Winter GAX registration is open for what the Moose Jaw Gamers Association is anticipating will be its biggest weekend of gaming yet.
MJGA spokesman Kristian Sjoberg is encouraging gamers near and far to start prepping for the largest marathon gaming convention in Saskatchewan, which will be returning to the Cultural Centre on Feb. 7-9 for the Winter Gamer’s Expo.
“It's just an entirely fun weekend, instead of your boring old steak night (fundraiser),” said Sjoberg. “This is a totally different way of just having fun.”
For those who have been to a previous GAX, the weekend will have all the favourites gaming opportunities returning again — including video gaming, board games, card games, and role-playing tabletop games.
For the newcomers to the event, Sjoberg promises there will be something of interest for everyone.
“We're really excited for this one. There's a lot of new stuff, we've got triple the number of sponsors we've ever had, so that's really good,” said Sjoberg.
The MJGA has paired up with a number of sponsors to make the Winter GAX as impressive as possible, including The Matrix Gaming Centre, which will provide a dozen Xbox consoles, and Sask Polytech, which is sponsoring two virtual reality rigs.
Attendees are welcome to grab a seat in the LAN area sponsored by Moosenet Computers, or bring along their gaming rigs and use the free internet for their game of choice.
There’re also plenty of chances to get in on any one of the many tournaments the MJGA is hosting through the weekend, including Super Mario Kart and Smash Bros, as well as tabletop sessions of Dungeons & Dragons, Warhammer 40K, and Battle Tech sponsored by Dragon’s Den from Saskatoon.
“It's a great weekend of fun and games, board games, card games, video games,” said Sjoberg. “There’s something for everyone.”
The MJGA is also in the midst of picking out this year’s raffle item up for grabs. The Summer GAX sent a replica of Thanos’s gauntlet, with working lights and everything, home with a lucky winner, and this year they’re thinking just as big.
“It's probably going to be something Star Wars, with the new Star Wars coming out and with The Mandalorian being on Disney,” said Sjoberg.
The proceeds collected from both the Summer GAX and Winter GAX this year are heading directly to the Moose Jaw & District Food Bank for its Mighty Munchies program, which supplies school-age kids with snacks for their lunch bags.
“The Mighty Munchies program kind of bridges the gap between breakfast and lunch for kids who are on hampers, gives them the Goldfish and things like that,” said Sjoberg.
Sjoberg encourages people to pre-register for the event, which can be done online. The Summer GAX saw a record-breaking number of attendees, and the MJGA are expecting to see numbers rise.
“This summer we actually doubled our numbers from the previous summer, so we have a feeling this winter might even be double what the summer was,” said Sjoberg. “We're actually using absolutely every room except the theatre, so we've kind of taken over the whole Cultural Center.”
The MJGA is also hosting a number of fun, free Dungeons and Dragons sessions at the Moose Jaw Public Library in the weeks leading up to Winter GAX, for new players and experienced dungeoneers alike, as well as their weekly board game meetups on Sundays.
“Everything they need to know is on our website, and they can follow us on Facebook as well,” said Sjoberg.
Registration for the Winter GAX is $20 for general admission or $30 to reserve a LAN spot, and can be done either online or at the door.
