Magfest is an acronym for Music and Gaming Festival (Originally it was Mid-Atlantic Gaming Festival) and it took place at the Gaylord National Resort in National Harbor, Maryland January 5, 6, 7, and 8. Most conventions only run for three days, while Magfest runs for four, leaving its day 0 on Wednesday. It originated in September, 2002 and 2018’s attendance boasted over 21,000 people. 2020 held over 24,000. Due to the pandemic, it was canceled in 2020. Since reinstatement, numbers have slowly increased each year back from 10,581 to 18,987 this year.
This location is becoming a hotspot for anime and gaming conventions because of the variety of photography backgrounds. Katsucon takes place here a month later.The first day was warm enough that many people were outside wearing t-shirts by the water. The rest of the convention was cold and windy. The front of the resort is greeted by restaurants and retail shops, while the back has a locked indoor pool, side building for board games at Magfest, and walkways to a sidewalk that runs parallel to a closed beach next to the Potomac River. The background offers a Ferris wheel, bridge, and wharf.
Inside the Gaylord, the lobby is on floor one and around the corner is a hall of mirrors. The floor below has an environment that looks like a village with plants, trees, miniature bridges, a fountain, and more. Conventions such as Magfest and Katsucon host official themed photo shoots in front of the fountain for series such as Nier, Nintendo, Pokemon, Genshin Impact, Mortal Kombat, Chainsaw Man, and more. Above the lobby is the infamous gazebo which has its own Instagram page. At times there were lines to have ones photo taken in front of the gazebo. This area was also the spot of public non-affiliated parties such as Bunfest - where cosplayers put bunny ears on and handed out carrots.
This is important to understand, as some people are interested in the aesthetics of conventions, and these draw in many people. One of the Gaylord’s other locations, in Texas, hosted Weebcon in March and the backgrounds drew a lot of attention on social media.
Many of the hallways hosted pod areas with musical instruments sitting. Attendees were invited to perform in the hall for twenty minute time periods. There was a range of techno, rock, and more. At one wing of the convention, there was a Virtual Reality section which also had bean bags for naps.
Another wing on the top floor had a room dedicated to Starfleet, a LAN game that allowed people to work together and explore different worlds. Next to this was a Magic the Gathering room, Pathfinder, and Dungeons & Dragons. I interviewed Dave Hernly of Starship Horizons and Nicholas Ruchliewicz, Northern Virginia and D.C. Venture Captain for Pathfinder. Dave’s interview is at the bottom of the article.
The bottom floor had two full rooms for arcade games, a LAN room, and a console room. They were open 24 hours and free to play. There were constant Smash Brothers tournaments. Elsewhere, there was a vintage arcade room with the two-screened X-Men game. Around the corner from this was the Video Game Museum, which had not only consoles, but computers and a Hot Wheels gaming system. I was able to interview their manager, Tyler and ask about the evolution of gaming.
For the majority of the convention, bands performed in the main concert hall. Among them were 8-Bit Big Band, who cover older game soundtracks, and Knight of the Round, a heavy metal band that plays music from the Final Fantasy series while running clips from the game in the background. Cybertronic Band performed at Magfest for the first time and came out dressed like Transformers and Decepticons. They added in humor, Danny Devito jokes, and covered the Pokemon Theme, Heart’s Barracuda, and more.
There were random shrines to those living and passed throughout the convention, the largest of being Danny Devito. Brendon Fraser, Betty White, and others also had cardboard cutouts with random items laid out before them.
There is also MAGLabs which is hosted at Magfest’s original location in Roanoke, Virginia, MAGWest, which is in California, and MAGStock in Darlington, Maryland.
