Rapture Gaming Festival - Colchester Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd August 2026

1. Why I Went

I had a gap in my timetable, a weekend where I couldn’t find another convention to go to. Trawling the internet, I discovered Rapture in Colchester. The company concerned seems to run similar conventions in other cities and towns at different times in the year.

I contacted them and explained about my “Choose Your Adventure” set-up and asked for a couple of tables and some chairs.

My offer can seem odd to many convention organisers. I do what I do for fun. I don’t sell anything so I’m not a trader and don’t intend to pay for a trade table. Conversely I’m not a guest, and I don’t expect to be paid for what I offer. Just let me in for free and give me a table and some chairs.

This kind of zero-economic arrangement is confusing to some event organisers. However, this company accepted my offer and I was able to find a relatively inexpensive hotel in Colchester, and booking travel was easy.

2. The Shape of the Convention

Rapture is in a leisure centre in Colchester - either Charter Hall or Leisure World depending on what signs you read. It fills two sports halls. One is full of traders. The other contains table upon table full of consoles where people can sit and play games, some tables for board gaming, stalls advising on cosplay etc. and a stage with a large screen where gaming tournaments and cosplay competitions were held.

So it was mainly a digital rather than an analogue event.

3. Games Played and Games Run

I set out from Birmingham extremely early on Saturday as the journey involved changing trains in London. The event is so close to the station that it is theoretically walkable - in about 15-20 minutes - but trailing a suitcase full of my games equipment and carrying my roll-up banner I decided to take a taxi.

I’d been given a 5’ circular table. Quite common at events where people play organised TTRPGs but not so common at these more general events. It was in an area attached to the stand of a local games shop that was selling and running board games.

There were too many chairs around the table so I reallocated some to an adjacent table. I found them to be of a rather awkward design where the seat flipped up whenever you stood up even when the chair was unfolded.

It was lucky I brought two black cloths because it needed both to cover the table.

For some reason my banner malfunctioned and started toppling over when unfurled. So I was reduced to using one table with no banner to promote my games and play on. I don’t think it looked too bad.

I determined to use the same proactive attitude I’d developed at Comic Con Midlands two weeks before and tried to approach as many people as possible to offer my games. 

Despite the fact I was very near the entrance - almost the first thing most people saw upon entry - the only thing people were interested in was how to sign up to console game tournaments. So I found out how to guide them on that and invited them back to play later in the day.

I’m not going to post here about every individual game I ran at the event. A couple of them were cut short as people needed to leave to get to other events they were booked into, but most were full demonstration games. And there were a lot of those.

Saturday I refereed about half a dozen full games and some shorter ones. A lot considering that the hours of the convention were from 10am to 5pm - a total of seven hours. Five of these were Superhero games, three of which were based on the X-Men.

I ran several games which involved younger participants. This was usually fine but one game had a combination of two father and son pairings. They did not know each other. TTRPGs are great for bringing strangers together. However, both of the sons were extremely enthusiastic and I found having two at the same table quite tiring.

In addition, the sound from the stage was extremely difficult to work with. The microphone volume was set so high it could be heard throughout the hall. During tournaments some commentators became very excited and a bit shouty on top of that. In between tournaments, they felt the need to play loud music. I think to keep the vibe up in the hall.

I felt a strain on my voice by the end of the day.

Sunday was very interesting. I played about half a dozen games overall but what was fascinating was the number of conversations I had with young women - older teenagers - either seeking advice about how to get into the hobby of role-playing games or wanting to tell me excitedly about their experiences as beginners in the hobby. In addition to that there was a mother seeking advice on behalf of her son about a variety of things - from Star Wars to TTRPGs. I think she was really asking for herself.

There were no Superhero games on Sunday. It was mostly classic fantasy. However, I was able to referee my favourite Steampunk scenario - the one with the missing dinosaur - for a father and his three daughters in the afternoon which rounded off my convention perfectly.

Or so I thought. At 4:30pm, three young teenage women approached the table asking for a game and I attempted a speed-run of the aforementioned Steampunk game. I nearly made it - they were all experienced role-players - but was forced to do a narrated ending when the clock hit 4:55pm.

4. Play Reflections

The change in my attitude which I developed at Comic Con Midlands meant I ran over a dozen games in two days. This definitely counts as a success.

Some of these were with a small number of players - mother and son, for example - and others finished early for various reasons. I do wish when people sat down they told me if they had other events booked. I need to remember to ask at the beginning of every game.

There were a lot of Superhero games on the Saturday, especially the X-Men. I may consider swapping out the opponents in that game for more famous ones.

No one chose to play Science Fiction. Maybe I need to offer some famous properties such as Star Wars or Star Trek. Or redesign the character sheets to include more inviting artwork.

It was heartening to see so many young women independently entering the hobby or seeking advice about how to get into it.

5. Cost, Time, and Value

Headline figures

Convention cost (ticket): £0
Travel cost: £46.54
Accommodation cost: £135.70

Total convention-specific cost: £182.24

Total hours of gaming (played and run): 12-14

Approximate cost per hour of gaming: £14.01

6. What I Took Away

The cost per hour of this event is quite high.

Also the noise from the stage in the main hall in which I was offering games was extremely distracting and difficult to work with. I understand this is part of the atmosphere the organisers are trying to create but it took the shine off what would otherwise have been an excellent event for me.

Both of these factors might make me think twice before returning in the future.

This is a shame because at this event I ran more games for a wider demographic than anywhere previously. I feel my Choose Your Adventure set-up is really working.

I was also cheered to see so many young women either coming into the hobby or looking to join it.