Last Minute Things to Know

Driving to the Convention

This Saturday the Rock and Roll half marathon will be causing some road closures around Washington DC. Though these closures will not be in the direct vicinity of the Convention Center, they may cause delays or detours when driving through DC. A map of the road closures can be found here.

MANY SOUTHBOUND ROUTES MAY BE BLOCKED OR CLOSED

Parking

Most of the parking spots around downtown have to be paid for. You can usually do this either in person or through the ParkMobile App. We recommend using the app as it can be used to pay for parking without going back out to the parking meter.

ios

android

Food at the Convention

The convention center does not allow outside food or drink to be brought into the convention center. There will be food vendors inside of the building for your convenience. There are also many great dining options around the convention center. Check out these lists from Eater DC and washington.org for some recommendations.

We are also strongly discouraging people from eating inside of the main convention halls due to masking concerns.

Water

You can bring your own water and water bottles as long as they are clear.

LARPS

For anyone interested in running or playing in Live Action Role Playing Games (LARPS) room 102a has been reserved for this purpose after 2:00pm on Saturday and all day on Sunday. If you are looking for players, feel free to post your game here so that people can see what games are available.

Everything You Need to know!

Hello everyone! WashingCon is two days away and I’m sure folks have questions! All the details regarding the location, entrance, guests, getting there, and safety details are located here at our FAQ page so please check it out! And of course hit us up at contact@washingcon.com if there’s anything else you’re curious about that we didn’t answer here or there.

Vaccines and Masks

So two things that we need to reiterate before you get there - first we will be checking vaccine status at admission. We are requiring that all attendees are fully vaccinated, but are not requiring the booster.

Masks will be required at this event for the safety of the community.

Buying Stuff! (Including Tickets)

This will be a cash free event so please bring a credit card if you intend to purchase a badge at admission or want to grab a game or some merchandise from our vendors!

There will be concessions available at the venue, but outside food and drink are not allowed in the Convention Center so if you’re grabbing a bite to eat in the neighborhood remember to finish up before you return!

What to Bring

If you’ve purchased tickets already you do not need to print anything out in advance just come to the registration desk and show us your ID or the credit card you used and we’ll issue you a badge.

Proof of vaccination will also be required. We will accept a vaccine card, a picture of the vaccine card, or your state sanctioned app.

We encourage you to bring your favorite games to share, but we will have a free lending library of 500+ games and there will be numerous demos and prototypes to try out plus games to buy from vendors, free RPGS and game events so even if you just bring yourself there will be something for you. Some of these events and RPGs have limited seating so go to our events pages and sign up if you want to reserve a spot.

Getting to the Con

The convention center is located right at the Mt Vernon Square metro station at the green line if you want to take the train.

If you are driving, there are copious parking options in the area although the convention center itself does not have dedicated parking.

Once you arrive please use the Mt Vernon Place entrance - check the FAQ for a map if you are unclear which door that is.

Convention Times

Important times to know for the con:

Main Convention Hall:

Saturday: 10am - 12am

Sunday: 10am - 7pm

Vendor Area:

Saturday 10am - 7pm

Sunday: 10am - 7pm

Events!

On Saturday the Ironmeeple tournament starts at 10:30am and the Fear the Boot panel begins at 11:00am, so show up early to pick up your badge if you want to get in on either one of these events. If you want to get a chance to participate in Blood on the Clocktower with Carley Reinhard make sure you sign up in advance!

Conduct

Be sure to check out our personal conduct policy as well. We want this event to be fun and safe for everyone.

Get Excited!

We hope this covers all of your questions but, if not, give us a shout and we’ll try to help out. Looking forward to seeing you all!

2022 RPG and event sign ups!

We’d like to thank everyone for their patience - this convention has been a long time coming and our slate of events is no different! After much furious wrangling and finagling we are pleased to be able to present the slate of events for WashingCon 2022. Our list of RPGs, demos, tournaments, guest events and social games is now live. Click one of the buttons below to take a gander at the schedule and to plan your time when you aren’t enjoying open play in the main hall. Most events have limited slots so make sure to sign up in advance for those you really want to be a part of! Please note that some do not require registering ahead of time, so don’t worry if you don’t see them on the sign up sheet. Want to demo your game, run a RPG or host your own event? There’s still some space available so get in touch with us at contact@washingcon.com. Have a prototype you’re working on? Hit up the nice people over at Break My Game here and they’ll find you a spot to show off your work! Thank you all again for staying with us during this frantic rush to make WashingCon happen during the ongoing public health situation. We hope you like what we have to offer and we’re looking forward to seeing you in less than two weeks!

