ON-SITE ACTIVITIES

A big Volunteer kickoff on Sunday morning before the pre-show! An opportunity for the volunteers to meet one another, split folks into groups with their fellow department members, and provide some light icebreakers.

Pokémon games have a long history of glitches and glitched speedruns, which brings up the question: How did we find all of this and put these routes together? Join stump (and perhaps some other runners of the time) for a look back at how glitched first-gen Pokémon speedrun routes developed over time as new discoveries were made, how the glitches and routes work, and what it takes to go from a new glitch or a new tech idea to building a full route around it.

Speedrunning is an international activity! Come join to learn more about what's going on in the world of speedrunning outside the US. We'll talk about both in-person and online events of all sizes and opportunities to get involved in the global speedrunning community!

A hands-on introduction to chainmail! Participants will learn 1-3 beginner chainmail weaves and create a bracelet. Materials provided and tools loaned. If you're interested in this meetup ahead of time, let the host know by filling out the form [here!](https://forms.gle/y5YzsdNKVW5hgLQn8)

Just because we're gamers doesn't mean we can't look good too! This panel, put together by some of the best dressed folk at GDQ aims to help people who want to elevate their look and fashion sense. Whether you need tips on building a basic wardrobe and outfits, tips on styling what you already have or generally learning why fashion can be an important part of your identity, this panel is for you!

With AGDQ taking place in January, now is the perfect time to start thinking about filing your 2025 tax return. Normally this would be a super uninteresting topic...but what if there was someone wearing a cool wizard hat? Join me as I help demystify the filing process for professional streamers, self-employed artists, employees who fund their gaming hobbies with their boring desk job, and more! Please note that this panel will only cover filing a US Individual Income Tax Return, also known as a Federal Tax Return, or Form 1040, but all are welcome to attend, regardless of filing requirement. You still might learn a thing or two to apply to your state or non-US income taxes! From someone wearing a cool wizard hat! If you would like to fill out an anonymous survey for the panel, there is a form [here!](https://forms.gle/E3iVisaTBYCvf22V8)

A meetup for polyamorous/ethically non-monogamous folks!

Join GDQ Lead Designer Chris Hanel and GDQ Head of Software Projects Corvimae as they give design feedback on the overlays used by events across the speedrunning community! Learn how to design event overlays that better convey important information to viewers while looking good doing it via examples submitted for review by the community.

An overview of the organizing process and ending with a Q & A going into detail about how everything will work for the 70 star Super Mario 64 relay, which will be on GDQ later in the week!

You got little things you wanna swap? Stickers, pins, buttons, bracelets, tiny statues, shiny rocks, that kind of thing? Bring it to the Crow Trinket Trading Meetup, where we will be swapping fun little things with one another to satisfy our inner corvids.

Frame Fatales is a community of women and femmes who are interested in speedrunning, charity events, and gaming. You're welcome to attend our meetup if you identify as femme or a woman in any way that is meaningful to you. Cis, trans, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming individuals are all welcome to join the Fatales community!

Want to see a bunch of unhinged hot takes about several topics in gaming from people who are entirely too passionate about games? We will have a group of self proclaimed experts trying to convince you why their unique take is objectively correct, and as the audience you will vote who is hinged and who is unhinged.

GDQ Jeopardy is back, and this time we are focusing on community programming! You might had seen their tables or been to their meetups, but how much do you really know about the communities here at AGDQ? blackheartwings and Ozmourn will host this special community edition of GDQ Jeopardy, featuring members of the Back to Black, AAPI, and Latin/Hispanic communities!

Lady Arcaders is an all-women & femme gaming community! Link up with fellow members to talk about gaming, and see friends old and new! All women & femme gamers are welcome, whether you're in the community already or not. We'd love to meet you!

A meeting for Frame Fatales to play Blood on the Clocktower!

