🗺️🚩Familiarize yourself with the con layout and plot your most efficient course to maximum geekery by checking out the official floor maps here.
GeekGirlCon Programming Schedule:
There are so many fun and geeky things to do at GeekGirlCon! From bugs to fanfiction and from comics to crafts, you’ll definitely discover something for your brand of geekdom. Here’s just the teeniest of samplers just to get you excited before you rush over to check out the complete programming schedule!
Panels:
So How Often So You Think About the Galactic Empire?
Women’s Brick Initiative: Inspiring Women and Girls to Create With LEGO® Bricks
Pop-up Murder Mystery – The Curious Carnival
PLUS:
Get your game on at GeekGirlCon!
Video Gaming: 9:00 AM – 8:00 PM Location: Okoye
Play amazing video games and meet developers from near and far! Video games include: Astrolander, Potions: A Curious Tale, Surradia, Unstable Scientific, Clockwork Ambrosia, So, This Vampire Walks into a Bar, Fisti-Fluffs, Puzzle, Depot, Heart of the Dungeon, Fall For You, Desert Angels, Feltopia, Vago, and more!
Console/VR Free Play also returns to GeekGirlCon with this year’s best co-op titles alongside the single player hits. Come bring a friend or make some new ones!
Tabletop Gaming:
9:00 AM – 8:00 PM
Location: Storm
Play amazing tabletop games and meet developers from near and far! Tabletop games include: Dungeons and Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, Epilogue, Blood on the Clocktower, Hummingbird Sugar Rush / Fiebre de Azúcar en Colibríes, Flesh and Blood TCG, Executive Producer, For All Mankind, and more!
You can also join developers, creators, and influencers as they play the games they love, chat about the games they’ve made, and have some fun on our Let’s Play Stage in Okoye! We have Tabletop and Video Games content on both Saturday and Sunday. Check the schedule for a list of events!
You can learn more about the diverse and exciting range of both tabletop and video game content coming to GeekGirlCon 2024 HERE.
Learn something new at GeekGirlCon!
DIY Science Zone: Saturday, November 9: 9:00am – 5:00pm
Sunday, November 10: 9:00am – 3:00pm
Location: Across from registration
Visit the DIY Science Zone, where our highly-trained team of scientists and science educators will guide you through a selection of fun experiments and answer all your questions about their scientific specialty. Don’t forget to make your own slime to take home and see if you’re brave enough to hold Beyonce the tarantula in your hands!
Treat yourself to some shopping at GeekGirlCon!
Vendor Hall: We’re so excited for you to see all of the goods and goodies that our exhibitors will be bringing to this year’s convention and get your shop on! It’s a great place to get all your holiday shopping done, AND treat yourself to a variety of geek merchandise.
Every exhibitor at GeekGirlCon is hand-selected—from artists to artisans, shop a variety of hand-crafted wares and inspiring creations. From t-shirts and fashionable accessories, to art prints and stickers, there’s bound to be a little something for every geek! You can browse this year’s list of vendors HERE.
This is also where you can find the Official GeekGirlCon Merchandise Booth – new and improved location in booth 709 – for all your geek shopping in one awesome location!
2024 Featured Contributors:
We’re so excited to be featuring some absolutely amazing Featured Contributors at GeekGirlCon 2024. They’ll be talking graphic novels, audiobooks, inclusive board gaming, whether or not you should go to art school, and more!
Check here for the full details of where you can find GeekGirlCon 2024’s amazing lineup of Featured Contributors.
Meetups: Connect with your fellow geeks and bond over your favorite franchises—we’ll be hosting a variety of meetups for every fan throughout the weekend.
GeekGirlCon on Twitch: If you can’t make it to GeekGirlCon this year, of course we are super bummed about that. However, the GeekGirlCon twitch team will once again be streaming awesome mainstage content, feature, interviews, and behind -the-scenes tidbits for your FREE viewing pleasure on the GGC twitch channel.
Give us a follow on twitch.tv/geekgirlcon to experience the awesomeness of GeekGirlCon all year long where we create & host content for all geeks —from science & art to comics & gaming!
Please remember to bring your mask, as GeekGirlCon will once again be a fully-masked event to help us gather in-person safely. You can check our full Covid-19 Policies below:
A few other reminders:
You must wear your valid GeekGirlCon badge at all times to be admitted to the con or events during con weekend.