Hotel Block Availablitly

For those who are still in need of a convenient place to stay for WashingCon 2022 a block of hotel rooms is available at the Washington Plaza Hotel, located at 10 Thomas Circle NW Washington DC, approximately five blocks from the convention center. If you’re traveling from out of town or just want to maximize your con time, we recommend grabbing a room and spending Friday and Saturday night with us. You can reach the plaza for reservations at 202-842-1300. Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Volunteers and GMs Wanted!

Are you a games enthusiasts who wants to be more involved with WashingCon? Want to meet some great new people and get free admission to DC’s own tabletop games convention? In the market for a loudly colored shirt?? Well then do we have the opportunity for YOU. Every year we rely on a few dozen very helpful volunteers to make the convention happen. From assisting in the games library and with setup and breakdown, to manning the registration desk and many other jobs we can always use another hand. In return for putting in 2 four hour shifts total, split up over either Friday, Saturday or Sunday (the 25th, 26th or 27th) you will receive free admission to the convention for the entire weekend, a very bright and (questionably) stylish annual volunteer T-shirt and the absolute most appreciation we can provide. In addition, If you are a DM, GM or other sort of M and have a one shot RPG you’ve been hoping to get to the table we would love to host you! Just coming down to our convention and running RPGs counts as volunteering and will entitle you to free admission for the rest of the weekend as well. We will provide you with table space in our RPG room as well as assist in getting people signed up for that adventure that’s been kicking around just waiting for players. We‘ve never been able do this without the help of generous folks willing to donate their time so if you’re available and interested in joining our community please consider clicking below and pitching in!

Reduced Price Ticket Sales End Tonight

We’d like to express our sincerest appreciation for everyone who has already purchased their passes for WashingCon 2022! By picking those up early you help us cover the startup costs for the convention and allow us to get this thing off the ground. It’s incredible that so many of you maintained so much enthusiasm for WashingCon during our hiatus and everything else that has happened in the past two years. We cannot thank you enough.

And for those of you still planing to attend, but have not yet snagged your badges, today is the last day to get them at early bird prices. Starting tomorrow tickets will return their usual cost so we highly recommend buying yours before our sale ends!

Thank you all again and we look forward to seeing you soon!

The Con is back on - WashingCon 2022 Tickets go on sale Feb 2nd!

Due to unavoidable circumstances WashingCon was forced into hibernation for the past two years. But this spring, March 26th and 27th at the Walter E Washington Convention Center, like a dazed bear who loves board games we will be stumbling back out into the light to host two days of tabletop, RPGs, tournaments, new games, prototypes to play test and more! Tickets will go on sale this upcoming Wednesday, February 2nd (Groundhog’s Day for those who celebrate), at 7pm. Owing to the very obvious reason of why we’ve been unable to hold our event for so long now we would like to state something important right up front here:

In accordance with the Mayor of DC’s current order, and due our own level of comfort regarding the state of the pandemic, we will be requiring proof of vaccination for entry as well as for all attendees to wear masks while at the convention. This is a large indoor event for folks who have been unable to gather for serval years now and we’d like to thank everyone in advance for respecting the safety of the community and doing their part so that we can continue host you all going forward! We believe that by late March the public health situation will be reasonable for us all to be in one place together, but these measures will still be necessary to ensure that.

As in years past we greatly appreciate when you buy your tickets in advance to help us plan for everything and to get the convention up and running. To demonstrate this appreciation for the returnees and early birds, tickets will be priced at a discount for the first week of sales (Feb 2-9).

Adults:

• $40 weekend passes

• $20 for just Sunday

Children under 12:

• $20 weekend passes

• $10 for just Sunday

Starting February 10, the prices will return to their normal cost: $65 weekend/$37.50 one-day for adults and $25 weekend/ $15 one-day for kids.

One more quick reminder for everyone this year: we will no longer be holding WashingCon at our previous spot, but instead at the Walter E Washington Convention Center in downtown DC. This not only gives us more options for event space going forward but will be more convenient for everyone for both transportation and dining options. We hope you’ll like our new digs!

It’s been disappointing to have been away for so long, but now that we are in a safer environment, we’re excited to see everyone again. We will be filling you in during the next few weeks about sign-ups for RPGs, the Ironmeeple tournament, special events, demos, game based activities of all sorts!

We’ve missed you all and are looking forward to seeing you in March! 

Want to do more than just attend?

For those of you who have reached out regarding participating as a sponsor, vendor or to demo your games we will be back in contact this weekend with more details for you. If you are interested in these opportunities, or to run your own tournament or event, please give us a shout at contact@washingcon.com. Likewise those GMs who would like to run a RPG at the Con should get in contact with the staff here. And if you would like to volunteer at the convention in other ways and get your ticket free for doing so, please go to our volunteer contact form here.