It’s Rock, Paper, Scissors. That’s it. No tricks, no surprises, no gimmicks. It’s just Rock, Paper, Scissors. Best of 3. Single Elimination. You lose, you’re out. May the best win.

Every Games Done Quick event has something truly special. Game of the Year speedruns, classic games getting the spotlight, hidden gems, and a whole lot more get showcased to thousands of people. The amount of time these runners put into a game is remarkable. However, not all games are like this. They are some games that don't meet that criteria, yet they are still a fantastic watch. These are the awfully silly runs. Games that are so bad, they're good and entertaining to watch. Today, we'll look into what truly makes a fantastic awfully silly run, and the true art behind it.

Want to start streaming, but don't have the best computer? Learn how to start with a midrange or underpowered laptop and a console and add one peripheral at a time so that you can have a functional streaming setup.

Don your dictionary and tackle your thesaurus for The 1st Annual Gaming Spelling Bee. Featuring words inspired by games and runners at AGDQ 2026, put your gaming (and spelling!) knowledge to the ultimate test. All are welcome to participate and attend (and anyone in the audience will have a chance to join in the fun). Hosted by the Frame Fatales!

Join adef & Melo for an afternoon of laughs, chortles, and dare I say, even some giggles, as the two improvise live! Outside of planning interviews and checkpoints, adef & Melo are both trained improvisers, adef having trained at the UCB in both LA & NYC, and Melo having trained improv at Chaos Bloom Theater & clown at Ecole Philippe Gaulier and with teachers from around the world. The two are once again joining forces to bring you a completely original, fully improvised set! Audience suggestions will generate entire worlds that adef & Melo will create live, before your very eyes. How magical! How splendiforous! That's a word! It is! I promise, it is! Don't look it up! Just believe me! Who am I? I'm the disembodied narrator in your head that reads stuff out loud when you scan lines on a page. How are you? That's good. Having fun at AGDQ? Great. Go to this improv show.

Open sessions to play Blood on the Clocktower! Blood on the Clocktower is a social deduction game of murder and mystery, lies and logic, deduction and deception, for five to twenty players and one storyteller. Every role has a unique power, and death doesn't mean that you're done playing your role. Come join the game that is an evolution of the social deduction genre, awarded with much fanfare and acclaim. Familiarity with other social deduction games is recommended but not required.  

2nd running of this meetup, due to popular demand! A hands-on introduction to chainmail! Participants will learn 1-3 beginner chainmail weaves and create a bracelet. Materials provided and tools loaned. If you're interested in this meetup ahead of time, let the host know by filling out the form [here!](https://forms.gle/y5YzsdNKVW5hgLQn8)

Bring your craft, be that sewing, knitting, woodworking, terrarium design, friendship bracelets, or any other activity where you start with raw materials and end up with something incredible!

A look into how DK64 Randomizer was started and how we develop and maintain it.

Meet up with your fellow crafting enthusiasts and learn to crochet a Super Star from the Mario series! All levels of experience welcome, and experienced crocheters will be present to help teach the basics. Supplies will be provided, and you are welcome to keep what you create! Any extra completed stars will be set aside to be given as gifts to the participants and organizers of the Super Mario 64 70-person relay.

This will be a meetup of GDQ attendees who are parents, want to be parents, or will soon be parents. There will be craft station where everyone can make their own souvenir for their kid(s). This is a great opportunity for people with children to find other people who not only understand the parenting lifestyle but also share similar interests. 

This a meetup for any and all Latin/Hispanic and/or AAPI members of the speedrunning community! Whether you’re a runner, a volunteer, or just an enjoyer of speedruns, if you identify as Latin/Hispanic and/or AAPI in any way that’s meaningful to you, please come join us!  Visit our community table for more information!

A meetup for speedrunners, volunteers, and attendees from outside of the US. Partners and expats are also welcome to attend! Come meet other folks from outside the US and chat about opportunities and things happening within the global speedrunning world!

