What is UB-CON?
UBCon is an annual convention at the University at Buffalo (SUNY) that's been running since 1990. It is brought to you by the Student club SARPA (Strategists and RolePlayers Association), with the assistance of UB Anime and UB Cosplay. While its origins primarily focused on tabletop gaming, UBCon has come to encompass all of nerd culture. This campus based Convention features open tabletop gaming rooms, a large variety of events run by the community (usually over 100), and a chance to interact and connect with our honored guests from various fields like Voice Acting, Cosplay, and more!
UBCon 2027 is scheduled for April 16-18!
UBCon 2027 is scheduled for April 16-18!
PAST YEARS
UBCon 2025: Myths and Legends
UBCon 2025 was our latest and 34th con, with a Greek mythology theme. Featuring our honored guests Khoi Dao, Laura Stahl, and David Vincent. We received over 100 event submissions! Attendees enjoyed a live band, a two-night rave, a masquerade ball, and the years-awaited return of the open video gaming room. The Nerf War was also massive this year— you could tell everyone was happy to have the Student Union back!
UBCon 2024: Kaiju Edition
UBCon 2024 was the 33rd UBCon and sported a Kaiju theme, with special guests Corinne Sudberg and the Nitpicking Nerds. This year was a bit of a doozy, as half of the student union was blocked off for construction! We lost our registration area and couldn't use the Student Union theater, our main event room. Despite that, SARPA powered through and had a full con. A huge shout-out to everyone who made the Nerf war still happen— that wasn't easy!
UBCon 2023: Zombies
UBCon 2023 was the 32nd Con with a zombie theme. Another more low-key year with everyone still recovering from lockdown and introducing big events again. Our special guests were Quinton Reviews & Hippie Rat (both returning from 2022), along with voice actress Cherami Leigh. Quinton Reviews even filmed a live episode for his channel, which you can still watch today!
UBCon 2022: The Game Has Begun
UBCon 2022 was the 31st con and the return to an in-person convention, after the small online UBCon 2020 and the year off in 2021. While everyone was still adjusting to in-person events, we still had a great time at con. Our special guests were Youtubers Quinton Reviews and Hippie Rat, along with voice actors Katelyn Gault and Kyle McCarley.
UBCon 2019: A Lasting Legacy
UBCon 2019 was our 30th con! This year, we wanted to reflect on the past three decades of UBCon and SARPA, so our theme was "A Lasting Legacy". Our special guests were voice actor Ian Sinclair along with cosplayers Lucky Grim Creative and Lolliath Arts. As part of the theme, we also gave long-time con overlord Dave Schwartz a position as a special guest and he hosted a "History of UBCon" panel. Rest in peace, Dave, we hope to keep UBCon alive and strong as something you'd be proud of.
UBCon 2018: A Bard's Rhyme
UBCon 2018 was our 29th year! Our featured guests were voice actors Spike Spencer and Sarah Anne Williams. Both ran some pretty cool panels, including Spencer's "How to Be a Frickin' Genius Voice Actor, Step One". We had an epic thirty five D&D campaigns running during this year's con!
UBCon 2017: A Sorcerer's Fate
UBCon 2017 was our 28th year, sporting a Sorcery theme! Our featured guests were voice actors Phil Lamarr and Austin Tindle, along with Magic: The Gathering artist Zack Stella. It was a big year for tabletop gaming, with two open game rooms and campaigns for D&D, Pathfinder, Dread, Shadowrun, Edge of the Empire, and more. UB Cosplay also did a lot this year: they ran a relaxing tea room, filmed a Behind the Scenes Documentary, ran 4 panels, and put on their biggest Murder Mystery Show yet. The club was still on the newer side at the time, but 2017 solidified their spot as a main component of UBCon!
UBCon 2016: Dragon's Hoard
UBCon 2016 was our 27th year, going all in on D&D for the theme. Our featured guests were voice actors Michael Dobson, Eric Stuart, and Richard Epcar. Alongside UBCon's signature variety of tabletop campaigns, there were a lot of anime events. Attendees celebrated series such as Attack on Titan, Hetalia, Tokyo Ghoul, and a variety of sports anime. This year also included the first UBCon League of Legends tournament, which took over the Student Union lobby!
Do you have any awesome CON photos?
We are striving to make this page into a place everyone can look back on to remember their good times at con. If you have any photos you would like to show off, send em over! Even as the event organizers, we don't always have the chance to capture all of our awesome events, and we would love to represent our community better!
