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Eat. Sleep. Game. Repeat. Salt Lake Comic Con officially announced Salt Lake Gaming Con 2017 on July 8-9, 2017, at the South Towne Expo Center in Sandy, Utah.
Tickets to Salt Lake Gaming Con 2017 are available immediately via the website, http://www.saltlakegamingcon.com/tickets/. This year’s ticket sales are kicked off with a Loyalty Launch with tickets discounted by 30% for a limited time.
In 2016 Salt Lake Comic Con acquired a 50 percent ownership stake in Salt Lake Gaming Con. Salt Lake Gaming Con is already one of the top 10 gaming conventions in the United States in a field that includes TwitchCon, Game Developers Conference, E3, PAX and Blizzcon. The annual regional gaming event will draw over 15,000 gamers. E3 is traditionally for the press, publishers and retailers. The Game Developers Conference is for developers. Twitch is a live streaming video platform for gamers. Salt Lake Gaming Con is for people to meet and compete with other local and regional people who play games.
“After we partnered last year, there was a significant increase in fan interaction and awareness through the increased brand power of Salt Lake Comic Con,” said Jake Williams, Founder of Salt Lake Gaming Con. “We’ve added a number of new activities, guests, panel tracks and features for this year’s event that make Salt Lake Gaming Con an exciting regional attraction for gaming fans of all ages and interests.”
In addition to video games, board games, esports, gaming tournaments and competitions Salt Lake Gaming Con will feature a number of new and exciting activities for families and gaming enthusiasts of all ages, including:
- WizKids: WizKids specializes in board games and collectible miniatures games.
- Mystery Escape Room: Mystery Escape Room is a live entertainment experience where a group of people enter a themed room full of puzzles, riddles and secrets. The group must work together to follow the clues that will lead them to be able to escape the room within a time limit.
- USS White Buffalo: The USS White Buffalo is a Star Trek Simulation focused heavily on the Artemis spaceship bridge simulator.
- Cosplay Contest: The Cosplay Contest will feature costumes of characters from the gaming world.
- Board Game Library: The Board Game Library consists of more than 700 board games, including Ticket to Ride, Settlers of Catan, King of Tokyo, House of Betrayal Hill and Pandemic, to name a few.
- Live-Action “Super Kart Racing”: Super Kart Racing began at Salt Lake Gaming Con and simulates a race on carts similar to the video game, Mario Kart.
- Dart Gun Zone: The Dart Gun Zone pits attendees against each other in Nerf Gun wars and competitions.
“Our goal is to provide a fantastic experience for gaming fans by providing a regional gaming convention that didn’t exist before,” said Dan Farr, Salt Lake Comic Con Founder and Show Producer. “There is a lot of crossover with fans of Salt Lake Comic Con and Salt Lake Gaming Con, and we’re confident that attendees will find many things to enjoy and will have a great experience at Salt Lake Gaming Con.”
Tabletop and Video Game Tournaments for valuable prizes are a key feature at Salt Lake Gaming Con. There will be a variety of PC and console gaming tournaments including:
- Hearthstone
- Overwatch
- Guilty Gear
- Halo 5
- Super Smash Bros WII
- Street Fighter V
- Pokémon
- Pokken
- SuperCOD: Infinite Warfare
- League of Legends
- Super Smash Bros Melee
For tabletop enthusiasts there are many tournaments including:
- Destiny
- Dice Masters
- Guild Ball
- Heroclix
- Magic: The Gathering
- Warmachine & Hordes
- Warhammer 40k
- X-Wing
- Yu-Gi-Oh!
“We discovered with Salt Lake Comic Con that although there were large comic cons around the country, there was a huge demand for a local and regional event. It’s now exceeded almost everyone’s expectations, and we are now a dominant force nationally and around the world. We believe there is the same unfilled need for Salt Lake Gaming Con relative to the tremendous growth of gaming and esports,” said Bryan Brandenburg, Salt Lake Comic Con Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer. “Salt Lake Gaming Con will continue to grow as the premier gaming convention for Salt Lake City and the Intermountain West. In 2017 we’ll be adding top requested features including special industry and celebrity guests, panels, and fan centric exhibitors that will provide a robust local experience for those unable to travel to the bigger shows around the country. We’re confident that this year’s convention will be a big step forward compared to 2016 and will be a tremendous value relative to ticket pricing.”