Please keep in mind that GeekGirlCon is an all-ages event. We strive to maintain a friendly and welcoming atmosphere for children and adults.
If you are taking photographs of attendees, please respect those that do not wish to be photographed or recorded by asking permission to take pictures and avoiding anyone with a “do not photograph” sticker.
Remember to take care of yourself, stay hydrated, and take breaks in the Geek Retreat room when you need them.
Have fun, be safe, be respectful, and we’ll see you at the con!
This year, GeekGirlCon is rolling out the geek carpet for an incredible lineup of featured contributors who are set to inspire, entertain, and ignite your passion for all things geeky! Wondering who these amazing geeks are and where you can learn more about them? You’ve come to the right place! Get excited about the 2024 GeekGirlCon Featured Contributors and the panels and special events where you can find them on November 9 & 10!
🌟Banana Chan, Game Designer and Publisher:
Banana Chan is a Cantonese Canadian game designer, writer and publisher living in Seattle. Her most notable work has been on Forgery, Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall, The Revenant Society, Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, Chucky: the board game and Betrayal at House on the Hill: 3rd Edition. They won Dicebreaker Awards’ Game Designer of the Year 2022 and 2 Silver ENnie Awards in 2022.
🌟Eunnie, Author-Illustrator:
Eunnie is an author-illustrator based in Washington. She loves exploring relationships through her art and writing, and finds much joy in the portrayal of queer intimacy. When she’s not cooking up new stories, Eunnie spends her time watching video essays and collecting hoodies in every color. Her debut graphic novel, If You’ll Have Me, was created in the spirit of shoujo romance, and is her love letter to women and sapphics everywhere.
🌟Maia Kobabe, Cartoonist:
Maia Kobabe is a nonbinary queer cartoonist, a kpop fan, a voracious reader, and a daydreamer. You can learn an astonishing number of intimate details about em in GENDER QUEER: A MEMOIR (America’s most challenged book in 2021-2023) and in eir short comics and writing published in The Nib, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, NPR, and Time Magazine. Maia’s second book is BREATHE: JOURNEYS TO HEALTHY BINDING (2024) with Dr Sarah Peitzmeier and e is currently working on SAACHI’S STORIES (2026) with Lucky Srikumar.
🌟Natalie Naudus, Audiobook Narrator:
“A fave among audiobook listeners” (Buzzfeed), Natalie Naudus is one of the most beloved audiobook narrators working today. She has won an Audie award and nine Earphones awards, and maintains a robust social media following. She lives with her family on a mountain in Virginia. Gay the Pray Away is her debut novel.
🌟Mad Rupert, Cartoonist:
Mad Rupert is less than 5 feet tall and lives in Somerville, Massachusetts. She got her start in online comics over ten years ago, and authors two ongoing webcomics: Sakana, a slice-of-life workplace comedy, and Robber-Robert, a sci-fi romance for mature readers. She has also worked extensively on comic adaptations of Cartoon Network properties like Adventure Time, Regular Show, and Steven Universe, and is the artist for Bunt!, an upcoming ogn written by Ngozi Ukazu, published in Feb 2024 through First Second. ‘Mad’ is short for Madeline, she’s not actually angry.
🌟Ngozi Ukazu, Graphic Novelist:
Ngozi Ukazu is a DC Comics artist, New York Times-bestselling graphic novelist, and creator of comics like Check, Please!, BUNT!, and the upcoming graphic novel FLIP. She graduated from Yale University with a degree in Computing in the Arts and has been featured in The New Yorker.
So, where can you find these amazing humans at GeekGirlCon 2024?
SATURDAY, November 9:
Should I go to Art School and Other Questions Time: 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM
Location: Garnet
Speakers: Mad Rupert, Ngozi Ukazu, Eunnie
Want to pursue a career in animation or illustration, but not sure if going to art school is worth it? You’re not alone! Join Eunnie (If You’ll Have Me), Mad Rupert (Bunt!, Sakana), and Ngozi Ukazu(Bunt!, Check, Please!) to discuss the pros, cons, and everything in-between of the great art school conundrum.