WashingCon 2022: Return of the Con

Wow, there was no tabletop gaming convention in DC last year! That’s weird... it’s like something totally crazy, super horrible, and completely unpredictable happened that prevented large groups of people from gathering and playing games together. We’d love to delve into whatever THOSE circumstances might have been, but we have to assume everyone is probably aware of them... whatever they were.

But terrible, horrible, no good, very bad recent situations notwithstanding, WashingCon has not gone away! We have secured a venue but, due to concerns over safety and the availability of space this year, we have opted to move the next convention to March 26-27, 2022 at an exciting new location: the Walter E. Washington Convention Center right in downtown DC, steps from the Mt. Vernon Square Metro station. 

We’d like to apologize to everyone who asked if/when we would ever be able to hold another event but did not receive a response to their inquiries. We’re just now able to provide information to everyone and we’ll be releasing the dates for ticket sales within the next few weeks, followed soon after by announcements regarding events, volunteering, RPGs, and special guests.

We hope everyone in the WashingCon community is safe and healthy and we’re looking forward to seeing all of you in person in 2022!

Our Statement Regarding the BLM Movement

We at WashingCon would like to express our unequivocal support for the Black Lives Matter movement, the calls to end police brutality, to break down the racist power structures in America and the passage of H.R. 40 to examine persistent effects of the transatlantic slave trade in America as well as the possibilities for reparations. This announcement may be arriving later than it could have been expected, but at this time silence is not an option and all members of our community need to be vocal about where they stand. 

 We are not a large organization and we are aware that our voice is not the most essential one in the conversation. But as a gathering that is managed entirely by white people, we hope to demonstrate as clearly as possible our desire for our event and our community to be open and welcoming to black people, to make space for creators of color and to stand by them where we are needed. 

Racism and hatred will undoubtedly not be abolished in our lifetimes but the systems and structures that perpetuate them must be dismantled wherever they are found. It is essential that these messages be kept in the public eye to prevent complaisance. We hope moving forward to maintain whatever support we can for equality.

-The Staff of WashingCon

Big News from WashingCon

Hello everyone! It’s been a long time since you have heard anything from us and we apologize for that but we are back with big news (Don’t worry, this is good news about an event not another unfortunate cancellation).

WashingCon is moving! While the Georgetown Convention Center has served us well for the past 4 years there were plenty of ways in which our venue could be better.

It has always been a dream of WashingCon to make our home at the premier event space in the city and we have finally achieved that dream because, effectively immediately, WashingCon is moving to The Washington Convention Center in the heart of DC.

There is, however, a bit of a grey lining to this silver cloud. It means that our next WashingCon will not be held in September. Instead, the next WashingCon will be one year from now on March 20th and 21st 2021. We know that this is a bummer because it will mean 18 months between events but this was a necessary evil in order to make the move to the Convention Center and we have no doubt that it will be the right move in the long run.

Expect to receive more info from us in the coming months with regards to badge sales and other mini-WashingCons as well as more updates as they come in.

Thank you again for all of your support, WashingCon would not be what it is without the wonderful gaming community of the DC region (I mean, literally, it would just be a big empty room).

Come to Scrum Con 2020!

When it comes to games WashingCon isn’t the only game in town! Our friends at the Second Saturday Scrum Club are bringing Scrum Con 2020, a laid back Saturday of table top wargames and RPGs, to Silver Spring Maryland on February the 29th from 9:00 am until 8:15 pm. This awesome local convention offers you the chance to participate in all genres of wargames from historical to sci-fi and fantasy as well as take part in RPGs run by professional designers and writers. You can also swing by their no hassle flea market if you’re in need of secondhand gaming components, or are looking for a new home for your underused stuff. Their new home this year is the Silver Spring Civic Center which is not only providing them with expanded space for gaming, but is also located a convenient 10 minute walk from the Silver Spring Metro station on the Red line and with ample parking for those who choose to drive. Twenty restaurants and four hotels are all located within one block fo the event making it perfect for grabbing a bite during the convention or staying the night.

Admission is just $15 for the whole day but, if you feel like helping the good work Scum Con is doing, consider getting a $40 VIP pass which includes a sweet Scrum Con T-shirt as well as your name in the program as a supporter of the convention.  This event is happening in just one month so please go here to grab badges for Scrum Con 2020 and, when you do, don’t forget to register for events! If you’re still curious about what Scrum Con has to offer go their website or check them out on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. We really appreciate how enthusiastic you all have been about supporting local gaming and we hope you’re able to take advantage of this awesome opportunity to get together with the table top community!

