Where Are the Best Gaming Conventions in Texas? The Complete 2026 Guide

Where Are the Best Gaming Conventions in Texas? The Complete 2026 Guide

Photo by Stephen Hardy via Pexels

Texas runs a full calendar of gaming conventions — retro video game expos, old-school tabletop RPG gatherings, historical wargaming weekends, and general tabletop/board game cons. If you searched for a Texas gaming convention and landed on a page about comic books or anime instead, this is the guide you actually wanted.

The state’s biggest fan events — FAN EXPO Dallas, Comicpalooza, San Japan, Anime Matsuri — are multi-genre or anime-focused. Gaming conventions are a distinct lane: smaller, more focused, and built around actually playing rather than browsing a vendor floor. Here’s every major one, by month.

None of the six events below tries to be all things to all gamers, and that’s by design — each one grew out of a specific hobbyist community (retro arcade collectors, old-school RPG grognards, historical wargamers, board game marathoners) rather than a general convention company adding a “gaming track” to an existing event. That’s also why they’re spread across hotels and event centers in five different cities instead of clustering in one metro area the way the big anime and comic cons do.

Texas Gaming Conventions at a Glance

• Best for retro/arcade video games: Classic Game Fest — Austin, July 24–26, 2026
• Best for old-school tabletop RPGs: NTRPGCon — Irving, June 3–7, 2026
• Best for modern tabletop RPGs and board games: ChupacabraCon — San Marcos, May 29–31, 2026
• Best for historical miniatures wargaming: MillenniumCon — Temple, Nov 12–15, 2026
• Best for a general tabletop weekend: FallsCon — Wichita Falls, typically April
• Best for board game marathon gaming: BGG.Spring — DFW Airport, May 21–25, 2026
• Want comics/anime/pop culture instead? See our FAN EXPO Dallas vs. Comicpalooza guide or ArmadilloCon for sci-fi/fantasy literature

Classic Game Fest: Austin’s Retro Video Game Convention

Classic Game Fest is the biggest retro gaming event in Texas and one of the largest in the country — 15,000+ attendees, 200+ vendor booths, free-play arcade cabinets, tournaments, and celebrity guests. If your idea of a gaming convention is walls of cabinets and consoles going back decades rather than tabletop, this is the one.

• Dates: July 24–26, 2026 (Friday 1–7 PM, Saturday 10 AM–7 PM, Sunday 11 AM–5 PM)
• Venue: Palmer Events Center, Austin, TX
• Wristbands: Three-day, single-day, and VIP three-day options. Early-bird discounted pricing runs roughly $10–$25; door pricing runs higher, around $15–$30. Prices climb the closer you get to the event, so buy early. Kids under 10 get free admission with a paid adult.
• Tournaments: Competitive brackets have included Mortal Kombat 9, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Street Fighter III: Third Strike, Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Halo 2, and Super Smash Bros. Melee — a mix of retro and sixth-gen titles rather than current-year releases.
• Guests: Past lineups have included Charles Martinet (the voice of Mario), James Rolfe (Angry Video Game Nerd), composer Grant Kirkhope, and voice actors for other classic game characters.

The free-play arcade floor is the main draw for a lot of attendees — hundreds of original cabinets and pinball machines set to free play for the weekend, no quarters needed once you’re wristbanded in.

Pair a Classic Game Fest trip with our Texas arcades guide for a full Austin gaming weekend.

NTRPGCon: North Texas RPG Con for Old-School Tabletop Gamers

NTRPGCon is a multi-day gathering built specifically around pre-2000 tabletop RPGs — Original D&D, AD&D, and the systems that came out of that era. It’s a smaller, denser convention than a general con: mostly running games at tables rather than a vendor-hall spectacle, with a crowd that skews toward long-time hobbyists.

• Dates: June 3–7, 2026 (18th annual), Wednesday 6 PM through Sunday 5 PM
• Venue: The Westin DFW Airport Hotel, 4545 W. John Carpenter Fwy, Irving, TX 75063
• Registration: Full-convention badge runs $110. Daily rates are $55, except Sunday at $40. Kids 12 and under get free badges.
• How it works: You pay for your badge (single day or full weekend) before you can register for individual games — the con runs on a sign-up system where you browse a game list and claim seats at tables once you’re badged in.

Past years have brought in old-school gaming industry veterans and artists as special guests, and the con sells branded T-shirts and “squeaky cage” raffle tickets during registration. It’s a hotel con through and through — no separate exhibit hall, just a full Westin given over to tables running games around the clock.

ChupacabraCon: Central Texas Tabletop RPG and Board Game Convention

ChupacabraCon bills itself as the premier tabletop RPG and board game convention in central Texas. It’s modern-system-friendly (unlike NTRPGCon’s old-school focus) and covers both RPGs and board games, making it the closer match if you play current games like D&D 5E, Pathfinder, or newer board game releases.