Autobio Comics: A Conversation with Maia Kobabe and Ashley R Guillory Time: 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Location: Garnet
Speakers: Maia Kobabe, Ashley R Guillory
Description: Long time friends and autobio comic authors Maia and Ashley talk about turning memories into stories, why one moment might spark a comic and not another, working in short form and pitching full length memoir books, ethical questions about protecting the identities of family and friends and the veracity of memory.
It can be tough to break into art industries and publishing is no different. Join Maia Kobabe (Gender Queer), Natalie Naudus (Gay the Pray Away), Mad Rupert (Bunt!, Sakana), and Ngozi Ukazu (Bunt!, Check, Please!) as they discuss all the hurdles, pitfalls, and forks in the road to publishing.
Moving Past Medieval Europe in TTRPGs Time: 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM
Location: Furiosa
Speakers: Banana Chan, Hadeel Jeanne
The world of fantasy games can extend beyond Euro-centric castles and Anglo accents to encompass the entire world of myth and legend. Join award-winning tabletop game designer Banana Chan and GeekGirlCon Board President Hadeel Jeanne for an intimate chat about expanding game worlds across the whole globe.
SUNDAY, November 10:
The Great Board Game Design Show Time: 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Location: America
Speakers: Lysa Penrose, Fertessa Allyse, Banana Chan, Shannon Lyon, Danny Quach
Watch tabletop game inventors scramble to design a board game in one hour! In this interactive panel, seasoned board game designers must combine a mystery box of components and quickfire audience prompts into one delightful, ridiculous, chaotic game concept. Shout out suggestions to design along and learn about the game design process in the most rambunctious way possible.
Finding Your Voice in Fandom: The Magic of Transformative Work Time: 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Location: Garnet
Speakers: Maia Kobabe, Mad Rupert, Ngozi Ukazu, Eunnie
It’s no secret that fandom and fan works can sometimes get a bad rap from those who aren’t a part of it, but we know that’s not the whole story. Explore all the joy and benefits of fan works with Eunnie (If You’ll Have Me), Maia Kobabe (Gender Queer), Mad Rupert (Bunt!, Sakana), and Ngozi Ukazu (Bunt!, Check, Please!).
Let’s Play Forgery with Banana Chan! Time: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Location: Twitch.tv/GeekGirlCon
Speakers: Banana Chan and the GGC Twitch Team!
Forgery is a story of a down-on-her-luck art forger named Tempest, who receives a new commission to recreate a painting that they discover is cursed over time. It is a solo tabletop roleplaying game where the player (you) will be coloring in a paint-by-numbers image. The colors that you choose determine the outcome to the story. Watch-along as Banana Chan demonstrates this awesome game she created and we play along!
From Script to Page: The Graphic Novel Process Time: 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Location: Rey
Speakers: Tori Sharp (moderator), Mad Rupert, Ngozi Ukazu, Eunnie
Graphic novels are one of the fastest-growing genres in publishing today and with good reason! Graphic novels offer a chance to connect with readers who struggle with traditional novels and provide beautiful art to accompany the story. Join Eunnie (If You’ll Have Me), Mad Rupert (Bunt!, Sakana), and Ngozi Ukazu (Bunt!, Check, Please!) as they speak on the unique process of building a graphic novel from beginning to end.
Reading with your Ears: The Euphonious World of Audiobook Narration Time: 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM
Location: Rey
Speakers: Natalie Naudus
Whether you read with your eyes or your ears, reading is reading! Audiobooks are an engaging, accessible, and fun way to read, but where would we be without the dulcet tones of our favorite narrators? Join featured contributor Natalie Naudus as she discusses this exciting medium!
+ Meet your 2024 Featured Contributors one-on-one!
GeekGirlCon 2024 will be November 9 & 10 at the Seattle Convention Center.
Saturday, November 9, 2024: 9:00am – 8:00pm Sunday, November 10, 2024: 9:00am – 6:00pm Vendor Floor Hours: 10:00am – 6:00pm Saturday and Sunday Friday Registration: 4:00pm – 7:00 pm
If you don’t have passes yet, it’s not too late! You can get yours HERE!
We hope you are as excited as we are to geek out with the awesome featured contributors of GeekGirlCon 2024 – See you there, geeks!
GeekGirlCONLINE ‘21 WILL BE HERE IN LESS THAN A MONTH! If you haven’t already, mark your calendars for November 13 and 14!
