SMOF News, volume 2, issue 6

Pop-Up Gen Con may be over, and news in brief.

Pop-Up Gen Con Is Probably Done

While it isn’t quite officially dead, tucked in at the end of the latest Gen Con newsletter was this brief update:

The Pop-Up Gen Con programming hiatus will be extended indefinitely as we continue to focus our resources and attention on Gen Con Indy and Gen Con Online. No Pop-Up Gen Con events will be held in 2023.

Pop-Up Gen Con will be a footnote in convention history, but it is one which offers a window into how remote participation might have developed if SARS-CoV-2 had not intervened.

The idea was to bring Gen Con to local gaming stores. Attendees paid $5 to attend at a local store. On the day, they would be able to pick up a badge, play demo copies of games, and watch programming streamed from Gen Con itself.

The first one was deemed a success. Unfortunately, it was held in 2019, just before everyone discovered that people could also participate in conventions directly from the comfort of their own homes without all the logistical complication of shipping physical objects in all sorts of directions.

There was a well-developed virtual tabletop gaming community well before the COVID-19 pandemic, complete with its own conventions, but it was an entirely separate realm from in-person gaming, and it is likely that without the pandemic it would have been a long time before there were any hybrid gaming conventions.

Pop-Up Gen Con was revived in 2021, but placed on hiatus again for 2022. With both a physical and an online con to plan (and possibly the beginning of the process of evaluating new locations for the physical con on top of that), it would be no surprise if Gen Con decides its plate is as full as it can be and 2021 turns out to be the last Pop-Up Gen Con.

In Brief

• Bob Madle, the last surviving attendee of the first World Science Fiction Convention in 1939, died on October 8, aged 102.

  Biography (Fancyclopedia 3) • Obituary (Locus) • Remembrances: Curt Phillips • John L. Coker III and Jon D. Swartz • Rich Lynch

• The Premios Ignotus, fan-voted awards for science fiction and fantasy, were presented at HispaCón 2022 (Ferrol, Spain) this past weekend.

  Official announcement (PDF) • English-language list of winners and finalists (Locus)

Event Calendar

Weekend of October 14-16

• ICON 47: The Prime Universe, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA

• MultiverseCon IV, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

• Octocon 2022 (Irish national sf convention), Dublin, Ireland

• VCon 2022, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

• Can*Con 2022 (Canadian sf), Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

• Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival, Sitges, Spain

• Viking-Con 41 (gaming), Kastrup, Denmark

• Festival Internacional de Juegos de Córdoba (gaming), Córdoba, Spain

• Effing-Con (gaming), Effingham, Illinois, USA

• G.A.M.E. Expo, Springfield, Missouri, USA

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

• Portland Retro Gaming Expo (retro video games), Portland, Oregon, USA

• Banzaicon 10 (anime), Larvik, Norway

• WasabiCon (anime), Jacksonville, Florida, USA

• AmeChibi (anime), Northampton, UK

• Anime USA, Arlington, Virginia, USA

• Anime Banzai, Davis, Utah, USA

• Another Anime Convention, Westford, Massachusetts, USA

• The Lakes International Comic Art Festival, Kendal, UK

• Geek Days Caen (media), Caen, France

• Motor City Comic Con, Novi, Michigan, USA

• LeakyCon Denver (Harry Potter), Denver, Colorado, USA

Weekend of October 21-23

• DeepSouthCon 60, Huntsville, Alabama, USA

• MileHiCon 54, Denver, Colorado, USA

• BuchmesseCon, Dreieich, Germany

• Sirens (gender and fantasy), Denver, Colorado, USA

• Corflu 39 Pangloss (fanzines), Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

• Bantucky Con (steampunk), Bandera, Texas, USA

• The Surrey Steampunk Convivial, Epsom, UK

• Confuror 2022: Día de Muertos (anthropomorphic), Guadalajara, Mexico

• Bewhiskered 2022: A Furry Murder Mystery, Durham, North Carolina, USA

• TsunamiCon (gaming), Wichita, Kansas, USA

• Wellycon (gaming), Wellington, New Zealand

• Congress of Gamers Fall Session, Rockville, Maryland, USA

• AVL Scarefest 6 (RPGs), Montreat, North Carolina, USA

• Retro Palooza (retro video games), Arlington, Texas, USA

• MEX (anime), Berlin, Germany

• Anime Fusion Remastered, Plymouth, Minnesota, USA

• Iberanime, Matosinhos, Portugal

• Anime Nebraskon 2022: Year of Magical Transformation, Council Bluffs, Iowa, USA

• NW Idolfest (anime idols), Seattle, Washington, USA

• FACTS (media), Flanders, Belgium

• Grit City Comic Show, Tacoma, Washington, USA

• TFcon Chicago (Transformers), Chicago, Illinois, USA

Weekend of October 28-30

• Les Utopiales, Nantes, France

• SpoCon: Revamped, Spokane, Washington, USA

• BristolCon, Bristol, UK

• Hallowcon 2022 (fantasy/horror), Dalton, Georgia, USA

• Cabbagecon 6 (Discworld), De Rijp, Netherlands

• MorgulCón 2022 (J. R. R. Tolkien), Salamanca, Spain

• Ohio Valley Filk Festival 38: Year of the Cat (music), Worthington, Ohio, USA

• Golden Leaves Con 12: Cead Mile Faílte (anthropomorphic), Hasliberg, Switzerland