Check out The Shores of Tripoli on Kickstarter!

As part of our ongoing mission to provide excellent tabletop opportunities for the DC area community we are very excited to let all of you know that local publisher, and WashingCon supporter, Fort Circle Games has a Kickstarter live for their title, The Shores of Tripoli! This exciting new game is a 1-2 player, 45-60 minute, card driven contest about the conflict between nascent America and Tripolitania in the early 19th century. Some of you might have had the opportunity to see a version of this game demoed at last year’s WashingCon and the designers will be back as well next year to host a Shores of Tripoli tournament. If you’re interested in lovingly crafted historical games or would like to show your support for local designers, we encourage you to head over to their Kickstarter page and back this project!

A few things to know before the convention!

WashingCon 2019 is this weekend! Here’s a list of things you might want to know before you head to the Convention:

The doors to the convention open at 10am on both Saturday and Sunday. We will open registration at 9am. 

On Saturday the Main Hall closes at 11pm and on Sunday the convention closes at 9pm.

WashingCon is held at the Georgetown University Hotel and Conference Center which is technically located at 3800 Reservoir Road. However, the conference center likes to keep us on our toes so there is a massive construction project going on at the entrance off of Reservoir Rd.

Instead of that entrance, we recommend that you enter the campus from the South on Canal Road. There is a parking lot there that is free on weekends (it seems).

We provide a free, accessible shuttle from Foggy Bottom Metro all day both days. The first shuttle will leave from Foggy Bottom on Saturday at 9:00am. Just look for the friendly volunteer with the big sign. They’ll show you which bus to get on.

We will, of course, be providing a massive games library for you and we are also giving every attendee a free game on their way in the door but if you’d like to bring your own games, that’s fine too.

We have lots of events running all day both days so check out washinigcon.com/events to see the latest availability for those.

It is important to us that WashingCon is a safe space for all people so please take a second to review our personal conduct policy and remember to play nicely.

If you have any other questions or concerns please feel free to reach out to us at contact@washingcon.com.

Demo Your Prototype at WashingCon with Unpub!

Calling all new board game designers who are working to make their ideas a reality! If you, or someone you know, has an unpublished prototype that could use some exposure or play testing we have good news: Thanks to our partners at Unpub, The Unpublished Games Network, table space will be made available at WashingCon 2019 for aspiring designers to demonstrate their hard work. If you’ve been putting together a game, WashingCon 2019 has an amazing opportunity for you to show your product in front of over a thousand passionate board game players. People bringing new, creative ideas to tabletop is the lifeblood of the hobby so we cannot recommend highly enough that you jump on this chance by signing up with Unpub for a table and making it out to WashingCon. Registration is open now, but space is limited and goes fast, so click below ASAP and reserve your spot to demo your game!

Event Sign Ups Are Open!

While open gaming may be the heart of WashingCon, we work hard to bring you slate of events every year to provide something different for your time at the convention as well. For those who want more organized gaming, RPGs, or a to learn more about the industry we hope there’s something on our schedule for you! A classic slate of tournaments, such as Catan and Carcassonne, will be happening for those who want a little more intense competition as their table - and for those of you who are looking for something really fierce, we will be holding our first ever Ironmeeple Challenge this year! A 6-Game gauntlet where the only the best players move on to determine total tabletop mastery! And for those who prefer role playing games, or just want to give it a try, GMs will be running one shot RPGs on Saturday and Sunday from a variety of systems.

As the winner of our online bracket, Stonemaier Games’ Charterstone has been selected as the community legacy game at this years convention - where by signing up to play you can take part in one session of the unfolding story, moving through the world created by the previous players and laying the foundations for the next group who takes your place!

For the second year in a row we will also be brining back Tiny Adventures as well! Last year our unique Scandinavian Modular Brick Building (tm) Adventure Dungeons were our most popular activity and this year they are back with a twist! Due to demand these events are first come first serve, so please see the Eventbrite for details about how to sign up for a slot on the day of.

A series of panels will be held where folks can hear members of the community talk about getting into LARPing, what it takes to be a professional content creator and how to create fun as a young games designer. In addition we are very fortunate to have the Washington Metropolitan Gamer Symphony Orchestra on hand to be performing video game music as a chamber ensemble both Saturday and Sunday evening. This is our first musical event at WashingCon and we’re excited to be able to bring this experience to everyone!

Additional RPGs and events will be added over the coming days as we confirm details so remember to check back here again before the convention. You can click below to see the schedule of events or to go directly to our Eventbrite to sign up for slots. Please note that space at many of these events are limited so we recommend you sign up ASAP!