All of our programming this year is free to stream on Twitch. Click through here for FAQs about this year’s event.
In case you haven’t seen already, we’ve recently announced our full programming schedule. We’ve got a packed schedule—from the DNA of strawberries to BIPOC artists in animation, there’s truly something for everyone this year. Read on for full details about each event.
I didn’t know I could be so excited for New Pokémon Snap to come out until Becca posted about replaying the original Pokémon Snap from 22 years ago. Her post immediately transported me to my childhood TV room, trying to capture all 63 featured Pokémon on film. Would the New Pokémon Snap scratch the nostalgia itch and be worth the full price? Would I still get excited about taking pictures of Pokémon I didn’t know? I found out soon after I started playing—the answer is YES!
Here are three little ways New Pokémon Snap captured my heart, and one way it did not:
Trainers! Today is the day! After a 22-year wait (yes, you read that right) we are finally getting a new Pokémon Snap. As I have waited not-so-patiently for this long-desired sequel, this week I thought I would fire up my Nintendo 64 and play through the original Pokémon Snap for a trip downmemory lane. I was not disappointed.
Originally released in 1999, Pokémon Snap was a delight to fans of the franchise. Up until this point, the Pokémon games had only been available for the Gameboy. Pre-dating the wildly successful Pokémon Stadium, this was the first time that many Pokémon had been rendered in 3D (and it kinda shows. I mean, look at that low-poly Eevee). This could be a big reason why only 63 of the original 151 Pokémon were available in the game.
After a little (okay, a LOT) of dusting and some fiddling with cables, I was able to hook up my N64 and boot up the game. Oh my, it was like a literal time machine! The instant wave of nostalgia that flowed over me as I heard the familiar theme music was intense. All of a sudden, I was a 12-year-old girl again, giggling with my siblings about the silly pictures we would take and begging my parents to take me to Blockbuster so I could have those images printed out as stickers so I could share them with my friends.
Professor Oak greeted me like an old friend and explained the rules of the game. But I was in for a little bit of shock on that first run though the beach level of the game. I was having a hell of a time aiming my camera and it took me a minute to figure out why—I have been so used to modern gyroscopic controls for aiming that I have totally forgotten how to aim with a joystick! Yep, I was trying to aim the camera by moving my whole transparent purple N64 controller. Needless to say, I didn’t get many good pictures on that round.
Even once I came to my 1999 era senses, this game was still challenging. In every level there is so much going on! In this rail shooter style game, once the level starts you are on a set path and pace, with a limited time to capture any given scene. Trying to get just the right pose at just the right angle as you are continuously moving through the environment is hard, but so satisfying when you get it right.
Though there is a limited number of Pokémon available in this game, one thing that still impresses me about it is the replay value. You will play through the first few levels, then Professor Oak will give you the apples. Apples can lure out Pokémon and make them exhibit different behaviors, and you play through the levels over and over again to find how they react to the treat. Then later you get the pester ball which can bother a Pokémon out of hiding or encourage it to spontaneously evolve, and the Pokéflute which will wake up sleeping ‘mon and make some others dance.
On top of that, there is so much happening in the environment around you that you would be hard pressed to get everything in a single run through a level. Pokémon are appearing on all sides of you, sometimes only offering a good shot for just a moment before disappearing off screen. I found that it was easier to do several runs of a single level and only focus on getting shots of a few Pokémon each time so that I would have a maximum chance of catching Pokémon in a rare pose and get the highest score possible.
Even now, I’m still finding new things in this very old game. For some reason, it never occurred to me to look behind me while on the track. I decided to do so while playing through the cavern level. Nearing the end of the course, you can free a Pikachu from a Zubat with a well timed pester ball, which will result in Pikachu flying past you tied to a bunch of balloons. It took a few tries, but I managed to get it, and I thought this was the extent of the interaction. I proceeded to play through the level, playing the Pokéflute to make the Articuno egg hatch. Now, Articuno is my favorite legendary bird, and I was hoping to get one last chance at a good shot of it, so I turned around behind me to see if it would come up again. I was almost too shocked to take a picture when I saw the Pikachu riding Articuno!
It is interactions like this that made the original Pokémon Snap so popular. There was always something new, a hidden Pokémon, a new pose. As the Pokémon franchise has grown over the years, fans have continuously asked for a new Pokémon Snap so they could have that same fun again with all new Pokémon. Well trainers, that day is finally here!
