Anime Central 2006

by Adam Miller

I've been running games at Anime Central (Acen) for three years now. The first year, I was running games as a MiB, and the last two years I've been on staff in the table-top gaming subdepartment. Table-top gaming at Acen, which includes collectable card games (CCGs), non-collectable card games and other table-top games, is currently organized under a general gaming department along with video gaming. Given that anime conventions tend to have a younger demographic than most fandom and gaming conventions, it should be no surprise that video gaming (a large room filled with arcade machines) tends to eclipse table-top gaming in both sound, light, and visibility. Despite this possible setback, table-top gaming is alive and well at Acen. The table-top gaming staff have been successfully pushing for more space over the past couple years, and the space they do have is consistently packed.

I asked a couple lady gamers who I'd run across at Acen for perspectives on table-top gaming there, and they definitely agreed that, in recent years, it has grown in both space and quality. Frances Moritz, fellow staffer here at The Lady Gamer (TLG), wasn't able to play much, as she was wrestling with her daughter (who managed to get a great grip on my necklaces and con badge). After I asked her for some thoughts, Frances related how the table-top gaming room seemed to her in 2002:

The game room was virtually deserted, with one vendor table (Inner City Games Designs, I believe) and at most one gaming table in use any time we popped our heads in. There was so much else to do that we didn't think much of it; after all, it's an anime, not a gaming convention.

The gaming area - there are now two rooms dedicated to tabletop, board and card games, right next to the rather large video gaming room - is buried in the basement of the Hyatt, where it has been since 2003. And despite being hidden, and a pain to get to with a stroller (no public elevators going down there), there is no shortage of traffic in ACen's gaming rooms. A table in the back corner of one room houses a printout of the gaming schedule and an assortment of games. An assortment of games, from Management Material to Paranoia to Steve Jackson & Cheap Ass Games selections, were featured on the schedule. Zombies were buzzing in one corner, as attendees who purchased zombies at the merchandise booth brought them in with a ticket to try for free prizes.

I do think that gaming at anime conventions gets a larger mix of females than most fandom and gaming conventions, simply because there tends to be a more even mix of females to males in anime fandom. This did bear itself out at Acen. Joanna Tassin, one of the other table-top gaming staffers at Acen, thought so too, even with her disclaimer, " . . . although I must admit it can be difficult getting them to stop chasing that fanboy dressed like their favorite K-pop singer and sit still to play a game, but once their attention is directed at the games, they can be very enthusiastic about playing and winning." I've noticed myself that the whole 'winning' part is enhanced by the fact that male gamers tend (on average) to be a bit more susceptible to the charms of a pretty girl than most. Of course, as Joanna also acknowledged, this can certainly help a girl in attracting people to play with--what red-blooded fanboy wouldn't want to sit down for a couple hours at a table with a pretty girl?

More so than at other conventions I've been to, at Acen, table-top gaming has to emphasize the 'table-top' part of the title. I've seen, more and more, the perception that gaming, as a hobby, means computer gaming. Among anime fans, the answer to "What's your favourite game?" will often be DDR, Final Fantasy, or one of the many MMOs It's very good to have table-top games at anime conventions, not the least to make sure the youngsters know what they can do if their computer fails or the power goes out and they want to have some gaming fun. (Plus, it gives their eyes a chance to recover from the bright, flashy lights.) I think that Anime Central has an excellent table-top gaming department whose only real handicap is a lack of space. (I know, I could be biased, since I'm on staff, but you can't argue with the fact that the place was packed into the night every day of the con.) Indeed, I even played a new game, which I've been bugging my local game store for since.

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