Let down by ChinaJoy? This Beijing convention could be the one you’re looking for

Every year, people roll their collective eyes at ChinaJoy, with its focus on booth babes, adverts, and little else. Meanwhile, the US has multiple events that celebrate gamer and geek culture, rather than merely hiring models in costume. But after two successful years as a strictly tabletop affair, one Beijing convention seeks to provide that experience to gamers sick of ChinaJoy’s eye-candy parade. It hopes to fill a gap in the market by being China’s first convention run by gamers, for gamers.

(See: Why do Chinese gamers wish ChinaJoy was more like Comic-Con?)

Now in its third year, Khan Kon had humbler origins. Co-founder Dan Bass recalls that the original purpose of the event was just “to do a gaming retreat thing”, and invite a few friends for gaming. However the event morphed into Khan Kon even before it could be held. “We had over 30 people at our first year’s “retreat”!” Bass said.

The following year, the event was held outside the city in a larger space, and attendance doubled. But being outside the city meant attendees had to take a long bus to reach the convention space—this year, the event will be held inside the city, “to be more accessible,” Bass explains.

Bass is a well-known figure among Beijing’s tabletop gamers. Through Reddit, he organises regular board game sessions, and is starting to help organise Magic: The Gathering and roleplaying games also. His plans for Khan Kon are on grander scale than these weekly meetups, however—”expand, expand, expand” is his mantra for this year’s convention. In addition to adding Magic: The Gathering to the board game and roleplaying sections of the con, he’s also overseeing the inclusion of video games in the event for the first time. Which is where the newest member of the team comes in.

Sam Rosenblum is the driving force behind getting video games into Khan Kon. He’s an old hand at organizing game events on an amateur and student level. While he has worked on smaller, typically student events before, his role as organizer for Khan Kon will be a step forward.

Khan Kon is a chance to combine my passions for gaming and big parties, and contribute them towards strengthening the Beijing gaming community… and just generally having a blast.”

Our priority [with video games] is finding the largest intersection between popularity, accessibility, and feasibility. That’s why we’re choosing popular console games as the foci of our main events.

On the table so far are Ultra Street Fighter IV (USF4) and Hearthstone, both of which have strong followings amongst expats and local Beijingers alike. There’s also talk of hosting a tournament for the latest Super Smash Bros, which will release just weeks before the event.