Welcome to the Official Origins FAQ Page. In the ongoing goal of helping you create the most enjoyable and unique Origins Experience possible, we have put together the answers to many common questions all in one place!
If you have a question and do not see an answer, please contact us at custserv@gama.org.
See you at Origins!
A: No, you cannot combine discounts. An Expose-A-Friend badge must be obtained with an Early Bird Full Show badge.
Q: Can I purchase something that is zero dollars, like a Teacher's Hall Pass Badge, or a ticket to Pokemon Nationals?
A: The Origins registration system now accepts Zero Dollar transactions. Process your order as normal and your transaction will complete. This upgrade to our system works for badges and/or events.
Q: Can I purchase multiple badges?A: Our registration system will allow you to order badges for any number of attendees. To do so please follow these steps...
1. Choose your badge and fill in the appropriate information if it is not already there for you (it will be already filled in if your profile is filled in). Once complete submit your badge.
2. At this point you will be able to select another badge by clicking on "Buy A Badge." Fill in the attendee's information and submit it. You will be able to switch back and forth between your badges to add events if necessary or add as many badges as you need.
3. Once complete move to the shopping cart, fill in a shipping address (this step is required although GAMA will NOT be shipping out pre-registered orders) and complete your order.
Q: I'm a member of a club but can't buy the badge on your Web site. How do I buy one?A: Club badges can only be ordered using the pre-reg order form and must be faxed or mailed in. Please be sure to include your club's name on the form. For more information contact... events@gama.org
Q: What is the new Fair-Only Pass and how does it work?A: A Fair-Only Pass entitles you to explore the Exhibit Hall, the Art Show and the demonstration booths lining the main corridor. The cost for the Fair-Only Day Pass is $3 per person or $10 for a family of 4 or more. These passes will only be available for purchase at the show in the form of a bracelet. Keep your bracelet on for readmission for the entire show.
Q: As a GM, what happens if no one signs up for one of my games? Am I stuck owing hours?A: No, we don’t work that way. Just remember to show up to your game onsite even if no-one pre-registers. If your event has no players, report that to your nearest HQ, and they’ll mark it as a player zero count.
If you do get a lot of no-shows we’ll talk about it when/if you bid games in 2010, and it may effect the number and kind of games of yours that will be accepted.
Q: When will event registration be open?A: The final event submission deadline is April 4. Until then, we don't have everything from all of the GM's, so we can't publish a list yet. Look for the full schedule to be posted on our Web site in late April / early May, once we've had time to finish sorting through/organizing/approving all of the events. In the meantime, you can take a look at some of the things that happened at Origins in 2008: http://www.originsgamefair.com/2008/events.
Q: How do I get my password if I don't remember it?A: The pre-reg form can now be filled out on your computer making it easier for us to read and reducing mistakes. However you can only print out the completed form. You cannot download or submit it electronically.
Q: Will I get my badge and event tickets in the mail?The pre-reg booklet will be out in late April/early May. It'll be a PDF, the same as last year. The events list will be put on the Web site as a separate document as an excel spreadsheet.
Q: Is there going to be an auction this year?We set the dates in the summer so that kids and college students have better availability to attend. We set the dates in early summer as that's our “spot” when looking at the other big cons in the summer. We look at the other big cons not because our attendees go to all of them (although some do--we share 10-15 percent of our attendees with Gen Con), but because our exhibitors do tend to go to all of them. Our exhibitors need time between the shows. Here is, basically, how we have separated:
Origins - Late June/early July
San Diego Comic Con - Mid/Late July
Gen Con - Early/Mid August
Dragon Con - Late August/Early September
In recent years DragonCon has settled firmly on Labor Day weekend and Gen Con has taken mid-August. SDCC still moves a bit and Origins has taken the last full weekend of June. If you look over the past 10 years, you'll see that we have moved back and forth around the end of June. The reasons we're not moving anymore are 1) to set a firm date for everyone to know and get used to, and 2) because working with the complications of July 4th is more trouble than it's worth.
The complications of July 4th are fiscal and familial. If the 4th is during the convention, labor costs shoot up for us and our exhibitors. This expense has to be passed on to the attendees and no one wants that. If the 4th falls on move-in or move-out, that fiscal issue is compounded because that's when we use the most labor. The familial issues from an attendee's point of view are hard to track. Some people find it easier to attend Origins on a holiday weekend because they have the time off work and either their family games or they have no immediate family. Other people find it hard to attend because July 4th is a very family-oriented holiday in the US. Their families will not let them attend Origins on a family holiday weekend. We don't really know which group is bigger—if either--but we do know that no matter which we choose, the other group sends e-mails to us asking why we’re not on the weekend that they like--and both groups send about the same number of e-mails. From the exhibitor point of view, however, though they love their jobs and love seeing their fans, Origins is work for them. When we've had the con on the 4th we've had to make them tell their families that they have to work on the holiday. That's been an issue for those families and therefore an issue for our exhibitors.
So, in short, our spot for the show is late June and as it costs us more to have the show on the 4th and at least half of our attendees and most of our exhibitors don't want it on the 4th, we have it on the last full weekend of June. This means that we have to please most of the people, but not all. We’re very sorry if Origins is not on the dates that you want it to be on. We hope that you can figure out a way to attend nonetheless!
Q: Why do some events have the same start and end time?A: All Day events or events that run continuously throughout a full day have the same start and end time in our registration system. This is intentional.
The Origins registration system doesn't allow people to register for overlapping events. So someone who buys an All Day event and is eliminated in four hours would have difficulty buying events for the rest of the day. Having the same start and end times for All Day events prevents this problem.
