Warcradle Studios are attending PAX Unplugged 2019 right now in Philadelphia, USA. So what does it mean for the Studio to participate in shows around the globe? Chris Pond gives us some insight in his Diary entry.

We here at the Studio attend several gaming shows every year across the globe. There is a lot of work involved in arranging the logistics, people, equipment and the stock needed to get us all there and to build an appealing stand with demo tables and lots of goodies to sell. As I write this I am 30,000 feet in the air on my way to PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia to run demos of Wild West Exodus, Dystopian Wars and Fog & Friction, leaving the work on our upcoming and existing games in the capable hands of the rest of the Studio for a few days.

So why do we do it? What does our attendance at these shows mean to our games and our existing and future community and fans?

Gaming conventions are a great place to meet and greet our customers from all over the planet. In today's age of social media we engage with a lot of our customers digitally on a daily basis but meeting up face to face and talking about the games, rules, events, etc is a great way to improve on that relationship. We also get the chance to meet new customers and to introduce them to one, some or all of our games. There are many ways to attract new players to your games. Have awesome miniatures is one thing, but actually giving players the opportunity to have a demo is so much stronger. Getting them to experience how the game plays means that they will walk away already knowing the fundamental basics of the rules and hopefully a hunger to play it more. I am touched at how readily most people who play a demo of one of our games are happy to pick up a starter product to take back to their friends and their club to show it off. Hopefully, many of those players will start communities as others pick up the game and start playing.

There are many repeat customers that we see at every event, some of them are regular community participants (you know who you are!) and it is great to see them regularly, form friendships based on a shared interest and to have some in-depth conversations about the games we love!

We also get the chance to speak to new distributors or retailers and show them our games in the hope that they pick up the range and increase the exposure to new customers. Conventions often have a footfall of thousands of customers and we, therefore, have the chance to present our products to as many of them as we can.

We have a fantastic community of Warhosts and each and every one of them give 100% to every demo they run and to every chat with a new customer. As ambassadors of the games we produce they do a cracking job and the shows wouldn’t be the same without them.

My plane is coming in to land and I now have the inevitable fight to get my luggage but I hope to see you at the next show. Feel free to seek me out and have a chat about your favourite, or possible least favourite parts of our games. This coming year we have a lot of extremely exciting new releases to show off and conventions are a great way to unveil them, so I am looking forward to a busy 2020 bringing all those lovely new shiny games to you lucky people.

Over and out.

Chris