Last Chance for Discounted Hotel Rooms

If you were holding out hope that you might have been the lucky winner of this year’s drawing and thus avoid having to reserve your own hotel room you should check your email now because the winners have been notified. However, if you were not the lucky winner this time, don’t lose heart, hotel rooms are still available at a reduced rate until August 14h.

Spend the most possible time at the game table at WashingCon, not on the train commuting back and forth. Cut out the trip entirely and grab a hotel room at the venue!

The Georgetown University Hotel provides us with a number of rooms available at a discounted rate for convention attendees, but they can’t keep all of those rooms reserved forever. After Wednesday, August 14th, although some rooms may still be available, they will be at the normal full price.

If you’re aiming to hang out for Saturday night social deduction games, go out in Georgetown for the evening or just avoid the Metro all together we strongly recommend that you don’t wait for prices to rise or rooms to become unavailable - click below and book your room this weekend!

Calling All Volunteers!

While the heart of WashingCon has been, and will always be, folks just getting together to hang out and play some great games, that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t take a lot work to make it happen every year! And as the modest convention that we are, we rely on the gracious assistance of our volunteers to make sure we can pull it off. For those who would like to be more involved with WashingCon, beyond just attending, we ask that you consider signing up to volunteer. In exchange for helping out with one of the innumerable little things that needs to be done - such as helping out at the games library, teaching rules, manning the registration desk, and many more jobs - we provide you with a free weekend badge to attend WashingCon, a sweet shirt designed each year just for volunteers and, this starting this year, an invite to our post convention gaming get-together with the staff! And if you’ve already bought tickets to WashingCon but would like to volunteer too, don’t worry, we will refund your badge price for your help.

We’ve been truly lucky in the past to have so many amazing people help make WashingCon a reality. But this year we are still in need of a few more folks to pitch in and become some of those people! So if you’re interested in becoming part of our little family here at WashingCon, helping to make DC’s own Tabletop convention possible and getting some free swag while doing so, click below to sign up today!

Hotel Rooms Available at Convention Rates

WashingCon is only a few weeks away and if you’re planning for the trip now is the time to get your hotel rooms! The Georgetown Hotel and Convention Center, our home for the past four years, has kindly reserved a number of rooms that can be booked at a discounted rate for folks attending WashingCon V. By staying at the hotel you not only minimize your travel distance to the convention which, most importantly, maximizes your gaming time - But also allow you to hang out for late night events and social games on Saturday evening while supporting tabletop gaming in DC. If you’re coming from out of town or are interested in staying close to WashingCon, we recommend grabbing yourself a spot at the hotel. Click below now to reserve you room!

Board Games and Video Games Together at the Smithsonian!

On Saturday, August 3rd and Sunday, August 4th from 11:30am to 7:00pm both days, the Smithsonian American Art Museum will be putting on their 5th SAAM Arcade! At this free, annual event visitors to the museum will be able to play a selection of indie video games centered around this year’s theme “Breaking Barriers“, as well as classic cabinet and console games. As part of the event WashingCon staff and volunteers will be on hand as well providing a board games lounge with teachers to assist with picking games and learning rules. So come on down to the mall for the sweet, sweet combination, a veritable peanut butter and jelly of fun, that is video games and board games together in the same place!

Additionally, if you would like to BE one of the WashingCon volunteers at this event we are still looking for a few more folks who are interested in teaching some games. If you are able to come out on either Saturday or Sunday to help with this event in this INCREDIBLY sweet setting, it will be counted as volunteering at WashingCon with all the attendant benefits - Just make sure that you note in your message that you are specifically interested in volunteering at SAAM. We only have a few slots remaining though, so click here ASAP if this is the way you would like to hep out WashingCon!

See WMGSO Live At WashingCon!

A little gaming music with your gaming? Don't mind if you do! WashingCon is extremely excited to announce that the Washington Metropolitan Gamer Symphony Orchestra (WMGSO), the DMV's only orchestra and choir exclusively dedicated to the performance of video game music, will discuss their work and give two performances. WMGSO will be available for the duration of the convention at their table in the main hall for folks to meet them and hear samples of their performances. WMGSO's small ensembles will perform on Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 5:30 p.m., both in the panel room located in the West Lobby.

Now in its sixth year, WMGSO performs regularly for hundreds of gaming and music enthusiasts. Space for their performance at WashingCon will be limited, so be sure to arrive early to hear them live! The transportational effect of music adds much to the gaming experience and we're lucky to have WMGSO in attendance this year.year.