Beginning with the 1997 show, Origins began to branch out to pop culture and not just gaming.  This was the year the inaugural media guest, Bruce Campbell of the Evil Dead trilogy among other TV shows and films, attended the convention as a draw.  Though Campbell was the first, he was far from the last. The following year saw two actors famous from Star Wars, David Prowse and Jeremy Bullock, as well as Mira Furlan from the TV show Babylon 5.  Furlan even performed during a special live-action role-playing event where she reprised her character from TV.  Stars from Babylon 5 frequently attended Origins over the next several years, as did other media guests.  They were a feature of the convention into the mid-2000s and periodically would attend in years after that.

During this period, the show continued under Wizards of the Coast’s stewardship through 2001.  At that time, Hasbro, who owned Wizards of the Coast, decided they wanted to get out of the convention business.  Origins was returned to GAMA to manage, and the group would find itself for the first time having to run the convention itself.  No longer would GAMA let others handle the show, it was now a task GAMA would have to handle on its own.  Some attempts at putting their own spin on the convention were made.  This included the creation of three mascots for the convention; Delt, Rold, and Reggie.  They were, respectively, all anthropomorphized versions of a card, a six-sided die, and the letter O.  More impactful were the creation of a spouse track and a Teacher’s Hall Pass.  The former was designed to get non-gaming partners out to explore Columbus in group tours for wine, food, and the zoo.  Within a few short years this would be transformed into activities for the family.  The educator’s program was aimed at showing teachers how they could use games in the classroom to open up the convention to a new audience.  A section of the convention dedicated to games and education is something that persists to this day at Origins.

GAMA was not the only one making some changes at the con.  Mayfair Games kicked off a craze for badge ribbons that many people still cannot seem to fulfil at the show each year.  Though Mayfair’s badge ribbons were not the first ribbons of the convention, GAMA for instance used badge ribbons as unlimited passes to certain event categories; they did kick off the craze to collect them.  Debuting at the 2006 Origins, Mayfair started a program where for each game of theirs you demoed you would receive a Settlers of Catan themed ribbon.  When you had collected enough of these you could get them marked off in return for a prize from Mayfair and a 50% off coupon for one of their games.  People loved collecting these ribbons, and people did not stop at the minimum needed to receive something from Mayfair.  It was not uncommon to see some people at the convention with ribbons dangling below their badge nearly to the floor. This is an example of just one of the many fun things people find to do with their time at shows like Origins beyond socializing and playing games. 

Around this era, the mid to late 2000s, Origins saw a serious decline in what it had originally been known for, wargaming.  There were still some exciting events happening in this space at the convention, like the Uncle Duke miniatures experiences put on in 2004 and 2006 which showcased massive battlegrounds in settings like Lord of the Rings with thousands of miniatures.  However, even with some initiatives like Duke Seifried’s and the popular War College program that was started in the early 1990s, wargames at Origins were in decline.  This all began to change in the early 2010s, when Brant Guillory began working with the website Grogheads and GAMA form the Wargame HQ.  This group focused on centralizing the board wargames together to bring attention to them and it worked.  More wargame vendors came back to the show to exhibit, and the number of board wargame events has expanded, now under care of the Armchair Dragoons.  Though wargaming does not have the same place it did at Origins in the 1970s and 1980s, this important homage to the convention’s roots has persisted to this day thanks to their efforts.