Winter GAX draws a lot of new attendees

The first weekend of February offered perfect conditions to stay inside and play some games. Unfortunately, it wasn’t great weather to travel to Moose Jaw to take in a gaming expo.

Despite the cold and a heavy snowfall in the forecast, 83 people attended the Winter GAX hosted by the Moose Jaw Gamer’s Association.

“We didn’t break our record, but we were right up there, so we’re pretty happy,” said Kristian Sjoberg from the Moose Jaw Gamer’s Association. “We probably had about 25 of our regulars who didn’t show up this year. We could have broken the 100 mark this year if this weather hadn’t happened.

“There were a lot of new people, which was awesome.” The Winter GAX typically is the bigger of the two and last year’s Winter GAX drew a record of 87 people. The event also acts as a fundraiser; Winter GAX is donating $500 to both the Prairie South School Division and the Holy Trinity School Division. Those donations are matched by the SaskTel Pioneers, meaning that the Pioneers are donating $1,000 to each school division so they will each receive a total of $1,500 from the event to put towards their literacy programs. “Essentially we’ve facilitated $3,000 worth of donations this year,” Sjoberg said. “It was a fantastic weekend.” The MJGA hosts a biannual gamer’s expo that features both internet-connected LAN (local area network) games or board games. Once again, St. Joseph’s Church was a hub of activity.

“It was really eventful,” Sjoberg said. “Saturday, we had two tournaments that happened. We had a tournament for the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which is the new one that just came out on Nintendo Switch. We had guys come down from Regina and Saskatoon for that one. Then we had a Mario Kart 64 tournament that happened as well. So that was kind of fun.”

The event continues to branch out and had a cosplay panel for the first time. Cosplay -- a portmanteau of costume play -- features people dressing up in costume and acting in character of their favourite cartoons, comic book characters, super heroes, video game characters, anime, etc. Cosplay is common at fan expos the world over. “They answered questions and showed people their costumes,” Sjoberg said. “There are a couple of people in Moose Jaw who are master cosplayers, so that means that they’ve competed in competitions and got basically certified at the highest level of cosplay.”

While they are hoping to have cosplay increasing in presence at their GAX events, they are also hoping to have a standalone event.

“We’re hoping to have a large cosplay event at the Mae Wilson in the fall. Normally, most cosplay events will draw a couple of hundred people,” Sjoberg said. They want to draw some of the people from around the area who travel to cosplay at comic-cons and who are working towards attaining their master level cosplay, but also be open to anyone who wants to wear a costume down to small kids wearing their Spider-Man costumes. The MJGA are also hoping to have a cosplay element at Sidewalk Days, as well.

The Summer GAX, which is typically the smaller of the two, will be held from July 12-14 with a new location -- moving it to the Mae Wilson in the conference rooms in the back.