Geekway Prime 2028 Move to America's Center FAQs

As announced on our livestream on Oct. 6, 2026, Geekway Prime will be moving to a larger convention facility in 2028. Here are some FAQs about why.

When is the move happening?

The first year Geekway Prime will be at the America's Center will be 2028.

Geekway Prime 2027 will still be at St. Charles Convention Center.

Why is the move happening?

While our experience at St. Charles Convention Center since 2017 has been a wholly positive one, we have simply outgrown the space. The event rooms in the convention center, the hotel space, parking lots, and vendor space are all no longer able to accommodate Geekway Prime given the demand.

In the St. Louis region, the ONLY convention space larger than St. Charles Convention Center is America's Center. And we intend to always keep this a local, homegrown St. Louis event. So, America's Center was the best (and only) option for the size that Geekway Prime is now.

How did you make this decision?

Mostly from reading the comments from attendees. Over the years, more and more of the feedback we get on the annual survey had to do with our current location feeling too small. There isn’t enough hotel space, parking, or food in our current venue. We started looking for other locations in 2025, and quickly learned that America’s Center is really our only choice.

We began talking with America’s Center about a move in 2025. As we learned more about the venue, we brought the discussion to our full board. We didn’t sign anything until the board agreed. In the spring of 2026, the board unanimously voted to move the convention to America’s Center.

How will being at America's Center fix these needs?

More Convention Space

America's Center has exponentially more space for events, making for a more comfortable event at our current size, and gives us the opportunity to sustainably grow in the future.

More Hotel Space

There are multiple hotels in the immediate walkable vicinity of America's Center.

More Parking

There are significantly more parking options (and more parking spaces) surrounding America's Center.

Accessible by Public Transit

Being accessible by MetroLink (St. Louis' light rail system) and bus, this adds to options for people to attend without being so reliant on having a car.

More Food Options

Downtown St. Louis has lots of restaurants (many of them local options) within walkable distance. And America's Center will allow attendees to bring in individual meals so that you can eat while gaming (as long as attendees are willing to reasonably clean up after themselves).

More Feasible for Out-of-town Attendees

By having more hotel rooms available, and also being accessible by public transit from Lambert Airport and having more parking options, this makes it significantly easier for out-of-towners to reliably plan and attend Geekway Prime, whether they want to drive in, fly in and rent a car, or fly in and not have to rent a car.

More Room for Vendors

We have several options for spaces, and ideas for ways to accommodate more vendors than we currently can without taking away open gaming space.

How big is Geekway going to get?

Geekway has grown organically with very little advertising (essentially none). People still want to come, and we don’t like turning people away. So, Geekway will grow as long as more people want to come, and we can scale it appropriately.

We have never had a goal of “grow Geekway to such and such size,” and we don’t have any revenue targets we are trying to hit.

What isn't changing?

We promise that we are laser-focused on the same things we have been for years:

Board Games. We are 100% focused on board gaming, and that’s it. We aren’t going to run TCG tournaments, minis events, or role playing games. If a few people play a few of those games, that’s fine! But it’s not what we’re focused on.
Play and Win. We invented Play and Win, and we have scaled it from 5 games (total!) to nearly 1000, and it’s more fun and exciting now than it’s ever been.
Open Gaming. While there are scheduled activities run by a variety of groups, the main focus of Geekway is being able to grab a game from the library, set it up, and play with a group of friends. We will always focus first on having plenty of open play space.
Affordability. A weekend badge for Geekway costs half as much as other 4-day gaming events around the country. We intend Geekway to stay affordable so that friends and families can attend without breaking the bank. (And so you can have more money to spend with vendors!)

Is it going to cost more to attend Geekway?

Badge Costs

Surprisingly, costs to run Geekway downtown aren’t much higher than running it in St. Charles, if at all! In fact, many things are cheaper. So we don’t expect to have large price increases.

That said, we have adopted an approach of incremental changes annually when we need them so we can cover our expenses. You can expect increases of $10 or less, and many years prices will not go up at all.

Hotel rates in downtown St. Louis

Yes, standard rates are higher, but, we are negotiating housing blocks that should keep nightly rates around $200, which is about what they run at Embassy Suites in St. Charles (the 2027 Embassy Suites rate in St. Charles is $179). We won’t know exact prices until we lock in rates in the coming months.

Parking costs in downtown St. Louis

Yes, without a doubt. While parking in St. Charles is free, there isn’t enough, and this has led to many complaints (captured in our annual survey). While parking in downtown St. Louis costs money, there’s plenty of it! And if parking is a concern, there are ways to take public transit instead, like MetroLink, to minimize transportation costs.

Is downtown St. Louis safe enough for Geekway?

Downtown St. Louis is a large city and like other large cities, crime is always present. The same common sense you’d use in other cities should also apply in St. Louis.

But if you are concerned, it will be completely possible to attend Geekway and never leave the convention center, except when you cross the street to return to your hotel. Geekway will be in a section of the convention center that is a covered driveway away from one hotel, and a single crosswalk away from the Marriott, the largest nearby hotel. Also, there are many food options available in the convention center itself.

Please know that we are working with convention center security staff and private security firms to make sure Geekway is as safe as we can make it.

