Well, I just got back from the Gama Tradeshow (or GTS, as they like to call it).
My report: this is the show to go to. Even more so than ToyFair. First of all, it's *much* cheaper than ToyFair. Secondly, the buyers there are all looking to buy games (instead of "toys"). Finally, it's small enough that it's still very manageable.
They have a room they leave open for gaming throughout the convention - which means you get to work all day on the tradeshow floor, and then work deep into the night demo'ing your - ah, strike that. What I mean to say is you get to play your games (and other peoples' games) in the evenings after the trade show. Despite the long hours, it really is a lot of fun.
For example, I got a chance to play SiegeStones with Tom Jolly, which was very cool. I'm a huge Tom Jolly fan. Note to anyone interested, by the way: don't play SiegeStones with Tom Jolly. He's amazingly good at it, and he absolutely crushed me. I like to think I can at least be competitive at the games I designed, but that wasn't the case here. He was very gracious after the game, but wow, was he good. I mean, the idea is to capture four towers, and I only managed to get one. That hasn't happened to me since the thing was published.
