Thousands of Canberrans and interstate visitors have turned up to compete in tournaments, marvel at displays and visit trade stands at the CANCON Festival at Exhibition Park this weekend.

The event is Australia's biggest tabletop games convention, and runs over three days in the nation's capital.

From mainstream favourites to games with obscure niche followings, the convention caters to a wide array of tastes.

Organiser Tim Sleigh said he was pleased by the size of this year's crowd.

"I've been running them for 17 or 18 years at Exhibition Park and it's getting bigger every year," he said.

"Yesterday 5,500 came through the doors in the morning, it's very busy."

Mr Sleigh said that by broadening the convention's target audience and adding more games to the mix, he had been able to attract more revellers.

"One of the things we've been doing is widening our market so instead of people just playing miniature games we've got more board games, we've got more participation," he said.

"We've got pretty much all of the popular miniature games, we've got new games, a lot of historical ones ... The board games are mostly the games that are popular in Europe.

"Instead of families coming in to drop off whoever is playing, the family now stays and plays games too ... There's no limit in being too young or too old. One of our stands is designed for kids."

He said the festival gave people curious about the world of tabletop games the chance to try the pastime for themselves.

"You can come along to the games library and learn a new game. For people who want to get into the hobby, we can show you how to do it," he said.

Entry for spectators is free, and the festival finishes on Sunday.