About me:

.. .. We are the Music and Gaming Festival. Every year we aim to be the most enjoyable videogame party with the largest videogame rock concert in the world. We also do showings of videogame movies and cartoons, discussions on videogame culture, and more!

Special guests have included ScrewAttack, X-Strike Studios, PBC Productions, Main Moon Productions, and more, with many bands including The Minibosses, NESkimos, Chromelodeon Shawn Phase / Temp Sound Solutions, and Powerglove on the music end.

This year we're welcoming even more guests, so be sure to check out our main site for all the latest info, forums, events and more!..

Want some MAGFest gear? We have some merch for you in these flavors: MAGFestroid, MAGFestius Merch, MAGFest M3, MAGFest 2.0,

If you want some buddy icons and stuff for you to put on your website or to use on forums:

What is MAGFest?

MAGFest is a video and computer gaming festival run by fans, for fans. Some like to call us a convention, others like to call us a party. Both of these are somewhat accurate, but really, MAGFest is a unique experience that we hope you'll enjoy.

We're similar to most fan-based (in particular, anime, scifi, or fantasy) conventions, but we do things a little differently. We're a lot more laid-back. We don't have a huge dealer room. Our special guests tend to fit right in and socialize with the rest of the crowd. Our "costume contest" has a reputation of being a "costume roast". Lots of attendees set up games in their rooms and leave their door open to invite others inside.

When is MAGFest?

MAGFest is scheduled for January 1..st.. - 4..th.., Thursday through Sunday, the first weekend of the year. We'll start doing setup, handling early registrations / general questions, and at least have something to do starting early afternoon Thursday for anyone arriving early. This is also a great time to wander around and get to know the hotel, guests and other people attending MAGFest. We're also planning something special for people that show up New Year's Eve. More on that soon.

We're sorry if it doesn't fit your schedule, but we've received an influx of positive responses about our dates. If you want to go, we can make one recommendation, ask for time off now -- or as soon as you're sure you're attending -- and remind your boss/professor/parents a few times before the actual dates. You'll regret it later if you don't.

Where is MAGFest?

MAGFest 7 will be held where we had it last year, at the Hilton Mark Center in Alexandria, VA.



The hotel really is that sexy, and the Mark Center is happy to have us back for a second year. Help us keep them happy! =]

The address:
5000 Seminary Road
Alexandria, VA 22311
[map]

The phone number:
+1 (703) 845-1010 (24 hours)

Discounted MAGFest rooms are now available for the price of $99/night (1-4 people per room, kings and doubles). Hotels call our type of hotel block "run of house" which means that you can choose what kind of room you want but once that type of room is gone, it's gone, so if they run out of doubles, you might get stuck with a king bed. If you contact us, we might be able to help, but no guarantees so reserve early!

If you don't want to call the hotel, you can reserve your room for MAGFest online here.

Last year the hotel oversold our room block, because they rock. We've got that room block once again, but please, don't reseerve at the last minute because there are no guarantees they will do it again for us! You'll get slim pickings on a room at best, NO room at worst. Call at least a couple months in advance. When we announce the room block is open on the website, you can get one, and until we announce the hotel is full on the website, the hotel is still accepting room registrations. Lastly, our group code is "MAG". Make sure to mention that, "Music and Gaming Festival", or "magfest" when you talk to the hotel.

There are a ton of reasons to stay at the MAGFest hotel:

It's a lot more fun! It's easy to go downstairs and play games in the middle of the night.

You'll be nextdoor to MAGFest-goers. Make friends with your neighbors without worrying that they're a businessman.

It's cheap! We arranged for $100/night at the hotel, including parking, cheaper than almost all other conventions.

The more rooms we fill, the happier our hotel is.

You'll get a discount on parking!

Directions:

Want to rideshare? Just create a profile on our site! You can specify whether you need a ride or you can provide one, and more. You can view the list of rides here

Remember! These directions are no substitution for a good map or mapping service. You may be able to rely on them solely, but getting a second opinion really can't hurt.

Parking:
The Hilton listened! After listening to the feedback panel at M6 the Hilton lowered parking from $9/day to $1/day for MAGFest attendees. A whole dollar!

By Car:
Northern Virginia is basically south/southwest of DC. The short story is you're going to take exit 4 (Seminary Rd) from 395, go west (if you're coming from the south, that's a left turn) on Seminary Rd about a block, and the hotel is the big huge blue thing on your left. There is a parking charge but it's only $13/day or $9/day if you stay at the hotel.

