How to Hook Gamers

    So, have you ever announced a game and no one showed, found yourself sitting at your con table all alone, or posted on a public forum but got no takers? Sometimes it's just bad timing, holiday or last session of the show, and sometimes it's the bait. Yes, Gentlemen, bait! You can't just throw out a hook with no bait and expect gamers to show at your table. You need a lure to wet their appetites. So I have paid attention to Jack over the years and here is my advice on what I find 'sexy'.

Make it  Visual : This is the big one, and it encompasses many things, but in essence, what I am asking is your table 'hot' or even appealing? The vast majority of gamers are men, and they like eye candy. I once attended a gun show where one of the dealers hired a car model to hang out at his table and hand out flyers. Needless to say that table was packed the whole show.
Eye Candy, does your table have any? Will the casual gamer walk by and find themselves drawn to look at your game? Because it doesn't matter how good your rules or scenario is if you don't get their attention.

So what is the minimum necessary, because we all can't be laboring years to build that 3D beauty like our train enthusiast cousins.
- nice dropcloth or terrain squares that match your theme. Easily done with a painter's dropcloth, spray cans and an aerial photo of the terrain.
- 3D foam hills and decent trees that work well with your dropsheet. Green hills on desert cloths ain't getting you a date, neither is dollar store Christmas trees on your Waterloo table.
-and no felt, if possible. Felt and carpet hills is how I started back in the day, but I threw that all away after I opened my first Wargames Illustrated magazine. It just ain't cool no more.
-Painted minis. If it's a skirmish game with less than 40 figs then they should be well painted, if an army game then quantity can make up for quality. Just remember in the case of the latter always put the best painted in the front ranks. Unpainted figs, unacceptable, no excuse here people, they are just plain ugly, and I mean that 'nice girl' your mom wanted you to date ugly.
Case in point, Had a kid try and run a game last summer using his unpainted 1/72 modern plastics, not one drop of paint on them. Was it any wonder that he never got a game going, which was a shame because I took a look at his rules, and the boy had done a lot of research on modern team SOPs. But for most of us, the days of playing with unpainted airfix  models is long past.
-One eye catching piece on the table. Ancients game, a nice temple, Renaissance game, a few nice buildings. Just something  really nice to catch one's attention. Saw a Sudan game a few years back being fought on some boring desert terrain, but the guy added a small river bend with a wonderfully painted steamboat on it. As the kids would say a little BLING.
-So put on that nice dress, I, mean cover sheet, and some nice warpaint on your figs and get some players hooked into your flavor of the week.