As we wrap up our countdown to Origins—we’ll be running our first games by this time next week—we had a cavalcade of randomness to share in our final approach.
most images can click to enlarge
Vendor & Exhibit Hall Prep
There’s a lot that goes into exhibiting at a convention. We’ve covered some of this in the past, and much of it is still true. But don’t take our word for it. Let’s see what a couple of this year’s Origins vendors had to say:
Sabrina, from Ludoliminal (Booth 1404 in the exhibit hall)
When I budget for a show, I start with the financial cost to attend. There are concrete knowable costs like the booth fee, staff compensation (I pay staff an hourly wage), car rental & gas (I only do shows I can drive to at the moment), booth supplies (any new banners or equipment I must purchase specifically for that show), marketing extras (purchased from the show or things I purchase myself like giveaways, flyers, etc.), food, and accommodations. I take that estimated total and add 5% for unexpected last-minute expenses. Then I apply a return multiplier (normally 2x) to calculate my target profit from sales for the event. So, for example if my expenses for a show are $4200, I will target $8400 for sales profit.
Ludoliminal’s 2025 booth
The next step is to build out a target sale table. I list all the items (games + accessories) I’ll have for sale at the event. I include the average price I expect to sell the item for (accounting for bundles and discounts), the cost-of-goods-sold (including any shipping costs to get those goods to that show), and a believable target number of sales. This allows me to calculate my expected revenue and profit. I compare the profit to my target profit. If there’s a mismatch I will consider if I can reduce costs or increase expected sales in a believable way. When I finish adjusting the numbers, I will then use the target sales to inform the inventory I take to the show as well as what items I choose to highlight in signage and any pre-show marketing such as social media posts.
This general framework is flexible to changing contexts. For example, this year I have a larger booth space to fill at GenCon so I’ve purchased some additional booth supplies for that show.For the first time I’m trying out some pricier convention marketing extras like staffed events. I also have inventory limitations on a couple of my items. Consequently, I’ve reduced my target return multiplier to 1.5x this year but my overall budgeting format has not changed.
After the show, it’s straightforward to enter the actual costs and actual sales information to see how the planned budget measured up against reality.
Some key context to add: I’m a relatively new board game publisher (2 titles, with last year being my first year with product in retail). I am the only in-house employee at my company. This is only my 2nd year running a booth that is selling products at conventions.
Craig from Black Oak Workshop (Booths 1203 and 2708 in the exhibit hall)
Black Oak are launching a new event for Origins this year, with a special ‘expedition’ for 2026, and we asked about how this came about as a promotional tool for the convention.
Where’d the idea come from?
One of this year’s expedition sets
The Expeditions dice line is one we’ve worked on for a while. I have wanted to release a numeral only line of dice (no iconography) for a while, but I waited until we hit on the right idea for how to present them. Everyone sells dice without numbers and we did not want to go to market with just more of the same so to speak. We had to find an idea for how to wrap this dice line up into a thematic presentation. Part of that idea was to package them with a really popular die—our Compass d8. So it’s an 8 die set and features an alternate shape d4 (see picture). We like seeing folks who are buying that first set of dice for a new character. These dice are for those players.
The general idea for the product line is that each year we will release 6 new colors. Each annual release will be wrapped up in a fictional fantasy setting and each set of dice will be named after a location, item or character in that setting. This year is the Phantom Coast. There is a supporting location and later this year we will be releasing an introduction to the setting in a ‘zine format titled Expedition to the Phantom Coast.
For the Expeditions Scavenger Hunt, we wanted to introduce people to the Phantom Coast setting while also showing off the new dice and supporting products (pin, coin, sticker, dice tray and dice bag). We went with an idea of having participants go through an expedition through the Phantom Coast as a sort of scavenger hunt.
What kind of lead/prep time did this take for all the things you needed to do?
For the product line, 10 months. For the scavenger hunt, about 3 months. We should have started earlier though! But we are happy with where it is and will be bringing it back again next year with lessons learned. I just don’t see how it won’t be fun for folks. It is geared to be lightweight, but fun with lots of free supporting product along the way for folks who stick with it.
What’s the response been so far?
It’s been very positive! How many people have seen it and will participate is another question altogether. I am just not sure. But we are limiting it to 50 folks per day. This is out of concern for the load on our cos/roleplay team that will be driving the experience and also due to the serious swag that can be earned by completing the 6 chapters. There will be ribbons, stickers, coins, pins and dice as well as the lanyard, character card and Expedition Log for tracking progress. It’s a lot of cool stuff!
This is the latest article in our series of articles covering Origins 2026 and you can find a carousel linking all of them across the bottom
The Main Gaming Hall
In yesterday’s news, we showed you where Armchair Dragoons are bunkered up in the main gaming hall. Today, we’ve also got our neighbors on the map, and you’ll notice, uh, there’s a bunch of wargaming around there with us. What’s missing from the main gaming hall this year? Rogue Judges moved into their own separate room and they got that with (checks notes) only 187 events?! We’ve got more than that!1
The Raffle
As always, we have our raffle for folks that play in our games. The main raffle is scheduled for Sunday at noon.
The “main” raffle you say?
In response to some feedback we’ve had on the raffle in the past, we’re going to hold a smaller raffle on Saturday evening with some of the games where we’ve got multiple copies on the table. We’ll identify the games in that raffle on their ticket cups, and we’ll pull some tickets for them on Saturday night. Anything that doesn’t go on Saturday will still go on Sunday. But we’re trying to respond to audience feedback and accommodate those folks that have to hit the road early on Sunday.
The Gumball Machine
Yes, we’re bringing it back. And with new chase dice this year.
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