From VA and points SOUTH of DC:
Basically, you want to get to 395. When you're headed north on 95, you'll hit what the locals call the "mixing bowl", which is about three billion highways trying to intersect at once on an interstate. DO NOT EXIT and 95 will just turn into 395.

From "east" MD and points NORTH of DC:
Okay, you guys have two options. First you'll get on 95 going south, and then you can either do the sane thing and get on the beltway or the crazy thing and go through DC. For the beltway, just go around the thing around to the east (this is also the way 95 follows by default) and then when you come to the bottom you'll take the exit for highway 395, which goes north. Then follow the directions at the top of the car section.

If you're feeling a bit crazy, exit 52 from I-95 (in Maryland) is the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. You can get on that, go south for about a half-hour, exit onto New York Ave (highway 50 W) for 5 miles, and there will be a "left turn" to get you onto 395 going south. Then just follow the directions up there under By Car. In theory, this is a shorter and quicker route, but during traffic rush (especially in the mornings) you will probably NOT want to do this.

From "west" MD and general points WEST of DC:
If you're in western MD (anywhere west of Frederick), the left half of PA, etc., there's a chance you're kinda near interstate 70. You can jump on 70 going east until you hit 270, then take that south to the DC beltway, 495. Take 495 south (towards "Northern Virginia") and then when you see the exit for 395, take that north and follow the directions at the top of the car section.

BTW, if you're near Harrisburg, we're pretty sure you know about 83 by now, but don't forget it'll take you right to 695 S in Balitmore to 95 S, then follow the "from the north" directions. State College kids, do 220->99 and follow the "from the west" directions.

By Metro:
A direct hotel shuttle stops near/at the bus stops outside the Pentagon ..City.. and King Street metro, and also at the airport. The shuttle schedules are:

:10 Pentagon City Metro
:20 DCA Airport
:30 King Street Metro
:40 Pentagon City Metro
:50 DCA Airport

It does not stop at any of these places on the hour (:00). You can take the blue or the yellow line to either of the stops. For reference, the airport is halfway between these two stops, so if you take a metro towards the airport and accidentally miss one stop, you can just get off at the other one.

The hotel shuttle will probably look something like this:

....except the Mark Center shuttles look more silver/dark grey than this picture.

However, speaking of the airport, if you're flying, you don't want to use the metro at all, you'll want....

By Air:
The Hilton Mark Center actually offers a shuttle (really this time!) to and from DCA airport (commonly referred to as "Reagan" or "National") if you need a ride. The shuttle stops near the "gate 5 and 9" baggage claims at :20 and :40 after the hour. Please remember that driving is a tipping service, and you probably won't be able to get picked up at 3am unless you call the hotel.

In the event you can't / won't fly into DCA, you can fly into Dulles (IAD) or BWI. Please remember that directions are a bit more complicated to the hotel and no shuttle service is available if you can't fly into DCA.

Basic directions from BWI involve getting yourself to 95 south (you can use 195 west from the airport) and then follow the car directions.

What about the last MAGFest?

MAGFest VI was held 3-6 Jan 2008 at the Hilton Mark Center in Alexandria, VA, and we broke the 1000 mark. At last, all of MAGFest could be on one floor! By far it was the most well-organised MAGFest to date.
MAGFest M5 was held 4-7 Jan 2007 with nearly 1000 attendance. This time it was held at the Sheraton Premiere in Vienna, VA. This year's big landmark was "we had enough staff".
MAGFest M4 was held 13-15 Jan 2006, and we're pleased to say the convention basically sustains itself now (though not us). We grew to 150% yet again, and definitely pushed the limits of the Doubletree Hilton in Charlottesville, VA. Despite our fairly constant issues with not having enough staffers, this was our most organized year yet, and we think it shows.
MAGFest M3 was held 1-3 Oct 2004, and among other things, the festival (though not its owners, or vice versa depending on how you look at it) is finally out of debt. We still don't know how many people came but we're guessing we topped 500.

MAGFest 2.0 was held Halloween weekend (31 Oct - 2 Nov 2003) and was a fantastic social success. The con grew to about 150% its previous size, and everyone left with a smile on their face. MAGFest was even almost out of debt.
The first MAGFest was held the 27-29th of September 2002, at the Holiday Inn Tanglewood in Roanoke, VA. The attendance was over 250.