August News
What a Show
It's been a couple of weeks now since Gen Con came to a close, but we're still glowing from all that sweet, sweet con energy! It was a big year for Rose Gauntlet at the show, with the return of the BIPOC Lounge, our first Gen Con booth, being a guest panel speaker, business meetings (like, lots and lots and lots of meetings), and maybe even a couple of new game signings!
So how did it all go?
At the Booth
The booth was BUMPIN'!
It probably didn't hurt being next to the most popular plushies at the show, but also this really did feel like the busiest Gen Con our team has ever attended. After spending all of 5 minutes at the show it's easy to see why -- there was just SO MUCH STUFF TO SEE. From Artist Alley, to live podcasts, to demo areas, and oh yea, a TON of games -- and that was just in the exhibit hall!
Luckily, we were prepared this year, with our team of trusty booth staff members. A special thanks to Jessy, Joel, Paul, Ryan, Michelle, Lyss, and AJ for crushing it in the booth this year! This year, our booth featured Keystone:North America and Wild Gardens, running quick demos on booth for visitors. While we were happy with the reception and sales of Keystone, it was amazing to see how much interest (and pre-orders) there was for Wild Gardens!
We also had some VERY popular pins, postcards, and free copies of the new Brotherwise Games Turn Order magazine available in the booth. When we heard about the magazine from Brotherwise, we were pumped to be featured alongside our fellow indie publishers and we were really happy with how it turned out!
In the Lounge
First of all, thank you. To all the volunteers who made this possible, to the visitors that showed once again how valuable this space is, to the vendors that made the lounge look amazing, and to Gen Con for partnering with us once again on an incredibly successful space for the BIPOC community.
We were thrilled to see how active the lounge was this year, with it being filled essentially all weekend long. Attendees were greeted with refreshments, comfy spaces to relax and connect, brand-new conference rooms for professional meetings, a gigantic library of games to try out, and of course, plenty of space for gaming.
We had such an amazing time hosting the BIPOC Lounge, meeting so many creators and gaming enthusiasts, and providing a space for networking and mentoring. That final note really means the world to us. We had a number of conversations with people just looking for advice on how to get into and be successful within this industry. Being able to support new underrepresented voices is what this is all about and that energy really carries us long after the show ends.
Efforts like this are so important to us, which is why we created the Rose Gauntlet Foundation to support them. We will have an official announcement about the foundation soon, but you can learn more about it now at www.rosegauntletfoundation.
Attending the Panel
Ok, we won't embarass Lindsey too much here other than to say she, along with her fellow panelists, did an excellent job discussing the ins and outs of crowdfunding. Led by Jason Furie of BackerKit, the Crowdfunding Do's an Don'ts panel did a great job keying in on who was in the audience, focusing primarily on what you should and shouldn't do when it comes to getting started with crowdfunding.
The panel was well selected (and featured three women!), with each panelist having varying backgrounds, experiences, and expertise with crowdfunding systems. Shoutouts to fellow panelists Suzanne Sheldon of Restoration Games and Heather O'Neill of 9th Level Games for the excellent advice to all the up-and-coming creators that were in attendance.
Looking Ahead
It's never too early, right? While we have some additional details included in our latest Unscripted Blog, we can say here that our booth has been booked and we're looking forward to doing this all over again next year (just maybe with more plushies, pins, and copies of a certain wild game about gardens).
If you've read all the way down here, then wow that's pretty cool. Thanks for your support and if you have any questions, suggestions, or want to reach out to us, please don't hesitate to email contact@rosegauntlet.com or message us on our social pages!