As I fidget through the rest of my workday until I can rush home to open my mailbox and start a whole new Pokémon Snap journey, I’m curious. What will this new game be? Will all 932 Pokémon be available? What new features can we look forward to? I suppose I will just have to find out.
We’ve made it to our penultimate weekend of GeekGirlCONLINE, but we’re not slowing down yet. Our fourth weekend of GeekGirlCONLINE is all about GAMING, so tune in on the GeekGirlCONLINE Twitch channel for a ton of amazing panels, workshops, and livestreams sponsored by our awesome gamemaker friends at Valve!
This piece was written by Emily Mozzone, one of GeekGirlCon’s Marketing Designers. If you’d like to pitch a guest post, contact us at blog@geekgirlcon.com!
There’s no doubt that Animal Crossing has come far as a Nintendo IP. For those of us who have played since the beginning, Animal Crossing has metamorphosed from an odd, obscure game that none of your friends played into the worldwide phenomenon it is today. The data backs this up: Animal Crossing for the GameCube sold a little over 2 million copies worldwide, while Animal Crossing: New Horizons “sold some 1.88 million copies in its first 3 days on sale in Japan” only, and that’s not even including digital copies.
A lot has changed in the Animal Crossing universe since its launch 19 years ago, and overall I think these changes are for the better. The game is generally more accessible and friendly to players: I’m thankful that I live in a world where I can just fly to my friends’ islands over the internet rather than try to find another kid who owns Animal Crossing on the GameCube and then trust them enough to physically swap our memory cards. I’m glad that kids don’t have to get constantly berated and teased by their villagers (let’s be real, GameCube NPCs were savages).
But as the series has progressed and strived to be even more fun and enjoyable, I think a little bit of the magic and freedom has been lost. f
Historically, Animal Crossing has been about taking your time. We live in a world that constantly asks you to rush, be productive, make money. In video games, we fight, we level up, and we try to win. Animal Crossing throws all this out the window. There is no way to win: Animal Crossing simply asks you to value “family, friendship, and community.”
So what’s changed in the Animal Crossing world? Why do I feel like the game has strayed from these original values?
by GeekGirlCon Tumblr Adminstrator Member Emily Hendrickson
I’m more neutral about Animal Crossing’s Bunny Day event than a lot of other people. And from a game perspective, I understand why Nintendo made the eggs so ubiquitous. This is a children’s game, and if you were a kid who actually wanted to find recipes for and make all the egg items, you’d want the materials readily available. Plus, learning some of the recipes is contingent on how many eggs you’ve found; so, it makes sense to make quickly finding a lot of eggs easier.
All that said, the event has some major issues, which have been meme’d nonstop pretty much since the event began. And since the Bunny Day event is overlapping with the Cherry Blossom event, I feel it’s apt to compare the two and to answer why one (Cherry Blossom) is so much more popular than the other (Bunny Day).
For those of you who love to play all kinds of games when attending a Con, I have some great news for you! This year the game floor at GeekGirlCon will be expanding! We will be featuring both video games and tabletop games on the third floor of the convention center.
Distinguished blog readers, children of all ages — ENGAGE is proud to present The Gauntlet 2019! Gather round Mox Boarding House Bellevue on May 19th to marvel as Team GeekGirlCon dazzles the audience with their extraordinary gaming skills!
The Gauntlet is an invitation-only 8+ hour tournament, consisting of tabletop games from a variety of genres, plus trivia. This year, 16 teams will compete for the shiny Gauntlet trophy.
Our team is excited to play games and raise funds to benefit El Centro de la Raza (The Center for People of All Races), which serves as a voice for the Latinx and immigrant communities in Seattle and King County. Since 1972, El Centro de la Raza has built unity across racial and economic sectors, empowered the most vulnerable and marginalized populations and strives to provide justice to all peoples. From education and youth-focused programs to community building and development, they offer services to aid the Seattle community and beyond throughout all stages of life.
If you can’t make it to the event itself, consider making a donation to our team! Your donations will benefit El Centro de la Raza in their efforts to bring after school programming for low-income middle school children. Giving through our donation page will also unlock power-ups to aid our team in the Gauntlet. We’d love to win that shiny Gauntlet trophy!