African Boardgames Convention- AB Con 2025

Hello Friends and Lovers of Games,

We are here again to ask for your support like you have done in 2021 and most recently, last year (2024). We had our expectations but with your help it was exceeded! You helped us take the gaming industry in Africa to a new height, starting from Nigeria and inspiring actions around the continent. This year, it has inspired our theme - MORE GAMERS! We want to host 3,000 people to connect and play games!

If you are hearing about us for the first time, we are enthusiasts united by our passion and love of tabletop games. We meet up to play tabletop games wherever we can- at games café, each other's houses and in open spaces, institutions such as schools, organizations - sharing the fun and excitement of this amazing hobby.

We also host regular and sometimes independent game events in schools, companies or any place we can find or invited to — in our bid to introduce more people to tabletop gaming and foster relationships.

Our Context:

But, as you know, it’s not been an easy journey, typical of the early stage of building something new. Around Nigeria, and indeed Africa, there are many who love playing games but don't know there is a space and structure to explore even further. So, we are asking you to help build our community and space - our industry. We are asking you to help build an ecosystem for designers, publishers and gamers to meet and build collaborations; this is why we AB Con was established.

We are asking for your support to host the 9th edition of The African Boardgame Convention – AB Con this November!

What is the AB Con?

AB Con is the first exclusive boardgame convention in Sub-Saharan Africa and aims to introduce people to the beautiful experience of Tabletop Games. This includes the joy of being in a convention, discovering new games, meeting people of like minds and yes, playing, talking and pitching new Tabletop games.

Prior to the first convention in 2016, it was extremely difficult to identify a platform for Tabletop game designers, content creators, publishers, manufacturers or hobby enthusiasts in Nigeria – the largest black population in the world with an estimate of 200 million people. Since then, AB Con has been held every year except during the Covid lockdown in 2020(but participated in Essen Spiel online). What a great joy each year has always been.

Why we need your support:

• We are not able to self-fund the event this year due to many economic situations like inflation and low understanding of the industry by potential funders. We need a collective support.
• AB Con 2024 was explosive with a lot of new gamers and we want to build on this new growth and energy by increasing the standard or at least maintaining it. 
• To continue boosting the growth of the Tabletop Games industry in Nigeria and by proxy, in Africa.
• Bring together a community of Tabletop games lovers, enthusiasts, designers, publishers, etc
• To raise funds to support designers, cafe owners, and influencers who are adding values to the growth of the industry. 

In 2023, for the first time in our history, AB Con held for 2-days and it was self-funded. This was a deliberate action as we build towards hosting a 4-days conventions in the future. 

In 2024, we used the biggest hall in our history and it was filled up with people asking for more. Our last two year's test-run joined with this years is foundation towards an intense experience for AB Con 2025 which is also AB Con @ 10!

Our ask:

This year, AB Con is taking a bigger step. 

We are creating a deeper experience for our attendees building on the failures and successes over the years especially from last year where we had our biggest attendance so far. From the number of Volunteer Game Facilitators, AB Con pre activities, competitions, and general awareness, we are planning creative solutions to both boost the convention and expand the Tabletop games industry in Africa.

What We Need & What You Get

We are asking for 9,000USD (includes KS fees and bank charges)  to ensure the basic requirement to host this year’s event is met and it covers:

• Location (includes one of the largest Hall space in Abuja, and renting of tables, chairs, sound and lights)
• Promotion and Awareness (Print media, Radio and TV awareness tour, online media and influencers)
• Logistics (travel stipends, communications, meetings, game tutor trainings)
• Awards
• Personnel and volunteers cost (Event planning, Volunteers, panelist)
• Media and Documentation (including a live coverage and an indebt AB Con documentary)
• Ticket subsidy to people who really need it like students, children etc 
• Community Support for systems and structures that are helping to grow the modern tabletop gaming culture.

Each perk reveals what you get. We are grateful you are backing us to create an AB Con experience this year.

The Impact (our target):

Your support will help us host the 9th edition of the African Boardgame convention creating a secure and conducive atmosphere for at least 3,000 people. It will also help us recognize and award designers, content creators and influencers who are strengthening the community in Nigeria.