• Furry Blacklight 10: Steam Ages, Tremblay-en-France, France

• Furpocalypse 2022: Horror in Paradise (anthropomorphic), Stamford, Connecticut, USA

• GaelCon (gaming), Dublin, Ireland

• Big Bad Con 2022 (gaming), Burlingame, California, USA

• LAN All Night VI: BatLAN (video games), Grapevine, Texas, USA

• Anime Weekend Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

• UwUCon (anime), Mesa, Arizona, USA

• Anime Halloween, Rosemont, Illinois, USA

• Anime Texas, The Woodlands, Texas, USA

• YumeCon USA (anime), Palo Alto, California, USA

• DerpyCon 2022 (anime), New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

• Yunicon 2022 (anime), Schwechat, Austria

• 31st Festival of Fantastic Films, Manchester, UK

• Lucca Comics & Games, Lucca, Italy

• Music City Multi Con (media/video games), Lebanon, Tennessee, USA

• Hal-Con (media), Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

• Baltimore Comic-Con, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

• Winnipeg Comiccon, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

• 15th Starbase 24 Starfleet/Klingon Banquet (Star Trek) Peterborough, UK

Weekend of November 4-6

• Astronomicon 13, Rochester, New York, USA

• Or-E-Con 2, virtual

• GeekGirlCon, Seattle, Washington, USA

• ArmadaCon 2022, Plymouth, UK

• World Fantasy Convention 2022, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

• ZodiaCon 2022 (anthropomorphic), Horní Bradlo, Czechia

• PAWCon 2022: Visit Pawston Paradise (anthropomorphic), San Jose, California, USA

• Carnage XXV: Silver Anniversary (gaming), Dover, Vermont, USA

• Spellen Spektakel (gaming), Utrecht, Netherlands

• Rock-Con (gaming), Rockford, Illinois, USA

• AcadeCon (gaming), Dayton, Ohio, USA

• BottosCon 2022 (gaming), New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada

• Phantasm 32nd (RPGs), Peterborough, Ontario, Canada

• AmberCon NW (diceless RPGs), Troutdale, Oregon, USA

• Good Game Fest (video games), Westminster, Maryland, USA

• Warfaire Weekend (wargaming), St. Louis, Missouri, USA

• Fall In! (miniatures gaming), King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, USA

• NekoCon 24 (anime), Hampton, Virginia, USA

• Destination Tokyo (anime), Monthey, Switzerland

• HotaruCon (anime), Milton Keynes, UK

• Nishi Fest (anime), Arlington, Texas, USA

• Youmacon 2022 (anime), Detroit, Michigan, USA

• Tiger Con 2022 (anime), Valdosta, Georgia, USA

• Unicon (media), Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

• Coosacon! (media), Rome, Georgia, USA

• Comic Con Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden

• Akron Comiccon, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, USA

• CONjuration (Harry Potter), Atlanta, Georgia, USA

• Pony Friends Forever (My Little Pony), San Antonio, Texas, USA

Weekend of November 11-13

• Novacon 51, Nottingham, UK

• TusCon 49, Tucson, Arizona, USA

• Windycon 48, Lombard, Illinois, USA

• SFW XIII, Great Yarmouth, UK

• OmegaFall 2022, Siren, Wisconsin, USA

• New England Crime Bake 2022: History is Mystery (mysteries), Dedham, Massachusetts, USA

• Dragonsteel 2022 (Brandon Sanderson works), Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

• Flüüfff: Tropical Trouble (anthropomorphic), Brussels, Belgium

• TeslaCon (steampunk), Middleton, Wisconsin, USA

• Steampunk November, Mansfield, Texas, USA

• Kee Con V (gaming), Cherokee, Iowa, USA

• JeffCon: The Final MACE (gaming), Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

• MEPACon (gaming), Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA

• Hexcon (gaming), Trondheim, Norway

• BGG.CON (gaming), Dallas, Texas, USA

• Tampa Nerd Con (gaming), Clearwater, Florida, USA

• Compass Games Expo 2022, Meridien, Connecticut, USA

• Gridcon 3 (boardgames), Taunton, UK

• Spielewelt in Bielefeld (boardgames), Bielefeld, Germany

• EuroQuest 2022 (Eurogames), Pikesville, Maryland, USA

• The Long Con (RPGs), Longview, Texas, USA

• MillenniumCon (miniatures gaming), Round Rock, Texas, USA

• Arcade Expo, Houston, Texas, USA

• KeyForge Celebration (KeyForge CCG), Roseville, Minnesota, USA

• Oni-Con XIX (anime), Galveston, Texas, USA

• Kumoricon (anime), Portland, Oregon, USA

• anime expo chibi, Ontario, California, USA

• Anime Destiny 2022, Berkeley, California, USA

• Animaine 2022 (anime), South Portland, Maine, USA

• Thought Bubble (comics), Harrogate, UK

• Grand Rapids Comic Con, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

• Fanboy Expo Indianapolis (media), Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

• Twin Cities Con (media), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

• Fanboy Expo Indianapolis (media), Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

• FanQuest 2022 (media), Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

• Monster-Mania 52 (horror media), Oaks, Pennsylvania, USA

• Philip K. Dick Film Festival, New York City, New York, USA

• The Great Con-Junction (The Dark Crystal), Los Angeles, California, USA

Coda

• Astronaut romance scam (Vice)

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