the meta on a game that came out three weeks ago. Nobody’s judging your dice bag, your rules knowledge, or the fact that you brought a 20-year-old copy of a game everyone else forgot existed. You’re with your people. They just haven’t met you yet.
We Carved Out Space for You to Just… Be You
No costumes required. No “con personality” to perform. No pressure to know the lingo before you walk in. We built this weekend so you can show up exactly as you are and spend three days doing the thing you actually like — playing games with people who also like playing games. Wild concept, we know.
You Don’t Need to Bring Anything. Except Maybe That One Game.
We’ve got a game library on-site, so truly — show up empty-handed and you’ll be fine. But if you’ve got that one game sitting on your shelf that you bought two years ago and still haven’t gotten to the table? This is your moment. We’ve got the space, we’ve got the time, and we’ve got a room full of people who are, statistically, exactly as excited to try new things as you are.
First cons are supposed to feel like this. No 100-person crowds to fight through, no schedule to stress over, and a room full of people who get it. If your first con was always going to happen eventually — might as well make it this one.