players have Blizzcon. Fans of Id Software have Quakecon. Now, fans of Firaxis franchises likeandhave Firaxicon.

A little under 200 people paid $40 for tickets to attend this first-of-its-kind fan gathering this weekend, put on by the developer in its hometown of Cockeysville, Maryland, just outside of Baltimore. Your humble gaming editor was among them, taking in the sights and sounds that included demo time on a pre-release version of the upcoming Civilization: Beyond Earth, an XCom: Enemy Unknown tournament, tons of board games, and a dinner discussion with Sid Meier himself. We also tagged along for a behind the scenes tour of Firaxis' offices, located just a few minutes away from the convention hotel.

The one-day event was a far cry from major gaming conventions like E3 or PAX, but what it lacked in size it made up for in the passion of the fans, many of whom were Firaxis die-hards from back when the company was still known as Microprose. If the interest in this year's event was any indication, we're guessing Firaxicon 2015 will be a much larger gathering that cements the company as part of the annual gaming convention calendar.