Heartland Gaming convention coming to Cape this summer

Cape Girardeau is host to several annual "cons" — a comic con, anime con and now a gaming con.

Heartland Gaming Con is being started by a veteran vendor of Cape Girardeau Comic and Anime Con, Chris Elfrink and his business partner.

Elfrink said it is a dream to not just bring a gaming convention but to build a stronger gaming community in Southeast Missouri. Making this reality will bring with it all of the benefits a larger community can provide to the individual communities.

As an educator, Elfrink said he has seen the benefits of such a community for youth and adolescents, and gaming often appeals to the youth who may already be involved in other similar groups or communities.

The first Heartland Gaming Convention will be held Saturday, June 1, and Sunday, June 2, at the Arena Building. This will be a convention for gamers of all types and ages: board games players, video gamers, trading card game players, miniature gamers, role-playing gamers and more.

Elfrink said the convention will be event-heavy with several play-to-win games, role-playing game events — such as Dungeons and Dragons — a board game tournament and more.

"A lot of conventions you go to, like comic conventions, there’s a lot of events, but we’re going event heavy. There’s gonna be a few paid events, but there’s also gonna be, if people want to buy a pass to the convention, they can come in and sign up for the events free of charge and meet new people to have experiences with them, whether it is a role-playing game, such as Pathfinder, or playing in a tournament against these people and be able to have a little bit of friendly competition."

There are more than 20 vendors registered to participate. Vendors will include items such as paintings, dice, board games and more.

Sale for a single-day and weekend badges have started. Badge pre-sale will end Monday, May 13. The price varies from $5 to $10.

For more information, go to www.heartlandgamingcon.com.