SMOF News, volume 2, issue 49

A heist at Gen Con, and news in brief.

Card Heist at Gen Con

Magic: the Gathering cards worth over $300,000 were stolen from the exhibit hall at Gen Con during setup on August 2, the day before the con began. As first reported by Dicebreaker, two unidentified people simply walked up with a pallet jack and walked away with a pallet full of cards.

Pastimes Events, which runs Magic: the Gathering tournaments at major gaming conventions, announced (via its sister business, Pastimes Comics & Games) that those were its cards.

The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police have posted several pictures of the suspects taken from surveillance footage. The IMPD asks that tips about the suspects or the stolen cards be sent to Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317.262.8477.

It is common practice for conventions to restrict access to vendor areas during setup to only people with vendor or staff badges, enforced by either convention or venue security staff. This was either not the case at Gen Con, or else the suspects managed to evade the checks, as neither is wearing a badge in the security footage.

Gen Con did not answer an inquiry by press time about its current setup practices or what changes it might be making.

In Brief

• Wild Game Roundup (Austin, Texas) has announced via e-mail that it will cease operations for lack of anyone to take it over.

• G.A.M.E. Expo (Springfield, Missouri) has also announced that it will hold no more events

• Bantucky Con (Bandera, Texas) is on hiatus through at least 2025.

• Retro World Expo (Hartford, Connecticut, August 26-27) has added Gangrel, Travis Landry, and Headcannon as guests.

• The Labyrinth Experience & Masked Ball (High Wycombe, UK, September 9-10) has added William Todd-Jones and Maeve Callahan as guests.

• Norwescon 46 (SeaTac, Washington, March 28-31) has added Charles Vess as its Artist Guest of Honor.

Event Calendar

Weekend of August 11-13

• Geek Out at Staten Island, Staten Island, New York, USA

• Wild Prairie Fur Con: Adventures in Furry Land (anthropomorphic), Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

• Key City Steampunk Convention, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA

• Wild Game Roundup, Austin, Texas, USA

• Game On Expo, Phoenix, Arizona, USA

• GameX 5.0 (video games), Mississauga, Ontario, USA

• Long Island Retro Gaming Expo (video games), Garden City, New York, USA

• Grand Tribunal (Ars Magica RPG), Cheltenham, UK

• AniNite 23 (anime), Vienna, Austria

• Otakukon (anime), Harare, Zimbabwe

• Otakuthon (anime), Montréal, Québec

• AniBash (anime), Rochester, New York, USA

• Abunai!: Summer Magic Academia (anime), Veldhoven, Netherlands

• Tokonatsu (anime), Henlow, UK

• RakuCon Manchester (anime), Manchester, UK

• Ani-Medford (anime), Grants Pass, Oregon, USA

• Queen City Anime Convention, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

• Anime-zing!, Davenport, Iowa, USA

• MatsuriCon 2023 (anime), Columbus, Ohio, USA

• SC IdolFest 2023 (anime idols), Torrance, California, USA

• Fan Expo Chicago (media), Rosemont, Illinois, USA

• Dublin Comic Con, Dublin, Ireland

• Station Unity 2023 (media), National Harbor, Maryland, USA

• Flame Con (LGBT+ media), New York City, New York, USA

• Starfleet International Conference 2023 (Star Trek), online

• TFNation (Transformers), Birmingham, UK

• Everfree NW (My Little Pony), Bellevue, Washington, USA

Mid-week event: SFRA 2023: Disruptive Imaginations (symposium), Dresden, Germany

Weekend of August 18-20

• Epic Nerd Camp, Darlington, Maryland, USA

• DenFur (anthropomorphic), Denver, Colorado, USA

• Dragonflight Gamecon 43, Bellevue, Washington, USA

• Game & Party Con, Jacksonville, Florida, USA

• Coulee Con 2023 (gaming), La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA

• Lone Star Game Expo, Grapevine, Texas, USA

• Field of Games, Silverstone, UK

• Draconicon (gaming), Tel Aviv, Israel

• HistoriKC Fest (miniatures gaming), Overland Park, Kansas, USA

• Nashcon 2023 (miniatures gaming), Nashville, Tennessee, USA

• SDHist Con East (historical games), Newport, Rhode Island, USA

• Superstar Anime, Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA

• Conjutsu (anime), Fairfax, Virginia, USA

• AmeCon (anime), Coventry, UK

• Anime Revolution, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

• Colossalcon Texas (anime), Round Rock, Texas, USA

• Shikkaricon (anime), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

• Anime Town Louisiana 2023, Gonzales, Louisiana, USA

• Soda City Comic Con, Columbia, South Carolina, USA

• Kelowna ComiCon, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada

• Hub City Comic Con, Lubbock, Texas, USA

• Creation Charlotte (media), Concord, North Carolina, USA

• Stars of Time (media), Weston-super-Mare, UK

• 4th Biennial H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival, Providence, Rhode Island, USA

Weekend of August 25-27

• Bubonicon 54: Across the Multiverse, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

• Dni Fantastyki, Wrocław, Poland

• Camp Feral!: Business Casual (anthropomorphic), Algonquin Park, Ontario

• Furrydelphia (anthropomorphic), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

• IndyFurCon 2023: Mission: Impawssible (anthropomorphic), Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

