The GAMA Trade Show wrapped up last Thursday at Bally's in Las Vegas, with attendees leaving generally optimistic about the rest of the year, if in somewhat smaller numbers than years past. 

 

Some measures of the show were up.  Exhibit space was up about 10%, with an increase in board and family games the source of much of that increase.  'This was something that retailers told us they wanted,' GAMA Executive Director Anthony Gallela told us. 'They want the whole industry together; and GAMA is working on it.'   The number of attendees at the retailer and wholesaler division meetings was up from some years past. 

 

The final retailer attendee count was not available as the show ended, but most seemed to think it would be down a little.  Among the missing were some retailers that had given the new Games Expo show a try (see 'Games Expo -- Lots of Exhibitors'), although with Games Expo apparently shuttered (see 'MSM Shuts Down'), they should be back next year. 

 

Gallela painted the positive side.  'The number of qualified retailers is up,' he said.  'The number of intelligent and engaged retailers is up.  And there are fewer schwag hounds.'  Gallela also said that the number of chain buyers at the show was up.

 

The Bally's facility was a big improvement over the Riviera's last year.  There were two separate exhibit halls with most of the major exhibitors clustered in one, so the traffic was not uniform throughout the floor, but there was not a lot of grumbling among exhibitors in the second hall, which seemed to indicate that most attendees made their way throughout the floor. 

 

Programming once again got high marks, with new presenters and seminars adding to the business-changing power of perennials like Dave Wallace's 'The Bottom Line.'

While the smokehandling in the hotel wasn't as good as in those built in the last 10 or 15 years, it was much better than the Riviera, which had seemed to be full of the same smoke that was there in the 60s.  The rooms were recently refurbished and relatively large, also an improvement over last year's.

 

Although there were significant product announcements, it seemed to us that their number was down, reflecting the more cautious approach game companies are taking with new CCGs and RPGs, in particular.  We are seeing an increase in family and card games, however, due both to an increase in the number of new products in that category and increasing representation of the category at the show.  We also saw a relatively new form of retailer at the show -- the board/family game retailer that stocks no collectible games, miniatures, or RPGs. 

 

Expectations are optimistic for 2007, with high quality CCG releases late last year and coming in 2008, solid or improving prospects in miniature sales, and continuing improvement in board and family games all contributing at a pace that makes it easier to overlook the dire conditions in the RPG business. 

 

The show announced its 2008 dates:  April 20-24th, again at Bally's.  This will represent a busy time for some visitors and attendees.  New York Comic Con, which attracted over 40,000 attendees in all, with thousands of trade and professional attendees, has moved its dates to April (see 'NYCC -- They All Got In') and ends the day before GAMA Trade Show begins.