Take a walk through Dublin’s offering of Gaming Conventions with Fionn Reid-Kelly.
Gaming conventions are some of the biggest events in any gamer’s calendar. Every year gamers all around Dublin have many conventions where they can go to meet other gamers and play games that they mightn’t have the opportunity to do every day. This article will go through the main conventions that are taking place/ have taken place this year.
First on the list are the general pop culture, comic cons that take place in Dublin. In 2026 there are four of them, MegaCon Live in January, Comic Con Dublin Spring Edition in March, Comic Con Dublin Summer Edition in August, and Comic Con Ireland in November.
For anyone that doesn’t want to travel too far, the Games Society at UCD holds their annual convention in March. The convention had originally been called Vaticon, then for a year it was called Belcon, and now for the last 2 years it has been called Pelicon and it looks to be staying that way. Each year the convention supports a different charity, and this year it was the Irish Red Cross. The main events that take place at Pelicon are the Cosplay competition, and the Charity Auction, in recent years different movies have also been screened in the UCD cinema as part of the Con. The convention runs events all across the student centre for card games, war games, board games, video games, and roleplaying games fans. Usually Pelicon has been run over 2 days, but this year it was extended to 3 days.
For gamers seeking a con with a long proven track record of running great cons this next one may be for you. Leprecon is currently the longest running gaming convention in Dublin. The con is organised by the DU Gamers in Trinity. This year marked the 45th edition of the convention. The con runs for three days, and focuses on board games, war games, card games and tabletop roleplaying games, as well as LARPs.
Fans of complex and long board games can rejoice as there are 2 conventions, one in April, and one in May that they will be interested in. Meeple Con runs on the 18th of April this year, and Chimera Con runs on the 16th and 17th of May. Both cons take place at the Teacher’s Club on Parnell Square. Chimera Con has been around for a few years longer and also includes war games in its games line-up.
While most of the games conventions in Dublin tend to focus on board games or other tabletop games, Gamerfest gives fans of video games a con of their own. In May Gamerfest will be returning to the RDS with a set of events that make it stand out from the rest. Gamers can expect Minecraft challenges, Fortnite, zones set up with VR, an arcade zone and much more.
If you’re looking to buy unique and interesting games, look no further than the Irish Gaming Market. This July the market will be setting up shop at the Royal Marine in Dun Laoghaire. Whether you’re a modern gamer, a fan of arts and crafts items, or looking for something a bit more retro you’ll be sure to find something there.
A list of these cons would be incomplete without Ireland’s largest independent gaming convention, Gaelcon, which will be taking place in October. The convention is organised by the Irish Games Association, a group dedicated to promoting role playing and tabletop gaming in Ireland. The con features all of the usual tabletop games, as well as LARPs, panels, a charity auction, guests from the gaming industry, and more.
In a year of conventions Dublin has something for every kind of gamer. Whether it be on the table, the monitor, or the VR headset there are plenty of games this year for Dublin’s gaming convention goers to have a crack at.