Welcome to the home of the Irish Games Association and Gaelcon!
The IGA presents: Gaelcon 37
The Irish Games Association hosts Ireland’s oldest independent gaming convention, Gaelcon. In 2025, it takes place from October 24th – 27th. Gaelcon 37 takes place at Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport, Northwood Park, Santry Demesne, Dublin 9, Ireland.
News from the IGA
Happy International Women’s Day from the IGA!
Today, we celebrate the incredible contributions and achievements of women in gaming and in our community. Women in Gaming: Past, Present, and FutureThe landscape of gaming has evolved significantly over the decades, with women playing increasingly prominent roles as designers, developers, players, and industry leaders. For example, this year we’re proud to have hosted industry…
Filling the Final Roles in the Gaelcon 2025 Committee
So, the venue is booked, we’ve got leadership (all hail Tymora!), RPGs, boardgames and many more posts sorted. But there are still some Gaelcon roles we would love to have new volunteers for: Gaelcon booklet designer: this is mainly done in September/October, you should have some design/layout experience, ideally in print. If you are interested…
Back from AthVentureCon
Three Gaelcon 2025 Committee members made the trip to Lough Rea last weekend to join in the fun at Athventure Con III. Wow! We had a great time. The venue, speakers, events games and organisation were excellent. Thanks for all the hard work, Athenry Adventurers RPG Youth Club. There was a packed schedule of games…
Who are we?
The Irish Games Association CLG is dedicated to promoting gaming in Ireland, by running, supporting and publicising gaming events, while seeking to communicate and cooperate with others that do likewise.
The IGA engages in a number of activities designed to further its stated aim of promoting gaming in Ireland and has evolved substantially over its lifespan. Originally, the IGA was a group composed of different gaming interests from around the country who came together to organise an event known as Gaelcon. Since that time, a number of changes have taken place, and the IGA has expanded into other fields.
The goal of the IGA is to help the gaming community in whatever way possible, be it by organising events, providing information, or offering what assistance it can to others who are working on behalf of the gaming community in Ireland. If you are running an event and need some assistance or some friendly advice please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
What is Gaming?
The term ‘gaming’ when used in this context does not refer to gambling or any pastime that involves betting money. For us, “gaming” is a group of different hobbies which share some common links: it’s about having fun, it’s social and it’s a good break from the day-to-day of the real world. Outside of that, there is some contention over what counts as gaming and what doesn’t! The Irish Games Association is primarily involved in organising events involving non-electronic gaming: Boardgames, Collectible Card Games, Tabletop Roleplaying, Live Action Roleplaying and Wargaming.
Roleplaying is a social pastime, based on storytelling and imagining yourself as a character within the story. Wargaming is tactical competition; like a more complicated version of 3D Chess, and includes a wide variety of custom painted miniatures. Collectible Card Games consist of a wide variety, far too many to cover here. There’s a decent article about them on Wikipedia which is a very useful reference!
Ultimately, it’s all about people meeting up with their friends and having fun!
Who we are not
The IGA are not a representative body for the video games industry. For information on this please visit Imirt the Irish Game Makers Association website.
The IGA are not a representative body for the casino/slot machine gaming industry. For information on this please visit the Gaming and Leisure Association of Ireland website.