• Dates: May 29–31, 2026
• Venue: Embassy Suites by Hilton San Marcos, 1001 E McCarty Ln, San Marcos, TX 78666
• Scale: A mid-size con — roughly 800 attendees in recent years, with a dedicated Dealer Hall added as the event has grown.
• Good to know: The convention hotel offers a discounted room block; book early since Embassy Suites San Marcos is a single property and rooms go fast once the block is posted.

Because ChupacabraCon runs current-edition games, it’s the better entry point than NTRPGCon if you’ve never played anything older than 5th Edition D&D — you’ll find scheduled games for whatever system you already know instead of having to learn a retro-clone ruleset first.

Photo by Nika Benedictova via Pexels

MillenniumCon: Texas’s Historical Miniatures Wargaming Convention

MillenniumCon, hosted by Lone Star Historical Miniatures, is Texas’s dedicated historical wargaming convention — miniature battles across historical eras rather than fantasy settings. Four days of participation games, tournaments, and painting showcases draw a serious wargaming crowd from across the state and beyond.

• Dates: November 12–15, 2026
• Venue: Mayborn Convention Center, Temple, TX
• Eras covered: Ancients, medieval, black powder, and both World Wars, with occasional sci-fi and fantasy games mixed in.
• Tournaments: Bolt Action is typically the biggest single tournament draw, alongside De Bellis Antiquitatis (DBA), Hordes of the Things (HoTT), and the Texas Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game (MESBG) Championship.

If you’ve only been to fantasy or sci-fi tabletop cons, MillenniumCon is a different animal — the games are historical simulations first, with painting competitions and participation games (open tables anyone can join) running alongside the tournament brackets all four days.

FallsCon: Wichita Falls’s Tabletop Gaming Weekend

FallsCon calls itself the biggest tabletop gaming weekend in Wichita Falls, covering TTRPGs, board games, trading card games, and miniatures gaming under one roof. It’s a smaller regional con worth knowing about if you’re in North Texas and don’t want to drive to DFW for a gaming fix.

• Typical dates: April (2026’s run was April 10–12: Friday 2–11 PM, Saturday 10 AM–11 PM, Sunday 10 AM–5 PM)
• Venue: Multi-Purpose Event Center (Mpec Ray Clymer Exhibit Hall), 1000 5th St., Wichita Falls, TX
• Admission: Single-day and full-weekend badges available; kids 12 and under attend free with a paid adult.
• Growth: FallsCon started in 2016, became a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2022, and has grown from roughly 400 attendees in 2023 to over 600 in 2024. It has also funded scholarships for students at nearby Midwestern State University.

FallsCon’s board game library and painting contests round out its RPG and card game tracks — it’s a genuinely community-run event rather than a for-profit convention, which shows in the nonprofit scholarship angle most bigger cons don’t bother with.

BGG.Spring: BoardGameGeek’s DFW Board Game Marathon

BGG.Spring is a BoardGameGeek-affiliated board gaming convention that runs five straight days at a single hotel — less a convention with programming tracks and more a marathon open-gaming event built around a massive shared game library. If NTRPGCon and ChupacabraCon are about RPGs, BGG.Spring is the pure board-and-card-game equivalent.

• Dates: May 21–25, 2026, 9 AM Thursday through 3 PM Monday
• Venue: Hyatt Regency DFW Airport, 2334 N. International Pkwy, Dallas, TX 75261
• Registration: $90 standard (13+), $75 military, $60 for “Gamers-in-Training” ages 4–12. Note that badges have sold out in past years, so register early once the window opens.
• Hotel: Convention room block runs around $152/night plus taxes at the host Hyatt.

Worth an honorable mention if you’re chasing gaming content specifically: AggieCon at Texas A&M in College Station is primarily a student-run anime and sci-fi/fantasy convention, but its programming includes a heavy dose of tabletop gaming and LARPing alongside panels and cosplay — worth a look if you’re already going for the fan-con side of it.

How to Pick the Right Texas Gaming Convention

With six events covering five different niches, the right pick usually comes down to what you actually want to do at the table, not just which city is closest:

• You want to play what you already own and know: ChupacabraCon or BGG.Spring — both run current-edition RPGs and modern board games rather than requiring you to learn a legacy ruleset.
• You’re curious about old-school D&D or retro-clone systems: NTRPGCon is built entirely around that era — bring an open mind about rules that predate 3rd Edition.
• You want to play video games, not tabletop: Classic Game Fest is the only one of the six that’s arcade/console-focused rather than tabletop.
• You’re into historical miniatures rather than fantasy wargaming: MillenniumCon is the only Texas con built specifically around that hobby.
• You want a smaller, cheaper, more casual weekend: FallsCon’s nonprofit, community-run model and lower attendance (600ish vs. Classic Game Fest’s 15,000+) make it the least overwhelming option, especially for a first convention.

Budget matters too. NTRPGCon’s full weekend badge ($110) and BGG.Spring’s standard badge ($90) both cost more than a single day at Classic Game Fest at door pricing, but both include access to games and a shared library for the entire run rather than just floor access — factor in what you’re actually getting for the price, not just the sticker number. If you’re traveling from out of state or from far outside the host city, also weigh drive time and hotel cost: DFW-area events (NTRPGCon, BGG.Spring) sit near a major airport, while MillenniumCon in Temple and FallsCon in Wichita Falls are a longer haul without direct flights.