What food options are available in and near America’s Center center?

There are more than a dozen restaurants within five minutes of the convention center.

Plus, America’s Center works with meeting planners (like us) to offer a variety of custom food options to guests. We are focused on expanding offerings for dietary preferences and needs — more vegetarian options, more gluten-free options, and more “healthy” options, too.

America’s Center also allows guests to bring in personal meals (no large-scale catering), so you can order take out or delivery and eat it in the convention center (provided attendees are willing to reasonably clean up after themselves).

How are you going to make sure Geekway doesn’t get too big and/or start sucking?

Look, we all have things we know and love about the Geekway and the unique features of it. We know some things are going to change, and it’s going to feel a little different. But this isn’t our first move. The first Geekway was in a basement, the second was in a public park. After that we moved to a community center, and then a hotel complex, and then the St. Charles Convention Center.

At every step, people told us that Geekway was going to get too big. And for some people, that’s true. It’s not in a basement anymore, and we don’t grill hot dogs on a park grill for our snack bar. But, now we have an event that can accept many more people, and we don’t have to worry about it becoming too exclusive.

The one thing we can’t really fix is the intimate feel of having a couple hundred people playing games together. We are past the point where we know everyone’s names. But, we’ve watched thousands of people discover board games and deepen their enjoyment of the hobby, and we’ve never had to severely limit the number of people who can attend. We think that’s a good trade.

Will we have more vendors?

Yep! We want more publishers and more game designers to attend Geekway. We think it’s more fun if they are there, and also when they buy booths it helps keep the cost of attendee badges low! If you are a vendor who wants to get into Geekway, stay tuned — we’ll have room for you.

How many hotel rooms will be in the room blocks downtown?

We took up most of the hotel at Embassy Suites St. Charles — about 250 rooms. (There were a few rooms they had to hold back for rewards members, per their company policies.) We will have at least this many rooms downtown, and the ability to expand it if needed.

The closest hotels to the convention center are:

Courtyard, which has around 165 rooms,
Marriott, which has almost 1000 rooms, and
Embassy Suites Downtown St. Louis which has over 200 rooms.

We will have dedicated room blocks in each of those hotels (and likely more) so that you have a choice of where you stay.

What if I find a room for less than the room block rate?

There are a lot more hotels downtown than we will need! It’s possible that you’ll find a hotel that’s offering a special and you will be able to get a room that’s cheaper than our block rate. (Hopefully not, since that’s the whole point of a block rate!)

Feel free to do whatever makes sense for your budget. But also remember that when we commit to a certain block size, the hotel expects us to fill it, and we pay a penalty if we don’t. So if you have a choice and it’s reasonable, please try to stay in one of the block rooms for Geekway.

Can I bring food into the convention center?

Yep. America’s Center allows you to bring in individual meals that you can enjoy while gaming. You can’t do large-scale catering, so don’t order a buffet for 20. And alcohol policies are still somewhat restrictive, so make sure to check on those before enjoying your adult beverages. We just ask that you reasonably clean up after yourself by throwing away uneaten food and trash.

Downtown is really big! I’m an anxious person and I can’t handle the stimulation.

Yeah, we get it. Being in a big city can be overwhelming. Here are some things that can help:

We will continue to have spaces for decompression and relaxation where you can escape for a few minutes.
We’re exploring ways to have smaller spaces for gaming that are less stimulating, too. (No promises, it’s still a ways out, but we are working on it.)
Staying at the nearby hotel is really helpful, because you can have a completely private space to escape to when you need it.

Are America’s Center and the hotels disability-friendly and accessible?

Yep! The main Geekway activities will be on the main level of the convention center. For things happening upstairs, there are nearby elevators right near our space! We checked on outdoor mobility, too, and there are curb ramps and crosswalks to make getting to and from the convention center and hotel easy. We can’t vouch for every street corner in downtown St. Louis, but it appears to be quite accessible.

Are you planning to move to another city?

No. We have a three year contract at America’s Center (taking us through 2030) and we are already talking about extending it. We are homegrown in St. Louis, and we are committed to keeping this a St. Louis event.

Is Geekway going to be bought by someone like BGG or The Dice Tower?

No.

Is Geekway financially entangled with Miniature Market or anyone else?

No.

Does Geekway make money?

Yes. Geekway is a privately held LLC with three owners and they, along with a group of dedicated folks, plan and run the convention. We do make a little bit of money, but it mostly goes back into running the next year’s event and making it bigger. It’s nobody’s full time job, nor retirement plan. I assure you we are not getting rich on Geekway.

Why are the dates changing?

Did you know Geekway used to be in April? We moved it to May when we moved to St. Charles Convention Center because their April dates were already booked. We prefer April because it gets us out of graduation season, and away from Mother’s Day and the beginning of summer. Now we only have to worry about avoiding Passover and Easter! (Which is a very annoying group of holidays, moving around all the time like they do! Silly lunar calendar.)

I’ve got a question that isn’t listed here. How do I ask it?

Just email us at geekway@geekway.com. If it’s a good question, we’ll add it to this FAQ! And if it’s a dumb question, we still might. (Let it be known we have never agreed with the statement “There are no dumb questions.” There are. There really are.)