Over half our attendees wear cosplay costumes, dressed like characters from anime, video games, comics, and beyond. Some people come in everyday clothes as well. You can participate in the convention in costume or not, it's up to you! We have special events for people to compete with their costumes, like our cosplay contests.
We welcome you to join staff or submit an event for the convention. If you're a company that wants to help the convention with free stuff, please contact us. Don't contact us if you want us to provide anything more than advertising or space for you.
We understand that we geeks and nerds can be a loud and rambunctious lot, and that's totally cool. However we have little tolerance for things that make the convention less fun for other people. Harassment, stalking, breaking things, and general recklessness are absolutely not allowed.
You may request press access at our press page.
All weapons and large props must be inspected and approved by our operations or security staff at the convention. We will then "peace mark" them, by affixing a ribbon or mark that indicates we have checked them, and, if necessary "peace bond" them by using ribbon or ties to keep your weapon from being drawn or used (for example, by someone who doesn't know the rules and sneaks up behind you and grabs it). Attendees must realize that it is a privilege to bring large props and weapons to the convention, and everyone must take great care to be careful not to damage things, whack people, or otherwise do anything that seems dangerous. We allow certain specific prop weapons and large prop items, but anything not listed below is not allowed. Please understand that due to crowding, space, or safety issues, we may have to change the rules mid-convention at any time.
Any weapons may be disallowed at any time at the discretion of con staff.
Anime-ZAP! had over 700 people per day in 2013, 600 people per day in 2012. We then started getting 1,000 and more people starting in 2014 and beyond. We had 400 people per day in 2011, and 100 people per day in 2010. So you can expect a convention with over 1,000 fans of anime at our next event.
Please make absolutely sure that your question is not already answered on our website, or otherwise obvious. We will not reply if your question is already answered here. We're busy putting together the largest winter anime convention in Illinois, and we don't have much time to answer questions. If you're sure your question will help the convention, you can contact us.
On Wednesday at 3:19 AM on January 13th, 2010 we learned that Pokettokon had been cancelled. The staff of QC Anime-zing! was planning to check it out and advertise our convention in just an hour and a half away. With the con being cancelled, we couldn't do that. So we built Anime-ZAP! In less than 12 hours we had a new Peoria anime convention.
We expected that several people had already changed their plans and wouldn't be able to come. We didn't expect a huge event. Despite this, we had over 150 attendees in that first year.
We didn't have special guests of honor, but we had videogaming, anime showing, and lots of fun! The event was Saturday from 9am to Midnight and Sunday from 11am to 5pm. Anime-zap! - the instant anime convention.
Our second year was also awesome. We moved to a larger convention center, and had over 400 attendees. There were plenty of great events, video games, dances, dealers, and plenty of cool things to do.
Our third year was held at the Four Points Hotel in Downtown Peoria, with over 600 attendees. The convention excitingly provided more events, more games, and more entertainment than ever!
Ever since, we have been holding our awesome 3-day convention annually in January. Each year around 1,000 cosplayers, anime fans, and other geeks join us for a weekend of fun.
