"Is theft a big problem at shows/cons?" Topic

I was at the Penarth show at the weekend and, wandering around the trade stands, it struck me how easy it would be to steal stuff if you were that way inclined. In fact one trader had signs up saying "Please don't steal our figures" or something which implies it is an issue.

I'd be interested to hear from any traders themselves if thievery is a problem. I'd like to think gamers are too honest a breed….

Gamers or the general public?

I don't know about retail theft; but, I've never lost things from the games I've run.

Its more of a problem at some shows than others but whilst there are incidents I wouldn't say it was a BIG problem.

I had some figures stolen from a game I was running athe a show some 20 years ago, and was the victim of what seemed like theft when was selling stuff on a B&B around about the same time, but apart from that, nothing ( this is from the perspective of someone who runs demo and parti games rather than a trader of course)

We have had odd things go missing, both off the front of the trade stand and from the gaming table. Its not a major issue, but a massive annoyance.

When we ran a bring and buy at our show it was sometimes an issue. We actually spotted 1 person lifting things from various stalls at a number of shows and warned traders to watch out for him – not difficult because he was in a wheelchair and was unaware of the need to use soap. I know of 1 UK trader who started to use cameras due to thefts.

It's rare in the UK (in my experience) but it does happen.

Often it's just a few people doing multiple thefts and making a big impact.

John T

Yes, sometimes people picked up figures on participation games and wandered off with them, sometimes we caught up with them and sometimes we didn't..

And yes, some devious types have stolen packets of figures off of displays.. some were caught red handed after their bags were searched, and have been permanent banned from the show.

I have also noticed children having sticky fingers.. it's annoying but we do have to put up with a lot…

I had a concealed camera on my stall once, and it caught someone changing a price tag on a blister.. they had obviously not seen the show offer sign that said all blisters seven pounds today only..

And yes, it's still rare..

It's a factor. Here in the US though it's a very, very minor one. I've never had anything of mine stolen from a game, but some vendors from time to time have had stuff lifted, usually in small quantity and often from the under 16 set. I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often.

I've read about it happening enough times to put me off ever wanting to take a game to a show.

Whenever I'm on stands at shows I make a point of holding whatever I'm going to buy in such a way as to make it obvious to the trader that I've got their stock in my hands and fully intend to pay for it when I've finished browsing. Perhaps sad that I feel I need to do this.

At very busy shows I can see that the way the trade stands are set up are not ideal from a security perspective. At one Newbury show I read off some people walking off with quite large boxes of stuff just lifted from a stand and I've a horrible feeling it was them we saw outside as we were walking into the show.

We've been running games at shows for years and I've never lost a thing.

Things getting dropped on the floor and trodden on, yes. Stolen, no.

At SELWG this year I heard one of the traders loudly proclaim they would not be returning next year due to the amount of stuff stolen!

I've never had anything go missing from running a game or when set up at a flea market. I do know of GM's and dealers who have had stuff nicked but it seems to be a rare occurrence. Recently one of the regular 40K players at our local game store had his car broken into and not much later saw his stuff being offered for sale on e-bay. He arranged to meet with the seller and had informed police. Sadly the police declined to be involved as it could not be "proved" that the seller was the thief. The owner ended up having to buy his stolen miniatures from the seller. So it was something of a happy ending that he got his stuff back but frustrating that justice was not done.

Theft does happen on the show circuit from the pilfering of a few figs from the trade stand to more ballsy thefts…….

There are one or two individuals who are known to the traders as having sticky fingers and need watching.

The design of some trade stands doesn't help….the walk in type with the retailer stuck at his cash box/ till leaves it wide open.

I think two years ago a bloke was caught stealing from the bring and buy at Warfare – fair dos to the organisers in that they did call the police and have him carted away

It does happen – I've only lost 1 thing which was a paint set at SELWG. Normally my stand was set up so I could see everything but that year the stands were messed up and the paint sets had to be at one side.

At Salute one year apparently one guy was caught stealing from the bring and buy, as a lot of SELWG who run the bring and buy are serving Police Officers, several of them pulled out warrant cards and arrested him…

Mike

I've had a few things nicked – including at Penarth a couple of years ago. I think it was probably kids. There are some children who have a compulsion to wander aimlessly along the stand, picking things up and (usually) putting them back but it's easy enough for them to not put them back on occasions.

