U-CON is a yearly gaming convention in Ann Arbor, MI that covers all types of tabletop games! They had a great game library, tons of very active tables where board games, tabletop RPGs, and war games were being played, and the whole space had a very welcoming and intentionally inclusive atmosphere that I really appreciated.

Janatee Craftily x TTRPGkids combo booth!

I was there to run a combo Janatee Craftily and TTRPGkids book (that the convention was very accomodating in letting us split), where we had Jaclyn’s book, Rolling With the Youth, their awesome TTRPG dice, stickers, and more, copies of my game, Bakers, Charge!, and Finding Familiars books from Dice Up Games!

Many amazing conversations were had with people stopping by to check out our work and ask about TTRPGs for kids, and it was an incredible confidence boost for me seeing people so excited for Bakers, Charge!, which is my first printed game. I also had a blast sharing a booth with Jaclyn and getting to chat and geek out about TTRPGs all weekend.

Here, I would like to give a special thank you to Almost Bedtime Theater, Dungeon Alchemist, Little But Fierce, and Young Dragon Slayers for backing the TTRPGkids summer Crowdfundr at the Collaborative Creators tier and helping to fun the TTRPGkids 2023 booths. Their support directly led to my being able to run a booth here, and it was wonderful getting to share their work with others who stopped by via the feature signs on the table.

Visiting others at the vendor hall

The vendor hall was also full of other awesome creators and small businesses who I really enjoyed chatting with as well! A few booths are shown in the collage here, and there was a lot of awesome games, gear, and art on display through the whole vendor space. I am already planning a day to check out Golden Rhino Games in the near future, and I also thought that Llamagedon, which is currently on Kickstarter, looked amazing.

Games at the gaming convention

While I didn’t get to play games during the convention since I was running the booth, I did swing by the game hall still, and they had a very cool selection of games. I could hear cheers of excitment from a nearby table as someone pulled off an awesome move and heard some great stories about the adventures being had! There were quite a few kids there too, and I was happy to hear that some were running games all on their own!

Overall, U-CON was an awesome convention that I 100% plan on returning to next year, and I hope you get a chance to check it out too!

Next up: Pax Unplugged 2023

Next up, TTRPGkids is going to PAX Unplugged on December 1, 2023 for a workshop on using TTRPGs in education! Sign up, stop by, and say hi if you’re going to be at PAX U!

Thank you for playing tabletop RPGs with your kids and helping to bring this fun hobby to the next generation! Keep up to date on new reviews, games, and articles with the TTRPGkids monthly newsletter, and please also let me know in the comments or by email if you have any questions or plan on attending the convention and talk! To find out more about the sponsor at the top of the page who are helping to keep TTRPGkids rolling, please check out the sponsor page here!