“And you just might be the Imp we’re looking for!”

Have you ever wondered what it’s like being on the demo team for a publisher at a major board game convention? It can be a lot of work, sure, but it’s also a ton of fun, too. CGE takes a slightly different approach to how we show our games at conventions, and our valued team of demo staff, which we lovingly call “imps,” are the secret ingredient to making shows run smoothly. And we’re looking to expand our imp team for Gen Con this year, in particular. Curious about what the role entails, what we’re looking for, and how to apply? Keep on reading, and you’ll get the full rundown.

Impish Origins and the Role of Imps

So…why do we call our demo staff imps? In Dungeon Lords and Dungeon Petz, the humble imps are the lifeblood that makes everything happen: they dig the tunnels of your dungeon, mine your gold, get your pets and cages, and ensure that the whole operation players are planning comes together. At conventions, our imp staff serves the same function: they’re the ones that make sure the entire room is a fun and exciting place for people to be! This is especially important at a larger convention like Gen Con, where CGE has its own giant room outside of the expo hall with many demo tables and a constant stream of eager players looking to sit down and play. It takes a large demo team to make that happen when you have tables with more than 40 games being played at once at any given moment in the convention.

As an imp, your focus is on explaining and teaching games to interested attendees. Think of this like being a “game master.” You’re running a game for people who don’t know how to play it, and your goal is to show them what’s cool and interesting about the game. This is much more involved than teaching the game to your friends: as an imp, you’re managing the entire experience that your players are having!

Being an imp is more than a job, of course. It’s meant to be fun and comes with other perks (more on that in a bit). Ultimately, you’re spending a significant portion of your day at a convention telling people why your favorite CGE game is awesome, and you’re trying to ensure that your table has a great experience playing a game that you love. Many of our imps come back and work with us year-to-year, and we’ve forged some great friendships among the core team.

Details and Perks

Shifts are eight hours a day, but you get breaks over the course of the day. We try to make sure that our imps stay healthy and hydrated, and provide snacks and water throughout the convention. You’ll get paid $15 an hour, are given convention badge, and we provide hotel rooms. If you’re local, we’ll reimburse your parking, of course. You’ll also receive two snazzy CGE t-shirts and a free game from CGE at the end of the show. 

Even if you’re working full shifts, the cool thing about Gen Con is it's a long show and there are still plenty of times to explore and enjoy the convention when you aren’t working, too. And don’t worry: we provide a ton of training to make sure you’re all set to go and you'll have lots of other opportunities to practice the game you’re demoing beforehand.

“One of the things that I loved about being an imp was, honestly, being a part of something bigger than myself,” notes Gus Cook, our Imp Coordinator who spent years working on our demo team at different conventions. “You’re on a big team, with some REALLY cool and fun people, and you’re spending your whole day working on and promoting games that you love and believe in. There’s a lot of camaraderie amongst imps and amongst CGE, and it’s a lot more than a ‘job’ for the people who do it.”

Peep this goofy IG reel of our team at Essen last year - we like to have fun.

What are the Requirements?

What makes a good imp and what are we looking for? For starters, you definitely have to enjoy learning games, teaching them to others, and meeting lots and lots of new people. This is a very social position, so being friendly and comfortable working with complete strangers is a must. You also, ideally, should be a fan of CGE: this does not necessarily mean that you have to love every game we’ve ever put out, but it does mean that you either like our company’s ethos or really like a few games that we’ve made. Also, we’re mainly focusing on imp candidates who are based in the US.

Another very important thing worth mentioning: this role can be a physically demanding job. You’re talking for up to eight hours a day in a loud room, and you need to be ok with being on your feet and being energetic and mobile all day.

Flexibility is also essential for being a great imp candidate. A lot of assumptions that you have coming in about a game or how to teach it might not work as well as you expect them to. So you need to be open and responsive to learning and growing with the role, and you need to be ready to trust CGE staff as well as other imps who have demoed before. We really do know many of the “best practices” involved with presenting our games, and we want to help you understand those practices yourself. You also need to like people! You’re going to be around a LOT of people all day, and you’re going to need to be as friendly and personable as possible.

So…does all of that still sound good? Yes? Great!

How to Apply:

It’s fairly simple. Anyone interested in applying for an imp role for Gen Con this year should send an email to: gus@czechgames.com — ideally as soon as possible, since August is approaching rapidly. Tell us a bit about yourself and why you want to be an imp, and list up to five games from the CGE catalog that you would be most excited to demo at the show. You can expect a fairly quick response! Thanks again!