Over the past 9 years, the African Tabletop Games community has recorded rapid growth; thanks to global connectivity, support, mentorship and knowledge sharing.

We strongly believe a well planned and executed convention this year will inspire and strengthen the community; even more reason why we need your support.

Stretch Goals:

We are so hopeful to reach our goal and secure hosting an event this year. But we also have dreams and we map them out through each stretch goal. We believe this is possible.

$11,000 - AB Con Kids Competition

At this goal; we are enabled to host a children's game competition. AB Con Kids began in 2017 and in the past has been a great opportunity to groom and educate kids and their care-givers on the importance of Tabletop games. We'll love to integrate a competition into the Convention this year. Including rewarding 8 schools who have in the past years been hosting regular gaming clubs in their schools.

At $13,000 -AB Con playtesting competition

In 2022, we partnered with Now Play This (UK) to host a Nigerian campus of a game design lab. We worked with game enthusiasts on game designs. This year, we are adding a playtesting competition to AB Con with your help. Winners will receive both mentorship from our experience as well as financial rewards for their game arts, rule editing etc to become a minimum viable product (MVP).

We look forward to more great games from the African Tabletop Games scene and because of your support we are better equipped to facilitate this.

At $15,000 - AB Con People’s choice game award

In 2018, we conceived the idea to award the best games in Nigeria, we were not ready then and 6 years later, we now are! We will be hosting the first People's Choice Game Awards in AB Con. This would be rewarding games in various categories that excels in the Nigerian TTG industry (with future expansions to other African countries).

The Award would take on the public nomination and voting process where games that meet certain requirements are nominated and voted for by the public. The top 3 games in each category will be judged by a group of diverse gamers across the world who are independent of AB Con.

Winners will receive financial rewards and the AB Con crest on game's future print. Including featuring on the AB Con website and social media timeline.

At $18,000 - Pre event activity for industry influencers

We want to celebrate everyone who is playing a role to increase the
influence of modern tabletop game in our industry. We recognize that we are not alone! We recognize that no industry can grow more than the people who are making things work in different capacity in the industry.

At this goal, we will host an industry influencers event to discuss the tabletop gaming industry in Nigeria, network amongst people, learn and celebrate each others work.

Industry influencers classify anyone who is using their time, resources, skills or ideas to influencers people have a great time playing tabletop games. Ranging from designers,, artist, content creators, game hosts, photographers, playtesters, bloggers including NGOs and Government bodies that overseas tourism, youth and women sports engagements and celebrities.

At $23,000 - Pre AB Con University campus tour

People love to play games however, in our community, where modern tabletop games are very new, sometimes, the challenge is lack of awareness. Many people do not know that there are Tabletop games other than the old classics .

This stretch goal will empower us to host an AB Con mini event at 5 campuses for free - targeting at least 1,500 students. Our campus tour will focus on raising awareness on modern tabletop gaming and publicity for AB Con 2025.

We will be targeting the youth and showing them this amazing hobby/community of tabletop gaming encouraging them to bring their energy, creativity and skills along.

This is one of the ways we will ensure growth and sustainability of AB Con and indeed, Tabletop games industry in Nigeria and Africa.

At $28,000 - Two-days AB Con event

At this goal, you are multiplying AB Con 2025 to a 2-days event! We practiced it in 2023 and it was successful, you are trusting us to do it again - now bigger and more equipped. We are beyond grateful!

More Media:

About our work in-country and the Tabletop gaming scene in Nigeria (Videos by various different News agencies)

Other News

We won the prestigious DIANA JONES AWARD for excellence in Gaming and was also featured in CNN, DICE BREAKER and other news agencies globally.

AB Con website

Other Ways You Can Help:

1. Donation of games: PLEASE if you can or if you want your game to be played, we want that too. Please send us a direct message or to our email via info@nibcardgames.com and we will share more details with you.

2. Share: Please help us share among your community. It's our hope that one day, you too will be able to attend #ABCon

Management Team