Every December 20th is Games Day — a holiday and gaming convention that encourages everyone to enjoy the games they love. It doesn’t matter if it’s video games, card games, war games, role-playing games, board games, or something that’s a combination of them all.

It really only matters that people take the time to enjoy their games and attend a gaming convention if there happens to be one. Although this holiday began in the United Kingdom, it has since become a day that has been adopted by just about the rest of the world. This isn’t surprising considering that it’s quite human to want to play games.

The History of Games Day

This day originally began as an annual gaming convention that first took place in 1975 and was organized by Games Workshop, a British manufacturer of miniature war games. They created this convention, and consequently this day, because another games convention that was scheduled for August of that year was canceled.

The first Games Day was held at Seymour Hall in London that year, and it was an important one because there were only a few outlets where gamers could gather, network, and play games with one another.

In the United States, this convention has been held in Los Angeles, Baltimore, Chicago, and Atlanta. In Canada, it was in Toronto, Ontario. It’s been held in other countries as well. As we said earlier, the holiday itself has escaped the borders of the UK and is now observed by people all over the globe.

Some Cool Facts About Games

Below are some cool facts about games that we feel everyone can appreciate. We uncovered the following facts during our research for this holiday, so let’s take a look at them a little bit more closely.

• Research shows that games can aid with language development in children.
• In 2020, it’s estimated that over 2.7 billion people played video games.
• The Atari E.T. video game is regarded as the worst video game of all time.
• Dungeons & Dragons was originally a war game add-on.

Observing Games Day

Attending a convention is the preferred way to observe this holiday, but that doesn’t mean that it necessarily has to be in person. Thanks to apps such as Zoom and Discord, people all over the world can organize and run their own mini-conventions.

It’s a good way to meet new people and to play some games. So, let’s all get together and play some games on this day, and while we’re doing so, let’s use the hashtag #GamesDay to invite other people to play with us.