We love to see new faces, whether you are a long-time board gamer attending Geekway for your first time, or you are new to board gaming altogether, we are glad to welcome you.

At its core, Geekway is about the love and excitement of playing board games. And many people find new friends through their time at Geekway.

What’s the difference between Geekway Prime, Mini, and Micro?

Geekway Prime is an annual four-day event. It starts on Thursday morning at 8 am and continues through Sunday evening at 5 pm. You can game for as much of that time as you want. Read more about Geekway Prime. 

Geekway Mini is a much smaller event, over three days, and capped at 400 attendees. (It sells out quickly.) Read more about Geekway Mini. 

Geekway Micro are very small one-day events held at Miniature Market’s Rock Hill location. They are very small events, capped at 80, and include food and drinks. Read more about Geekway Micro. 

What is Tabletop Events?

Tabletop Events is the online platform that we use to manage Geekway registration and activity planning. You’ll create an account on Tabletop Events, and then use that account to buy a Geekway badge. You’ll go back to Tabletop Events to sign up for activities at Geekway Prime, so make sure to bookmark it when you buy your badge!

Navigating Geekway Prime

Prime is an annual four-day event. It starts on Thursday morning at 8 am and continues through Sunday evening at 5 pm. You can game for as much of that time as you want.

First Things First

The first thing you’ll need to do when you arrive at the Convention Center is to find the Geekway HQ tables. These tables are located just inside and to the left of the door labeled North Hall. 

You’ll check in here to pick up your badge, which is required for attendees to wear. (You don’t have to arrive at 8 am on Thursday, that’s just when the Geekway HQ tables open to hand out badges.) 

To get your badge, you will need to show your ID. 

Your badge also has a door prize registration attached to it. Door prizes are drawn daily at Geekway. In order to be entered for a chance to win a door prize, you will take the bottom portion of your badge, and tear off at the perforations. That piece, which we call a “Geeklet,” will go into the large gold drum located at the Geekway vendor booth in the vendor hall.

You can also grab a copy of the Geekway Gazette at HQ. This is the handy program we have printed and ready for attendees to grab.

Once you have your badge, then the fun begins.

Things to do at Geekway Prime

Scheduled Activities 

Prime is our largest event, and where we offer the most activities. For some people, structured activities are a great way to integrate yourself with people with shared interests. 

You don’t have to participate in any of these activities if you don’t want to. But we do want you to know that we have one event that is specific to new attendees, so even if you don’t attend anything else, this might be one to strongly consider and sign up for. 

All of the activities are listed in Tabletop Events, the platform you purchased your Badge through. Once you log in to TTE, you can navigate to the list of activities (under Attend > Events Schedule) to browse the range of activities, dates, times, and remaining availability. Many of these activities are free, but you do need to sign up to reserve your spot: Click the “Get” button and follow the rest of the prompts.

Some examples of structured/timed activities (note that not all of these are offered every year!):

• New Attendee Mixer
• Miniatures painting
• Fancy Gaming (which is a combination of a cosplay and board game event)
• Escape rooms
• "Giant" versions of popular board games
  
• Play a game demo: More than 25 game companies send their games to Geekway so that we can run demos on their behalf. Find a new title and sit down to try one out! You can sign up in advance on Tabletop Events, or you can walk up and claim an empty seat for the next available demo. We partner with Envoy to bring you these awesome demos. It’s a great way to learn a new game!
• Enter a game tournament: Do you want to play in a tournament and win a trophy? Check out game tournaments run by our friends at Double Exposure! You can sign up in advance over at Tabletop Events using the same account you used to register for Geekway.

Play Games (Open Gaming)

If you just want to show up and play games, that is great. Geekway Prime is a great opportunity for a lot of open gaming.

Here are our suggestions for showing up and playing games:

• Take advantage of our 2000+ game library: once you see something that catches your eye, check it out and go play it.

• Try out Play and Win games: Play and Win is our premier activity, something that we pioneered and is our most popular offering at Prime; you can check out a game from the Play and Win room, just like you would from the Library. The difference is that when you check it back in, you can also enter your info into the Play and Win database. The more times you play, the more chances you have to win the game. On the last day of the convention, we pull names from those who played to take a copy of the game home, as many names as we have copies of the title to give away.

• Bring your own games to play: many attendees have their own collections of favorite board games, and you are welcome to bring those and play

• Check out Meeple Meet: Meeple Meet is an app available on iPhone and Android devices that helps you find people to play games with at Geekway. Download this free app before you get to Geekway, and enter the Geekway code (we will send the code to all registered attendees a few weeks before Geekway, or you can ask onsite at Geekway HQ) to see all the available games. You can search for a game you’d like to play and see if someone else is looking for players, or you can set up your own entry and find others to play your favorites. It’s a great way to find something to do to fill your time and play a game with new friends!

Navigating Geekway Mini

Mini is a much smaller event, over three days, and capped at 400 attendees. (It sells out quickly.)

The focus of Mini is essentially just a relaxed, quiet environment focused on open gaming. The Geekway Library is brought on-site, and there is a selection of Play and Win games. You can also bring your own games.

You can leave to go eat at any of the nearby restaurants in Westport Plaza, or bring food into the gaming room. (But please make sure to clean up after yourself and throw trash away.)

Navigating Geekway Micro

Micro are one-day events held at Miniature Market’s Rock Hill location. They are very small events, capped at 80, and include food and drinks.

The Geekway Library is available for open gaming.