By Amir Browne
As the website clock clicks down to a much anticipated zero, Long Island’s largest Tabletop Gaming Expo makes its long-awaited return this weekend at the Cradle of Aviation in Garden City.
Tickets for the show being held Saturday, March 7th and Sunday, March 8th are available online and at the door for a weekend of “dice-rolling thrills, strategic victory, and fun for beginners and enthusiasts alike.” Doors open at 10am both days and close at 9pm Saturday and 5pm Sunday.
Individual tickets are available for both days, but if you’re committed to a weekend of fun, weekend passes are also available.
Click here to check out our coverage from last year’s Tabletop Gaming Expo.
“We like bringing together all the different aspects of tabletop gaming,” says Jesse Harchack, one of the event coordinators for the expo. Attendees can enjoy a slew of games: role-playing, miniature, board, and card games.
The event features a wide range of games, from popular ones like Magic: The Gathering and Warhammer 40k to lesser-known ones, like the Godzilla card game and Super Show. Most importantly, it offers activities for all ages and experience levels.
“That is the main reason why we do the event,” said Harchack. “We want to get more people both invested and interested in the hobby.”
This year, the focus is on walk-up content. All of the sections have a shifted focus–where they’ve restructured the program so that, when you walk in, there will be two sections: a planned content area and a full page dedicated to walk-up content.
Board games will include “guided games,” in which game masters lead participants through popular games. Other sections focus on demos for players, which is a great entry point into tabletop gaming.
If you’re a beginner and worried about being overwhelmed by too many options, don’t worry–they’ve got you covered. The demo areas can be a great place to start. Each section has well-versed designated coordinators who can help you find the right type of game.
New this year are tournaments for gamers with a longstanding investment.
“The show up until now has been very focused on that walk-up experience,” said Harchack.
Game pre-registration opened on February 12th, with registration still open for a variety of tournaments: Blood on the Clock Tower (a newer version of Werewolf or Mafia), Uno, Battleship, and Red Dragon Inn, just to name a few.
Content directed for children will be offered as well. Their partnership with Indoor Tempo Group will add Star Wars cosplayers to the mix–Young Padawans will learn how to use the light saber. In the miniatures game section, there will be a paint-and-take area where they can learn how to paint a miniature. On Sunday morning, a kids’ “speed painting” contest–it’s three hours long, but who’s counting. Additionally, certain RPGs are designed for children.
In tandem with tabletop games, guest speakers will also appear. A workshop dedicated to designing terrain for RPGs and miniatures alike and local board game designers are participating in a panel about board game design. There will also be a panel for people interested in writing RPGs. Another panel involves game creators’ and artists’ rights..
“There are a lot of different things focused on how you want to engage it,” said Harchack.
Dungeons and Drag Queens is one of the events set to make its debut this year. The live dungeon area is one of their most popular events. It is a mix of role-playing and live-action role-playing. They offer a variety of escape rooms, including new ones that offer a fresh experience and older ones that were popular in the past. Specific attendees who are creating a game and want to display it can have people playtest unpublished games. They have a standardized feedback form for walk-up players to provide actionable feedback to local game designers. Additionally, there will be a cosplay contest.
A few days after the show, feedback forms are sent through email and posted on their social media. Harchack encourages anyone attending the show to fill out this feedback form, as they are extremely focused on improving future shows.
“If you’re even remotely interested in these sorts of things, this show is the place for you to get into gaming and find out more about any part of the tabletop gaming hobby,” Harchack said. “Bring your family, bring your friends.”
The 2026 Long Island Tabletop Gaming Expo takes place at the Cradle of Aviation Museum, located on Charles Lindbergh Boulevard in Garden City, NY. The museum, part of Nassau County’s Museum Row, will host the two-day event with doors opening at 10 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday. Get tickets here.
Amir Browne is a reporter with The SBU Media Group, part of Stony Brook University’s School of Communication and Journalism’s Working Newsroom program for students and local media.
