The Origins Awards finalists are out, and the GAMA-run Origins Game Fair just threw open its event registration. The 2026 show runs 17-21 June at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Ohio, with the awards ceremony landing on Friday 19 June and a 120-product finalist slate spread across roughly 14 categories.
Got a regular group? Create a private community, poll for the best date, vote on games, and let your friends RSVP in one place.
Set up your group for freeThe RPG of the Year category alone reads like a best-of-last-18-months list. Critical Role's Daggerheart Core Set, the narrative-driven fantasy RPG built around dual Hope and Fear d12s, faces off against Brotherwise's Cosmere RPG Stormlight Starter Set, the Brandon Sanderson universe debut. Free League's Coriolis: The Great Dark, a sci-fi horror sandbox in a dying solar system, is in the mix alongside Paizo's Starfinder Second Edition and Cubicle 7's Warhammer: The Old World Player's Guide. Indie picks like Gene Koo's journaling RPG The Bonsai Diary round out the slate.
In the Party Game category, CMYK's mascot-betting party game Hot Streak, already a 2026 American Tabletop Awards Casual Games winner, is up for honours alongside the rest of GAMA's slate. Origins is also where several publishers traditionally reveal their Spiel Essen plans, so it's worth keeping an eye on the news feed.
Run game nights? Backseat Gamer handles RSVPs, waitlists, date polling, and game voting so you can focus on playing.
Start organising for freeLast year drew 19,171 attendees, an 8% jump on 2024, with 410 exhibitors and 8,810 scheduled events. That makes Origins one of America's largest tabletop conventions and fifth on the global scene behind Spiel Essen, Gen Con, the UK Games Expo and PAX Unplugged. Tabletop.events is using a virtual waiting room for event sign-ups from 25 April onwards, so expect queues to bite if you're chasing a specific RPG seat.
For UK gamers without flights to Ohio booked, the awards livestream is the main draw plus the annual flood of new game announcements that filter through to UK retail later in the autumn. Heading to Columbus? Find a UK gaming community on Backseat Gamer to share rooms or coordinate game nights at the show.
Sources: Origins Game Fair Events | BoardGameWire: Origins Awards Finalists | ICv2: 2025 Attendance
