Origins 2024 Recap

boardgamequest.com:

Another year, another Origins in the books. There was a mix of the familiar and the new throughout the halls of the Greater Columbus Convention Center this year. Origins continues its steady climb back to higher attendance numbers, having seen a slight increase over last year: 17,706 attendees in 2024, compared to 16,082 in 2023. However, the board game library, run by CABS (the Columbus Area Boardgaming Society), had its biggest year yet with 5,640 games checked out, which is a 35% increase over last year’s totals.

Like last year, I decided not to lean too heavily into pre-scheduled gaming sessions and just decided what to play in the moment. And just like last year, there was plenty of standing in front of cabinets full of games, wondering what to play. The open gaming section had been expanded quite a bit this time around, with my completely unscientific guesstimate being that there was twice as much space in which to grab a table and play a game. If you’re attending Origins with family or friends, it’s obviously pretty easy to get in lots of gaming. The CABS library consists of several large cabinets containing over 1,700 games that are arranged next to the open gaming area. Even with the extra room, the open gaming space was pretty filled out during the busiest times, particularly on Saturday. Nevertheless, there always seemed to be at least a few available tables peppered throughout the hall, so I don’t think anyone missed out on getting their games in. Even on Sunday, there was a pretty decent crowd of people playing games, which isn’t usually the case for the last day of the con.

Those who attend Origins on their own, though, also have plenty of opportunities to find someone to game with. Of course, there are thousands of official events on the Origins schedule, many of which are board gaming and RPG sessions. There’s also a BGG geeklist titled “What are you bringing? What are you playing?” each year that’s a really great way to coordinate gaming ahead