It's annoying when 1 die from a polyset of 7 is stolen (that's what did happen), particularly as it was from a set of metal dice which are fairly expensive.

However, it is a minor issue so far.

Doug

I've had one instance in over 30 years- 3 cons a year at HMGS-E. A couple of Tupperware containers, each with a few Regiments of 15mm ACW figs. This may actually have been a mistake on someone's part and has not caused me to be protective of my stuff, it often stays unattended.

I put on games twice a year at toy soldier shows,I have been doing this for almost twenty years and nothing has ever been broken or lost…..I hope I didn't just jinx myself.

Once when I was selling in the flea market at Cold Wars I had a kid try to be slick by showing me a $20 USD bill and actually handing me a $10 USD bill. The little SOB got nothing from me.

Origins has had it happen,someone's laptop got boosted a year or 3 ago.

Wargamers are no more honest than the general population. Retail theft and at shows happens. Sometimes they get caught and sometimes they don't.

When I used to run games at conventions or game days, it always seemed dice always would go missing. No big deal, though they always were the more expensive polyhedral since I often used d10 or d20s . Never had figures go missing though or have seen anyone lift things from dealers. If I did, I would tell the dealer.

Yep…this past Fall-In. Selling avuations books at $1 USD each. Even Ospreys etc. All procceds to Toys4Tots. At that price, we were swamped! Somebody took advantage and took a box with at least 50 books…mainly Squadron-Signal. Thats the bad side. Later we did an honor table with the last 100 books. Not a one stolen. Thats the good side.
In short I think that the vast amount of folks at the cons are great people. Just one bad apple though was a real downer.
Its like the real world…most people are good and a small percentage are bad.

Was quite regular in French shows. From traders and on tables.
I and another chap ( officer) had all our bridges, some walls and houses, and hilly rocks vanishing on a two day show, overnight. Major annoyance for next day game.

Stil I belive wargamers are better than most others.

I've never lost anything running a game but I have heard of Dealers losing things to theft but never dramatic.

Our local convention and Enfilade, our group has never had anything stolen. Not sure about vendors.

I do remember that at one of the Armageddon shows in reading, (uk) that someone stole the display t72 from one of the traders, a hefty bit of metal casting.
I think it was the miltra stand, but then they stitched me up a few years later with their mail order service, or lack of it!

Used to be a problem when Fiasco was at Armley … I was one of many affected – but it was not wargamers, but local kids …

What a pain.

Wargamers themselves are pretty good …

Phil

A friend of mine has had a few of his X-Wing miniature models stolen, the likely culprit was kids. The models are of limited value without the supporting tail of cards, chits and whatever, but maybe they just put them on a shelf when they got home, who knows.

I've had a very unique model (kitbash, very silly, often photographed) walk off one of my tables once. The game had youngsters in it, but I won't point fingers. I do have to wonder what utility the thief got out of taking it-- it was pretty useless for historical gaming and kind of a one-joke pony. Ah well, I wasn't out much, and I couldn't muster enthusiasm to be enraged about it.

In general, I think it's pretty rare and wargamers are a good lot.

Walt

Not really "wargaming" per se, but U.S. gamers might remember this bit of show theivery: TMP link

TMP link

(that's going to the back of the rack for a reference)

Friend of mine had some of his stuff pinched off the B&B at Derby when it was squashed in that room at the Uni.Near closing time he saw his items had gone, presumed sold, but no one had any record of them being bought. Organisers coughed up the asking price so fair dos to them. Sometimes I've waited patiently on stands waiting to hand over my hard earned dosh whilst the trader stands with his back to me deep in conversation with another anxious punter and I think how easy it would be, if I was dishonest, to just casually drop the items into my carrier bag and saunter off all innocently. I'm surprised more stuff doesn't walk, we must be a very honest bunch.

One character in a wheelchair wearing a 'Help for Heroes' hoody was going around the Derby Show last year filling his bag up with nicked gear. Thankfully he was nabbed, goods returned and prosecuted.

Once a trader has his van broken into and emptied night before a show. He reported it to the police. Next day he got everything back. Because of the unusual nature of our gear, the police had raided a local toerag's hovel, found it full of toy soldiers and recalled a message from a neighbouring Station about this kind of stuff being taken. So he called his colleagues and hurrah, goods were returned.

One of my stockists had a painted Projekt X Girlie with gun stolen off his stall at Stockton on Tees, 13 years ago.

