Maximum Number of Players

Please list the maximum number of players the game can take, whether you are holding a spot for yourself or not. We will adjust our registration form accordingly.

Holding a Spot for Yourself in the Game

Some games (most obviously RPGs) require a neutral judge/GM that does not take a player's spot.

However, many games (board games in particular) do not require a neutral judge/GM. There is sometimes ambiguity about whether a GM should play or not.

Here is the official SWA policy (as posted previously here):

• If you allow the maximum number of players to register, and risk not having a seat if the event fills to capacity, you get in free for the whole day, whether you end up playing or not.
• If you reserve a spot for yourself, you get to play your game for free, but if you play something in the other Game-a-thon session, you still need to pay for that session.

Maturity Ratings

Many of us got started in adventure gaming before we were old enough to drive and we'd like our Game-a-thons to welcome families and kids. But we also know that the thematic content or complexity of some games makes them unsuitable for young players. To allow attendees and parents to make an informed decision on participation in an event, every event must be assigned one of the following Maturity Ratings:

• Child rating is for children age 6 - 9 with adult supervision
• E10+ rating is for players 10 and up in age (This is the default rating)
• Teen rating is for players 14 and up in age
• Mature rating is for players 18 and up in age.

Our hope is that all GMs will welcome players of ages 10 and above, as a standard. We understand that the nature of some games, or the comfort level of some GMs, prevents this. These GMs should set the Maturity Rating of their game as appropriate.

Our goal is to have at least one game per Game-a-thon as E10+ "Kid Friendly". We will have more when possible. We tend to see kids attending the 11am session more often than the 5pm session.

Since our Game-a-thons are relatively small (30+ attendees, and 8-12 events), there will be months where we will not have a game for Children, ages 6-9. But sometimes we will. We make more of an effort to have events for children ages 6+ at Council of Five Nations, our big annual convention.

Please remember that we need to grow new gamers to replace the ones that inevitably attrition away from the hobby over time. If you don't help grow new players, you might not have people to play with in the future.