The final day of this year’s GameStorm had come. Sunday is also the shortest day of the convention due it being the last day. So if you just get single day pass for it, keep in mind that it all closes at 6pm. But single day passes are cheaper too on Sunday. It was $25 for an adult, $5-$10 cheaper than on the other days.
I by far did the least on this day. In fact, I played just 3 games. I was unable to write stuff down due to me losing my pen, so I don’t remember what 2 of the games were that I played. But the first one involved jumping around to different markets to buy things. You earn resource tokens based on what each market offers. You use your tokens to buy reward cards on the board that allow you to score points.
Volunteering at GameStorm
After my next to last gaming session, I headed downstairs to spend my tokens I earned volunteering at GameStorm. This whole convention is made of all volunteers. There are many positions available. Anyone can take part. If that’s something you are interested in, you can find what to do on the GameStorm website: https://sites.google.com/osfci.org/gamestorm/home
Be sure to click on Volunteers. There’s some information already on there about the whole convention for next year. Every hour you volunteer, whether that’s running an organized gaming session or being at the info booth, you get a token with a value on it. This year I ran 3 games, so I got 3 tokens with a total value of 4.
So I checked out the store. Everything in the volunteer is all donated. Many of the games being sold in their have been around awhile. You won’t find any new $40 more board games. Other items range from pencils to notebooks. But it’s all free with your earned volunteer tokens. I got a few little post-its because I knew they would be useful.
I went back upstairs into the Grand Ballroom one more time and I hosted a session of Street Fighter Miniatures. This is game is not much different than the video game. It’s not cheap. I have the expanded villain version along with extra fighters. It took some convincing from a roommate I used to live with it, but I went for it. It’s one of my favorites from my board games collection. You won’t find the extra add-ons in stores anymore. But I’d say get the basic edition wherever you can find it.
There’s order of what to do during each turn such drawing cards, movement and action. Player’s choose who to attack and then place the type of attack card they want to play. There’s 3 different attack cards depending on how far away from your opponent they can be played. There are also Event cards that can really change game. They can affect a particular attack being done on them for example. The player being attacked can roll Defense dice to avoid damage, try to counter by predicting what type of card the initial player will play, or play an appropriate Event card. There if the player successfully counters, the attacking player’s card cannot be done. If the player chooses to roll defense dice, combat is much like it is done in Risk. There are different ways to play: Tag teams, simultaneous teams, 3-6 player free-for-all, and also classic arcade mode with different rules.
*Things To Know*
More on the Convention
That did it for GameStorm 2026 for me. Now I’ll go over more of what to know when you wonder around the convention.
If you’ve never been to even the hotel before, you won’t get lost. There are signs posted everywhere. When you pre-register online for an organized game session or just wondering where the rooms are with everything going on, the maps posted around the place will point out everything. There’s also a map I believe on the GameStorm website as well.
If you are still unsure or have questions of anything around there, right when you come into the main entrance is the Info Desk. They will be more than glad to answer any questions you have and help you out in any way.
As shown on the left, is a table with everything going on for the day. You’ll find them next to every area that has events going on. It has the name of the event/game, the time, the location, and who all pre-registered. If you didn’t have time to pre-register for anything before you came, or want to add more to your schedule, look through it all. Even if a game/event is fully booked, you can add your badge number in the blanks provided and be on the waiting list. No guarantee you will get in, but if someone doesn’t show up, the moderator or the game master will let you in.
When you come into the Grand Ballroom, on the very left are stacks of games and shelves. That is GameStorm Library. You can check out games there as often as you want the whole time you are at the convention. Pick the game you want and take to the volunteer behind the computer. The attendant will ask for your badge number, then you can be off.
What is good about these conventions, is you will not be short of people to play something with. Everyone in attendance is there to play a game. Take all your games that just collect dust and take them there. Find a red table cloth and set up a cone next to your game you are wanting to play. More times than not, you won’t have to wait long before at least 1 person is interested. Remember to take your cone down if you get to where you have enough people. There are also green cones. Those mean that you want someone that knows the game you are wanting to play, to teach it. The cones are found next to the computer in the GameStorm Library.
One more thing to note are the printed schedules themselves. You’ll find them on every table that doesn’t have a red cloth. Everything happening at the table the whole weekend will be on the schedule list. Whether you pre-registered for a game or running one, look at these to make sure you are at the right table.
The Hotel
Now I’ll end with the hotel itself. One thing I like about the Holiday Inn, is the views of the Columbia River. I find it neat to just look out when taking a break, or while waiting for your turn on a game. Every room that has something going on in it, has a window with a view.
There are plenty of areas to just hang out and charge your phone. Two real good areas are shown above. On each side of the hotel where the main level hallways start are a couch. The circular coffee table has outlets on it. I almost always see someone hanging out one of these couches when I walk by. In the image on the right, you’ll find a small counter with barstools just a little bit down the hallway outside of the ballroom. There are more outlets there. It has been a comfortable place to stay. Every year the GameStorm website offers discounts to stay there. Be sure to click on the link on the website to get the discount. It will take right to the Holiday Inn website with the final price after you select a room. Unless the price goes up next year, it will cost you $562 altogether.
Thanks for checking this out. I hope you found this interesting and consider attending it. I promise soon we’ll get to some video games. Redfall has been difficult to play, but am looking forward to telling my thoughts on that one. Also, I just recently started trying out the new Starfield features. Being able to drive past the planets has been a big change. See you at my next article.
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