Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 4, 2026

SaltCON

SaltCON is a series of annual board game and tabletop RPG events organized by SaltCON UT LLC, recognized as the largest board game and RPG convention series in the Intermountain West. The five core conventions — SaltCON Spring, SaltCON Summer, SaltCON End of Summer, SaltCON Bryce, and SaltCON Bryce Twice — are held at the Davis Conference Center in Layton, Utah and Ruby's Inn in Bryce Canyon, Utah. SaltCON also organizes an annual gaming cruise; the 2026 edition sails to Alaska aboard the Voyager of the Seas in August 2026. The conventions are family friendly and focus on hobby and designer board games, with the mission "to bring people together with games." Unlike many other conventions, the board game halls are open 24 hours, allowing attendees to play throughout the night. SaltCON Spring, the largest of the five events, has grown steadily since its founding, surpassing 1,100 attendees in 2016, 1,900 in 2019, and approximately 2,400 in 2024. SaltCON Summer and End of Summer each draw 1,200+ attendees, while SaltCON Bryce and Bryce Twice are smaller, more intimate events held at Ruby's Inn with 300+ attendees.

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SaltCON
StatusCurrent
GenreBoard games/Roleplaying Games/Convention
VenueDavis Conference Center / Ruby's Inn
LocationLayton, Utah / Bryce Canyon, Utah
CountryUnited States
Inaugurated2009
Most recent
Current
Attendance2,500+ (SaltCON Spring 2024)
Organized bySaltCON UT LLC
Websitehttps://saltcon.com/

SaltCON is a series of annual board game and tabletop RPG events organized by SaltCON UT LLC, recognized as the largest board game and RPG convention series in the Intermountain West.12 The five core conventions — SaltCON Spring, SaltCON Summer, SaltCON End of Summer, SaltCON Bryce, and SaltCON Bryce Twice — are held at the Davis Conference Center in Layton, Utah and Ruby's Inn in Bryce Canyon, Utah.3 SaltCON also organizes an annual gaming cruise; the 2026 edition sails to Alaska aboard the Voyager of the Seas in August 2026.4 The conventions are family friendly5 and focus on hobby and designer board games, with the mission "to bring people together with games."6 Unlike many other conventions, the board game halls are open 24 hours,7 allowing attendees to play throughout the night. SaltCON Spring, the largest of the five events, has grown steadily since its founding, surpassing 1,100 attendees in 2016,8 1,900 in 2019,9 and approximately 2,400 in 2024.1011 SaltCON Summer and End of Summer each draw 1,200+ attendees, while SaltCON Bryce and Bryce Twice are smaller, more intimate events held at Ruby's Inn with 300+ attendees.12

Events

Blood on the Clocktower, a large-group social deduction game, is featured at select SaltCON events. Professional Storytellers from the Las Vegas Board Game Association and the Las Vegas Clocktower Convention host sessions at SaltCON Spring and SaltCON End of Summer,131 while other events feature local hosts.

SaltCON features a dedicated RPG Room as one of its core programming areas, described by organizers as the largest dedicated area for role-playing systems in the state of Utah.14 The room uses round tables to support the interactive nature of tabletop role-playing games and hosts a wide variety of systems, including Dungeons & Dragons (Adventurer's League), Pathfinder Second Edition, Call of Cthulhu, and titles from publishers such as Free League Publishing and Modiphius Entertainment.15 A dedicated prototype table is reserved for new and smaller games from independent and local designers.16 SaltCON Spring 2026 featured 28 scheduled RPG tables alongside 347 events totaling nearly 1,000 hours of play.16

General Events

Attendees at SaltCON events can enjoy a wide range of activities beyond competitive play. A game library of over 2,600 titles17 is available for checkout throughout each convention. The conventions feature board game publisher and local exhibitors, game teachers through the Envoy Herald program, Meeple Nation hosted games, and a Live Flea Market and Game Swap Room for buying, selling, and trading games.18

Games available span a wide range of types, including strategy, party, card, dice, dexterity, miniature, war, and social deduction games, as well as tabletop RPGs.19 Miniature painting events,20 panel discussions, workshops, Play-to-Win Games, and reserved and scheduled gaming tables round out the programming.21

Game Design

SaltCON hosts the Ion Award,22 a prominent international board game design competition established in 2009 for unpublished game prototypes. Each year, publishers are invited to judge submissions across Strategy and Light categories; notes are collected, tallied, and winners announced at SaltCON Spring. Games that win the Ion Award are frequently picked up for publication.23 Notable winners and finalists include Nika,24 Gnome Hollow, Moon Bunny, Steam Up: A Feast of Dim Sum, and Super Truffle Pigs!25

SaltCON Spring and SaltCON End of Summer host ProtoCON, a board game prototype showcase organized by the Board Game Designers Guild of Utah, where attendees can meet designers and play games still in development.26

Competitive Play

SaltCON partners with the Double Exposure Envoy program to host official organized play tournaments at multiple events throughout the year.27 The Utah State Championships are held at SaltCON Bryce, while the Western Regional Championships are held at SaltCON Spring. Both SaltCON Bryce and SaltCON Spring also serve as official U.S. National Championship Qualifiers for select titles through the Envoy program; recent qualifiers have included the Doomlings National Championship Qualifier.28 In addition to Envoy-organized play, SaltCON Spring features a variety of other tournaments across different game titles.