First-Timer Tips for Texas Gaming Conventions

A few things that apply across all six events, gathered from how these conventions actually run rather than generic con advice:

• RPG and board game cons run on sign-up systems. At NTRPGCon and similar hotel cons, you typically can’t register for a specific game session until you’ve bought your badge — don’t expect to walk in and join a table on the spot for the popular slots.
• Bring your own dice and character sheets to RPG cons. Game masters running convention slots usually supply pre-generated characters, but having your own dice set speeds things up and is standard convention etiquette.
• Board game library cons (BGG.Spring, and the libraries at FallsCon and ChupacabraCon) usually require a library card deposit or badge scan to check out games — you’re borrowing from a shared collection, not a personal stash, so treat pieces accordingly.
• Wargaming and miniatures cons like MillenniumCon often expect you to bring your own painted army for tournament play, though participation games are usually open to newcomers without a painted collection.
• Book hotel rooms early. Every one of these conventions runs on a hotel or convention-center room block, and rooms at the host property (or the only nearby option, as with ChupacabraCon’s single-hotel Embassy Suites setup) sell out well before the event.

Planning Your Trip: Convention Logistics

Once you’ve picked a con, the logistics questions are the same regardless of which one you’re attending:

• Bringing a costume or a prop weapon? See our cosplay prop rules guide — policies vary by venue and most gaming cons follow similar rules to the bigger fan cons.
• Need accessibility info? See our Texas convention accessibility guide for wheelchair, sensory, and mobility considerations.
• Want to attend for free? See our guide to volunteering at Texas conventions for badge-for-hours programs.
• Selling your own game or art? See our Artist Alley application guide.

FAQ

What is the biggest gaming convention in Texas?

Classic Game Fest in Austin is the biggest by attendance, drawing 15,000+ people to Palmer Events Center every July for retro and arcade video gaming. For tabletop specifically, NTRPGCon and ChupacabraCon are the two largest dedicated RPG conventions in the state.

Is there a tabletop RPG convention in Texas?

Yes, several. NTRPGCon (Irving, June) focuses on old-school pre-2000 RPGs. ChupacabraCon (San Marcos, May) covers modern RPGs and board games. FallsCon (Wichita Falls, typically April) covers TTRPGs alongside board and card games.

Are gaming conventions different from comic conventions in Texas?

Yes. FAN EXPO Dallas, Comicpalooza, San Japan, and Anime Matsuri are multi-genre or anime-focused fan conventions with vendor halls, guest panels, and cosplay as the centerpiece. Gaming conventions like NTRPGCon, ChupacabraCon, and MillenniumCon are built around actually playing games at tables, with a smaller, more hobbyist-focused crowd.

When is the best time of year for Texas gaming conventions?

They’re spread across the calendar: FallsCon in April, BGG.Spring and ChupacabraCon in May, NTRPGCon in June, Classic Game Fest in July, and MillenniumCon in November. There’s a Texas gaming con roughly every month or two for most of the year.

Is there a board game convention in Texas?

Yes — BGG.Spring runs five days at the Hyatt Regency DFW Airport every May, built around open board and card game play rather than scheduled RPG sessions. FallsCon and ChupacabraCon also include significant board game programming alongside their RPG tracks.

Do I need experience to attend an old-school RPG convention like NTRPGCon?

No — game masters running convention slots typically supply pre-generated characters and walk new players through the rules at the table. What matters more is going in with realistic expectations: NTRPGCon runs pre-2000 systems and retro-clones, so the rules will feel different from modern D&D even if you’ve played RPGs for years.

How much do Texas gaming conventions cost?

It varies by format. Full-weekend badges run from about $90 (BGG.Spring) to $110 (NTRPGCon), while Classic Game Fest’s wristbands run roughly $10–$30 depending on how early you buy and whether it’s a single day or the full three days. Kids get free or discounted admission at every one of the six events, though the age cutoff varies — 10 and under at Classic Game Fest, 12 and under at NTRPGCon and FallsCon.

Final Table Roll

Texas doesn’t have one single “gaming con” the way it has one Comicpalooza — instead it has a spread of focused events, each built around a specific niche. Classic Game Fest owns retro video gaming. NTRPGCon and ChupacabraCon split old-school and modern tabletop RPGs. MillenniumCon owns historical wargaming. FallsCon covers North Texas with a general tabletop weekend, and BGG.Spring is the marathon board-game option at DFW Airport. Pick the one that matches what you actually want to play, check the official site for current-year pricing and dates before you book travel, and bring the accessibility or cosplay prop info you need from our companion guides.

Image credit: Dice/RPG image by Stephen Hardy via Pexels. Miniatures image by Nika Benedictova via Pexels. Sourced as category-relevant stock images. Verify current dates, pricing, and venue details at each convention’s official site before you go.