I’ll be attending the Origins Game Fair this year, (I missed it last year). I’m actually ariving the day before with some friends, and I should be available to meetup at some point since I’m not planning on doing any business there. The only thing is on either Friday or Saturday night they have the Smithee Awards and that is a lot of fun.
Our summer schedule isn’t finalized yet, but if we are in town I’d be happy to head over to Columbus for dinner.
Wow haven’t been to Origins in years. Went to Milwaukee then a year later LA. Was a blast. Still doing board games in the times of PC game play?
I’ve never been to Origins, but as a serious board-gamer since I was 12 years old, I know it well. It’s the same weekend as my girl’s dance recital so wouldn’t be an option this year regardless.
Yeah, it’s still a strong hobby. But I wonder if it will fade away as the younger folks gravitate to the world of video/computer games. 
I know that a few years ago, it was at ~17,000 attendees for the show but it has gone down to about 12-13,000 in the last few years, mostly due to the economic situation. I know I couldn’t go last year because I couldn’t afford it. It was the first Origins or Gen Con I’ve missed since I first started going to them in 1989. A lot of fun with all kinds of games being played, from Poker tournaments, Euro games, Miniatures, RPGs, LARPs, Historical games, and then there are different lectures and seminars, and the Smithee awards. They also have the ‘War College’ where they have several historians and authors talking about strange topics, like the tactics of the Ottoman empire, Partisan activity in France before D-Day, etc. David Glantz always give 4-6 hours of lectures about some battle of the eastern front.
It may not look like it, but there are a lot of family events too. My friend first brought his kids to the convention 10 years ago. They are both in college now and the whole family still travels out for the fair.
Two and a half weeks to go. I already have my main events scheduled. One night I can meetup for dinner and I have a few lunches available. Otherwise I recomend people go to the Smithee Awards on Friday Night.
Damn, I’ve never made it to Origins. And it looks like I will be keeping that record intact
It’s not a record to be proud of… 
We (as in me, DH and DD) are thinking about attending for one day. My husband is a super geek table top RPG guy and has not attended Origins in a couple of years. Our daughter is turning into a super geek table top RPG girl but since she is only 12 I doubt anyone will let her get in on a game. She is still begging to attend though. I thin k she just wants to be around “her people”. I prefer pc and console gaming. Next weekend has so much going on that it’s hard to decide what to do.
I was going to write a long story about my friend and his wife bringing their 10 and 11 year old son and daughter to the convention, the expectations that the kids would be bored out of their skulls, and the reality that the whole family has been making the trip out to Origins every year, even with both kids now in college. I’ll just say that your daughter will probably demand that you spend at least two days next year.
There are a LOT of things for kids to do, especially the Loony Labs room. The main problem with getting in on a game is that most of the scheduled events will probably have all their seats filled, especially if you come on Friday or Saturday. I have very rarely seen age being an issue in anyone getting in on a game. THere are some game that are ment for the over-18 crowd because of subject matter, but those eventa are usually in the evening. If this is your first time at Origins, and you are only going to be there one day, walk around the different gaming areas, spend some time in the Dealer’s area and get in on some demo games, and check out some of the seminars. If you are there Friday night, go to the Smithee awards.
What day are you planning on going?
And once again I say, next year. For certain.
I’m with Shooter. C-bus is about 2 hrs away, but let me know when, and I can head down to meet up for dinner.
I want to say Saturday. DH work friday night until 8:30pm. He is off on Saturday and Sunday. Typically saturdays are full with karate followed by dance. I am taxi mom and wife from 1-6. However, I would really like to take a break from our usual Saturday routine and Origins would be a fun break.
I might have early Thursday available for dinner, I have a game at 8PM that I’m in. Other evenings I’ll be busy with scheduled events.
Saturday would be a better day than Sunday because things start closing down after 2PM on Sunday. But it will be crowded Saturday and it may be tough to get in on a scheduled event. Walk around and enjoy the atmosphere. 
So I had a really great time at the con. Saw some really cool stuff, got very little sleep. Here are some pictures I took of neat stuff at the con.
http://s966.photobucket.com/albums/ae149/ATGreatGWC/Origins2010/
Pay particular attention to the gaming tables that one vendor was selling, and some of the amazing painting on many of the miniatures.
Nifty stuff, ATG. I didn’t know there was a system for TOS BSG. Or did they just adapt an existing one?
As far as I could tell, it looked like they used modified ‘Full Thrust’ rules. They also had a ‘Star Wars’ Rebels vs. Imperial forces battle that use the original Full Thrust rules. It’s an easy set of rules to modify and you can get them free on the web.
It looks like they make their money selling Minis.
There was a company that was selling a whole range of BSG related minis (Can’t remember who at the moment), but it didn’t look like there were any rules specifically for BSG.
Looking over the picture again, it doesn’t look like ‘Full Thrust’ rules.
Oh, nifty! I love reading rulesets, even if I rarely get to play.
Thanks for sharing your photos. My husband was drooling over the gaming tables.
We ended up not attending. My husband looked at the information about the day passes and decided to stay home and play D&D instead. So we played a family D&D game for two days. We even got my mom to play for part of it.