Special Events

The following special events are offered at select conventions (noted in parentheses):

  • Artemis (Spring) — a multiplayer cooperative spaceship bridge simulation experience
  • Math Trade (Spring, End of Summer) — a structured game exchange in which participants trade games using a mathematical matching algorithm
  • ProtoCON (Spring, End of Summer) — see Game Design above
  • Puzzle Hunt (Spring)
  • Hot Games (Spring, Summer, End of Summer) — a curated selection of games SaltCON identifies as noteworthy and likely to generate attendee interest. Dedicated game teachers are available to teach these titles throughout the day. Typically eight different games are featured at each event.

History

The convention began in 2009 as a follow-up to the "A Gathering of Strangers" board game days held at the University of Utah.1 The first events were held at the University of Utah's Officers Club,29 but growing attendance led to moves to the Royal Garden Inn in 2012, the Sheraton in 2013, and the Davis Conference Center in Layton since 2014.303132

Additional events were introduced over time: End of Summer debuted in 2018, Summer in 2019, and SaltCON Bryce at Ruby's Inn in Bryce Canyon in 2022, with SaltCON Bryce Twice added in 2025.33 The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted programming in 2020 and 2021; while SaltCON Spring 2020 proceeded as scheduled in early March 2020, subsequent events that year were cancelled, and programming remained limited through 2021.3435

Historical SaltCON events
Year Dates Location Event
2009 July 10–11 University of Utah Officers Club36 Main Event
2010 February 26–28 University of Utah Officers Club37 Main Event
2011 February 18–19 University of Utah Officers Club38 Main Event
2012 February 17–18 Royal Garden Inn30 Main Event
2013 February 15–17 Sheraton31 Main Event
2014 March 28–30 Davis Conference Center32 Main Event
2015 March 12–14 Davis Conference Center39 Main Event
2016 March 3–5 Davis Conference Center40 Main Event
2017 March 2–5 Davis Conference Center Main Event
2018 March 1–4 Davis Conference Center Spring
2018 August 31 – September 1 Davis Conference Center End of Summer
2019 February 28 – March 3 Davis Conference Center Spring
2019 May 31 – June 1 Davis Conference Center Summer
2019 August 30–31 Davis Conference Center End of Summer
2020 March 5–8 Davis Conference Center41 Spring
2020 June 5–6 Davis Conference Center — Cancelled42 Summer
2020 August 28–29 Davis Conference Center — Cancelled43 End of Summer
2021 March 3–8 Davis Conference Center — Cancelled Spring
2021 July 30 – August 1 Davis Conference Center End of Summer
2022 January 14–16 Ruby's Inn Bryce
2022 March 3–6 Davis Conference Center Spring
2022 September 2–4 Davis Conference Center End of Summer
2023 January 13–15 Ruby's Inn Bryce
2023 March 2–5 Davis Conference Center Spring
2023 June 2–4 Davis Conference Center Summer
2023 September 1–3 Davis Conference Center End of Summer
2024 January 12–14 Ruby's Inn Bryce
2024 February 29 – March 3 Davis Conference Center Spring
2024 June 7–9 Davis Conference Center Summer
2024 August 30 – September 1 Davis Conference Center End of Summer
2025 January 17–19 Ruby's Inn Bryce
2025 January 24–26 Ruby's Inn Bryce Twice
2025 February 27 – March 2 Davis Conference Center Spring
2025 June 6–8 Davis Conference Center Summer
2025 August 29–31 Davis Conference Center End of Summer
2026 January 15–17 Ruby's Inn Bryce
2026 January 23–25 Ruby's Inn Bryce Twice
2026 March 12–15 Davis Conference Center Spring
2026 June 5–7 Davis Conference Center Summer
2026 September 4–6 Davis Conference Center End of Summer

Support for Other Events

SaltCON has supported gaming events across Utah and the surrounding region by providing resources including its game library, volunteers, and game teachers.

Currently Supported Events

  • Dragonsteel Nexus — an annual convention in Salt Lake City celebrating the works of author Brandon Sanderson; SaltCON has provided its game library to the event in 2024 and 2025.44
  • ICON — a board game event in Idaho Falls, Idaho; SaltCON brought games from its library to support the event45
  • Meeple Treks Board St. George46
  • TimpCON — a tabletop gaming convention held annually in Provo, Utah47

Formerly Supported Events

  • Salt Lake Comic Con — rebranded as FanX Salt Lake
  • BryceCON — now continued as SaltCON Bryce, one of SaltCON's own annual events
  • International Games Day @ your Library — SaltCON co-sponsored and provided its game library to multiple International Games Day events at Utah libraries between 2013 and 20174849
  • Salt Lake Quarterly Game Day — permanently discontinued
  • International Tabletop Day50
  • Salt Lake Gaming Con — permanently discontinued
  • STGCON — permanently discontinued
  • MyCon — permanently discontinued
  • DinoCON — permanently discontinued
External links
References

References

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