Representation matter, especially for the disabled community. We say that newer media has been very progressive about that, but how true is this? Where did the representation start, where is it now, and how has this effected the community at large? How has Western and Eastern animation seen disability and is there a big difference?

You've donated towards your favorite game or runner, applied it to an incentive, and maybe it was even read live on stream! Where does your money go after that? How do your donations support cancer research and prevention? Join us for a panel on the basics of cancer research! We'll walk through basic cancer biology, the projects that PCF supports, how cancer and research funding works, and the latest advancements in cancer screenings and treatments. This panel is accessible to everyone; no science background needed.

Frame Fatales is a community of women and femmes who are interested in speedrunning, charity events, and gaming. You're welcome to attend our meetup if you identify as femme or a woman in any way that is meaningful to you. Cis, trans, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming individuals are all welcome to join the Fatales community!

This is a meetup for the community members of Binary Breakers who are in attendance at the event. 

The Steel City Speedsters (SCS), western PA's very own speedrunning community, invites you to come on dahn and learn more about how YOU can start your own local scene! The SCS admin team will offer lessons learned, helpful advice, questions you should ask yourself when starting a geo-local community, outreach guidance, and even how to get started on running your first event. SCS has grown to almost 100 members in less than a year and has organized two successful speedrun marathons in the Pittsburgh area. The panel will conclude with a Q\&A and an opportunity to network.

GDQ Talent Show! This talent show will be showcase all the talents that the GDQ attendees have to offer, whether it’s singing your heart out, playing an instrument, your best magic trick, or your hidden strange talent that will excite the crowd, you can show off your talents here! You can submit your own set through the [submission form here](https://forms.gle/MHZLitiVWMntW5vt5) and then at AGDQ 2026 we will show off a 90 minute setlist with the submitted sets! You can submit with a maximum of 4 people, including yourself. Don’t want to submit? You don’t need to! Just come and watch the show with your fellow community members and see the talent that GDQ has! IF YOUR TALENT INVOLVES INSTRUMENTS OR PROPS, YOU MUST PROVIDE THEM YOURSELF.

Open sessions to play Blood on the Clocktower! Blood on the Clocktower is a social deduction game of murder and mystery, lies and logic, deduction and deception, for five to twenty players and one storyteller. Every role has a unique power, and death doesn't mean that you're done playing your role. Come join the game that is an evolution of the social deduction genre, awarded with much fanfare and acclaim. Familiarity with other social deduction games is recommended but not required.  

A holiday white elephant gift exchange with a twist: Everyone who wants to participate brings a random physical (if possible) game to be someone's new speedgame. Ideally, spending no more than $15-20 to allow more people to participate and to encourage older / weirder / bad games. The Twist? Everyone's secret gift giver and gift recipient are completely random! In the event someone gets a game they can't play, don't want, or have a copy of, then they will be allowed to trade with other participants or a pool of 5-7 additional games I'll be bringing in reserve so that everyone can walk home with something interesting.

Are you interested in volunteering with GDQ but don't know where to get started? Have you submitted an application, but want to learn how to be a stronger candidate? Curious about the process and statistics behind GDQ volunteering? Come join spef and a panel of volunteering department leads to learn more about the many ways you can volunteer with GDQ, the application and selection process, and how volunteering has changed over the years!

A meetup for members of the Fastest Furs speedrunning community at AGDQ (and furries/furry-curious attendees).

A 1-2 hour session where anyone in the audience can join in on a jam session of video game music. The music will be polled and a set list will be created there. The music will be provided by VGLeadSheets which has accessible music for all. If you have any requests there is a form [here!](https://forms.gle/mGqPwLEnRB9o46qy5)

Brought an instrument to GDQ? Looking for connections for potential future performances? Stop by and make some plans!

Brendan Becker, once CEO of MAGFest, will regale you with stories about how he pivoted from running a family-friendly kegger to heading up a tech education facility in Pittsburgh.