• Weekend at the Asylum (steampunk), Lincoln, UK

• Northeast Ohio Steampunk Festival, Burton, Ohio, USA

• FallCon 36: Dice, People & Meeples (gaming), Calgary, Alberta, Canada

• LincCon the 13th (gaming), Merrill, Wisconsin, USA

• MaricopaCon X (gaming), Tempe, Arizona, USA

• Tacticon (gaming), Aurora, Colorado, USA

• Tabletop Scotland (gaming), Perth, UK

• Brussels Games Festival, Brussels, Belgium

• Norwich Games Con, Norwich, UK

• Retro World Expo (gaming), Hartford, Connecticut, USA

• Great Escape on the Lake (gaming), Bradford, New York, USA

• 2D Con 2023: Another World (video games), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

• Windblume (Genshin Impact), Frisco, Texas, USA

• TennoCon (Warframe), London, Ontario, Canada

• Kokorokon (anime), Collinsville, Illinois, USA

• Hikari (anime), Poznań, Poland

• Kin-Yoobi Con (anime), Union City, California, USA

• PopCult Anime Con, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA

• My Hero Convention: Florida (anime), Fort Walton Beach, Florida, USA

• Ganbatte 2023 (anime), Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

• Fan Expo Canada (media), Toronto, Ontario, Canada

• Fandom Fest 2023 (media), Schenectady, New York, USA

• Fairfax Comic Con, Chantilly, Virginia, USA

• My-Con (media), Orlando, Florida, USA

• Fandom Fest 2023 (media), Schenectady, New York, USA

• Jemcon 2023: Rockin’ Romance in Rhode Island (Jem and the Holograms), Warwick, Rhode Island, USA

Weekend of September 1-3

• Kapitularz (Polish national sf convention), Łódź, Poland

• Dragon Con, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

• CoKoCon 2023, Tempe, Arizona, USA

• Bouchercon 2023: Murder at the Marina (World Mystery Convention), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

• Oxonmoot 2023 (Tolkien), Oxford, UK

• Big River Steampunk Festival 2023, Hannibal, Missouri, USA

• Eurofurence 27: Black Magic (anthropomorphic), Hamburg, Germany

• Tails & Tornadoes Fur Con: Wild Wild West (anthropomorphic), Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA

• Mephit Fur Meet: Tropical Paradise (anthropomorphic), Memphis, Tennessee, USA

• Pacificon Game Expo 44, Santa Clara, California, USA

• TCEP 28 Parties Later (gaming), Sterling, Virginia, USA

• SaltCON End of Summer (gaming), Layton, Utah, USA

• Gamesfest, Pasco, Washington, USA

• WGGCon (gaming), Croton-on-Hudson, New York, USA

• PAX West 2023 (gaming), Seattle, Washington, USA

• Gateway 2023 (gaming), Los Angeles, California, USA

• GrandCon 2023 (gaming), Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

• ConsimWorld Expo 2023 (gaming), Tempe, Arizona, USA

• NOVA Open (wargaming), Washington, DC, USA

• ReaperCon 2023 (miniatures gaming), Denton, Texas, USA

• SCG Con (collectible card games), Columbus, Ohio, USA

• Nan Desu Kan 26 (anime), Aurora, Colorado, USA

• San Japan 14 (anime), San Antonio, Texas, USA

• Expo Anime: Natsumatsuri, San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA

• Connichi (anime), Wiesbaden, Germany

• Saboten Con 2023 (anime), Phoenix, Arizona, USA

• Fanboy Expo Orlando (media), Orlando, Florida, USA

• Tucson Comic Con (media), Tucson, Arizona, USA

• Long Beach Comic Con, Long Beach, California, USA

• Robcon (media), Abingdon, Virginia, USA

• Meta Con Minneapolis (media), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

• No Brand Con (media), Stevens Point, Wisconsin, USA

• East European Comic Con, Bucharest, Romania

• GalaxyCon Austin (media), Austin, Texas, USA

• Whooverville 14 (Doctor Who), Derby, UK

Weekend of September 8-10

• OutsideCon, Burns, Tennessee, USA

• Furvana Vice (anthropomorphic), Ocean Shores, Washington, USA

• Furry Migration 2023: Disco Fantasy (anthropomorphic), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

• Platypus-Con (gaming), Juneau, Alaska, USA

• Planszówki w Spodku (gaming), Katowice, Poland

• PPG Con (gaming), Manitou Springs, Colorado, USA

• Conecturday (video games), San José, Costa Rica

• Senshi Con (anime), Anchorage, Alaska, USA

• Tracon (anime), Tampere, Finland

• Animate!, Des Moines, Iowa, USA

• Anime Fiesta, McAllen, Texas, USA

• Anime Oklahoma, Shawnee, Oklahoma, USA

• Anime Town Greenville 2023, Greenville, South Carolina, USA

• Arkansas Comic Con, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA

• Colossalcon East (media), Pocono Manor, Pennsylvania, USA

• Popcorn! (media), Sheffield, UK

• Ottawa Comiccon, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

• Comic Con Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine

• Afro Future Con 2023: Extending Reality (media), San Diego, California, USA

• ThunderCon (media), Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada

• Baltimore Comic-Con, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

• Silver Scream Con 2023 (horror media), Danvers, Massachusetts, USA

• Retro Con 2023 (‘80s media), Oaks, Pennsylvania, USA

• The Labyrinth Experience & Masked Ball, High Wycombe, UK

• PhileFest (X-Files), Bloomington, Minnesota, USA

Coda

• The unknome (Science News)

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