Family Gaming Room at Breakout Con 2019
Every March board game enthusiasts from across Canada, as well as a few from south of the border, gather in Toronto for Breakout Con. The convention seems to grow exponentially every year and this year was definitely its biggest iteration. The convention is filled with various events such as expert panels, tournaments, prototype playtesting, distributor demos of new games, organized play, and other forms of tabletop gaming such as Role-Playing Games. Check out our video log to get a quick feel of the convention.
For the first time Breakout Con has established a Family Gaming Room initiated by Little Meeples and our friends at All Aboard Games. In previous years we have noticed a few families attending the convention, however, they tended to keep to themselves playing a small selection of games from the Breakout Con library. We felt that the convention could use a dedicated room for parents and their children to call their own. We hoped that just by sheer proximity we could foster a feeling of community and entice the children to play outside of their family circle and interact with other children. That is exactly what we saw. Children quickly settled in and became comfortable enough to approach other children and gather around a game. They began to refer to each other by name and socialize. Some children requested to wait for other kids to finish a game so they could join one that they had picked out. We tend to speak a lot about the benefits board games bring to children regarding social skills and it was amazing to see it unfold before our eyes.
Aside from a selection of games we provided from our own personal collections, we wanted to gather a selection of Play-to-win games. This is something Breakout Con has been doing for some time in their main gaming hall. Publishers, distributors and retailers donate games for the attendees to sign-out and play. At the end of the convention a name is randomly drawn from those who played the game and they win that game to take home. It’s a great way for publishers to get their games played by people who may not have tried it otherwise. Even if they did not win the game, they would be tempted to purchase it afterwards. We noticed in previous years some kids were disappointed to not win a game so we wanted to create a selection of Play-to-win games that could only be won by the kids in the family game room. Thanks to some great sponsors we had a large collection of games so that all the kids went home with something. Even if they didn’t get a game they had their eyes on, it was clear some parents couldn’t resist the urge to buy it for them, as they often asked where is the best place to get some games. Big thanks to the retailers (Board Game Bliss and Wood For Sheep), distributors (Asmodee Canada, Ilo307, Paper E Clips, and Luma Games), and publishers (Haba, Fireside Games, USAopoly, Kids Table Board Gaming, Roxley, Stonemaier, and Leitman Games) who helped sponsor the play-to-win collection.
The inaugural year for the family game room was definitely a success. It has set the ground work for a bigger future. The feedback we received from the parents throughout the weekend was overwhelming. Some parents who brought their kids for one day, plan to bring them for all 3 days next year. Some parents passed by, not knowing about the room, decided to bring their kids the next day. Some guaranteed to bring them next year along with their partner. And without a doubt, everyone who came said they will see us again next year. We hope to see some of you there next year too.
One thought to “Family Board Gaming at Breakout Con 2019”
This is so awesome. Great pictures and job well done! That’s really awesome that there were so many donations that every kid won something – how cool is that? Hope we can make it sometime!