We've not forgotten….

I'm guilty. I admit to accidentally stealing gamemaster's dice or tape measures on a few occasions. I get into the game and unconciuosly stick dice or tape measures in my pocket and discover them later. I feel bad.

At a wargame convention in Milwaukee in the early 1990's the decorum was broken by the screams of a woman in the bathroom area. Some pervert was trying to grab her from under another stall. Several wargamers charged into his stall and sat on him until the police arrived and arrested him.

At another convention in Milwaukee in the 1990's one young man was seen shoplifting packs of figures until he started to pick on one dealer who just happened to be a Milwaukee police officer….

At Origins 86 in Los Angeles the security guards for the facility were seen stealing one dealer's t-shirts.

Never had anything stolen.

However one of my first cons, I did leave a bag with all my purchases in the room on the last day. Painful lesson, but one I've never had to learn twice

File the following under "if it isn't true, it should have been."

The story goes a gamer was running a big game at one of the big Midwest cons. He was running several sessions so he decided to leave his scenics up unattended. A risk, but he deemed it acceptable. At the end of each day he boxed up all his figs and game materials and carted them back to his room. One evening he got back to his room and realized he'd left a pretty high end digital camera on his table in a drawstring Chivas Regal bag, the kind lots of gamers use as dice bags. Well, he was tired and decided to chance it.

Anxiously, he carted his stuff back the next day, and sure enough the camera was still there,…but somebody had nicked the Chivas Regal bag.

Gamers.

BTW, none of his scenics were ever disturbed.

Sadly, I had one stand of figures pinched at a show – and there were nearly five hundred stands of figures to choose from. The main reason I noticed is I and a couple of players had just finished organizing everything and I had to run to the 'head' to relief myself (hours of game mastering). When I came back, that missing stand jumped out.

I suspect it might have been a youth in the 'magical' age where really knowing right and wrong is a challenge for them. Doesn't keep me from moving forward with running games. And, frankly, a kid that age who showed enough interest – I'd probably have given him some figures.

Yeah, there is a chance but like so many above have said, wargamers – or at least game masters – watch out for each other at conventions.

But that is one stand out of a cumulative of probably several thousand stands that were at risk, so that puts the loss I've experienced at far below 1%. I'll live with those odds, I guess.

Never had anything come up missing but we always leave one person at the table if we aren't packing it up.

"…someone stole the display t72 from one of the traders, a hefty bit of metal casting. I think it was the miltra stand, but then they stitched me up a few years later with their mail order service, or lack of it!"

Uh… we have Miltra, and I dont recall either of those incidents :-)

I have never had a figure stolen at a convention. I have probably run 300 convention games. Never a problem. Sometimes my dice and tape measures walk away, but I doubt that is intentional.

I did leave figures in a room one time. They were a gift from a friend and in a small box that I had set aside while running a game. They were found by someone and brought the convention desk. They never showed up on lost and found and were never heard from again. Other than that, while I have heard of people having stuff walk away, I have never had an issue with it.

By and large, I think games are a pretty trustworthy lot.

Buck

By and large, I think games are a pretty trustworthy lot.

I think this may be the best explanation. Can you imagine the losses that would occur if you operated a shop in a moderately busy mall the way many vendors and gamers work at cons?

Way back when, I gamed with a local club whose chairman was banned from the FLGS for shoplifting.
He was quite open about it – it was years ago, he'd been a stupid kid at the time and it was a single instance – but it led to a permanent ban. He didn't complain.

Way back when, I gamed with a local club whose chairman was banned from the FLGS for shoplifting.
He was quite open about it – it was years ago, he'd been a stupid kid at the time and it was a single instance – but it led to a permanent ban. He didn't complain.

Now that would result in a lawsuit for confronting him, plus years of therapy, for which the store owner would have to pay and probably a made for TV movie.

I've been going to HMGS cons for over ten years with my PaperTerrain business. I have a lot of stuff on my tables (not just paper houses, I have lots of figures and vehicles, too, to show off the buildings) and there's no way I can watch all of it. So far I've never lost anything.

Actually, the most worrisome thing is children (and adults!) who won't keep their paws off things--just to 'look', not steal.

When one guy discovered that my buildings lift off to reveal a ruin underneath, I swear he then proceeded to lift off EVERY SINGLE ONE of them down the length of four tables! :)