Calling All Gamers! CSM’s Hawkland Gaming Festival Returns to La Plata Campus Saturday, Sept. 14

The Hawkland Gaming Festival returns to the College of Southern Maryland (CSM) La Plata Campus Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, for 12 hours of tabletop gaming from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Proceeds from the event go to fund CSM student scholarships.  

“The Hawkland Gaming Festival celebrates Southern Maryland’s passion for tabletop gaming, while supporting student success,” shared CSM Professor Andrew Wodzianski, professor of visual and performing arts and the event organizer. 

For those unfamiliar with tabletop gaming, the festival includes board games, card games, roleplaying games, miniature battle games, dexterity games – “anything that can be played on a flat surface,” Wodzianski said, adding that playing games together in person provides an opportunity to students and members of the community to connect with one another and have a face-to-face interaction.  

Participants are also welcome to dress up in roleplaying characters, otherwise known as cosplay. “We welcome that for sure,” Wodzianski said. “Even CSM’s mascot, Talon, dresses up for the occasion.”  

With 30 to 40 volunteers assisting in the event, Wodzianski expects about 200 participants this year, and said there is plenty of room for future growth.  

“I’m hoping we can double attendance over the upcoming years,” he said, and the footprint of the gaming event may be extended to multiple buildings in the future.   

In September 2023, CSM’s first gaming event was postponed as a tropical storm system moved up the East Coast. Wodzianski was expecting 300 people to attend with vendors and food trucks lined up for the event, until the storm system postponed it to December 2023. Even then, about 100 people attended, Wodzianski said.  

Pre-registration is $20 per person. Day-of registration is $25 and children ages 12 or younger have free admission when accompanied by a paying/badge-holding adult. The event will be held at the Francis P. Chiaramonte, M.D. Center for Science and Technology (ST Building) at the La Plata Campus.   

For more information or to register, visit www.csmd.edu/hawkland.