So, I get to go to this thing every year called the Gathering.
If you've heard of it, it is a tiny con of about 300+ people that used to be swathed in secrecy. Dark secrets abound as to what heinous Eurocentric activities occur within its hallowed walls. Within the 300, there lurks names like Days of Wonder, Rio Grande, Alan Moon, Alea, Ravensburger, Eggertspiele, Hans im Gluck, Z-Man games, Zoch, Friedemann Friese, Phalanx Games.
They are here. They play a lot of prototypes to get gamer reactions, and play each other's prototypes. They also just play a lot of games. It doesn't work like other cons, because they don't really have to put on the full salesman hats, and just run demos.