Winter Gaming Expo proves to be hugely successful
Three days of games, three days of fun and, most importantly, a whole lot of money raised for a local children’s charity. You could definitely say the 2018 edition of the Moose Jaw Gamers Association Winter Gaming Expo was an overwhelming success. More than 80 participants packed the St. Joseph’s Parish Hall over the weekend, taking part in three days of computer and console gaming, board games and role-playing games of all types and genres. The event has quickly reached a high level of popularity, as was seen by the wide variety of participants at GAX this year.
“We didn’t have a big, huge massive number, but when you have 45 people showing up to play internet games and they bring their rigs and their laptops and they’re there for three days, it’s pretty crazy,” said GAX organizer Kristian Sjoberg. “Basically, it’s 48 hours straight;we stopped at 2 a.m. on Friday night and started up at 9 a.m. on Saturday and went to 2 a.m. that night, too, then we were back Sunday at 9 a.m.”
And no, people didn’t sleep at their keyboards. “The first couple years we actually had that happen, but now we kick people out,” Sjoberg said with a laugh.
While GAX started as a local area network (LAN) gaming session for computer gamers, it’s grown to include all sorts of different gaming entertainment, attracting people from all over the province. That eclectic gathering was on display over the weekend. “We had some really unique people show up this year with some really unique games,” Sjoberg said. “One guy had a 3D miniature board, a map with mountains and villages, two full eight-by-eight feet set ups. It was really neat. Then we had guys doing Dungeons and Dragons again this year, a weekend campaign One of our guys brought in a bunch of board games and card games that people played... The place was full. The board game and card game tables were full the LAN spots we had set up were full, it was pretty awesome. Really busy, but really awesome.” Having the kind of numbers they’ve had for the last few expos has started to attract sponsorship attention, with Family Pizza donating food for the Saturday night pizza party, SaskTel and the SaskTel Pioneers donating $500 each.
That all plays back into the fundraising aspect of the event – because of those generous businesses, the MJGA will be able to substantially increase their annual donation to a local children’s charity. “With the sponsors we had and the number of people we had come out, we might be looking at two or three thousand dollars being raised this year, and it’s awesome to see that going to a local charity,” Sjoberg said.
The MJGA will now look to their next major event the Summer Gaming Expo in July.
“With how well things went this weekend, hopefully the Summer Expo will be even bigger and better,” Sjoberg said.