Origins Attendance Only Down 1.5%?

The folks over at the Origins Game Fair have announced attendance numbers for this year’s show and they claim the numbers were down only 1.5% from the previous year. Overall attendance at Origins 2012 was 11,332, 180 fewer than attended in 2011 (11,502). More full show “badges” were sold in 2012 (6,845) than in 2011 (6,545), but there were fewer Day Passes (4,457 to 4,957).

I’m going out on a limb here people, but I’m not buying the “official” numbers coming from Origins. Seeing Elliott and I were there and I’m usually pretty good with my guesstimates off the top of my head – I commented on a previous show the numbers for the 2012 Phoenix Comicon to be in the vicinity of 35,000 and the official numbers later stated 32,127. I’m saying this right here and right now, Elliott can back me up, there was a bigger difference than 1.5% in attendance at this year’s show as opposed to 2011. Of that I have absolutely no doubt! I’m sticking with my estimate 15-20% fewer people came out to Columbus in 2012!

Don’t get me wrong we had a fantastic time, and we’ll be back next year, but it was a much quieter show than we’d seen in the past.

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Jeff McAleer

Founder/Editor-in-chief of The Gaming Gang website and host of The Gaming Gang Dispatch and other TGG media, Jeff tackles any and all sorts of games but has a special fondness for strategy, conflict sims, and roleplaying games. Plus, he's certainly never at a loss for an opinion...

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