GenCon 2025

Anybody else planning on attending? I think I'll be up there all four days.

I did Origins this year so will not be heading to Gen Con, unfortunately. I did just see pictures of the Trick or Treat booth, they are repping Camp Grizzly hard!

Have a great time, try not to be consumed by the Indiana Sun.

Luckily the temperature is supposed to be dropping after today!

Got any highlights to share?

I gotta work Gencon in one of these days. I do Dragoncon pretty regularly but that's a biiiiig mix of all sorts of stuff and gencon seems much more gaming focused.

It's more "buy games" focused than actually "play games" but there is quite a lot of that as well.

Haven't been to Gen Con since the early 90s, when it was still in Milwaukee but, yes, it does seem like it's shifted to be more of a "pre-sale" trade show than a gaming convention (similarly to how "Comic" Con in San Diego has become far more about TV and film projects.) Like Jason, I'd like to go one of these days, but I'm less enthused about shelling out thousands in tickets and hotels (Indy is about a 4-hour drive from here, so at least there wouldn't be plane travel involved) for a trade show than I might've been in the past.

I will probably return to Gen Con next year. I love going, and I love downtown Indy. I just wish it was easier to get a downtown room. It's a totally different experience if you have one.

I went up late Thursday. My college buddy Larry and his son Kevin and I hit the Czech Games room for some demos. Played Little Alchemist and Spicey. Both were fine but nothing to get excited about. All the demo people seemed very nice. Would have liked to have played the giant Galaxy Trucker game but I'm getting too old to get down on the floor.

Friday got there a little earlier but still no parking downtown so I hit the Lucas Oil lot. Everything seems kind of pricey. $30 bucks to park, I saw some VIP RPG sessions $100 a ticket and I hear True Dungeon was like $120. We cruised the dealer room then toured Lucas Oil. Went to the Social Cantina for lunch. They had picked up Robo Rally Transformers so we played a game of that. You can switch form between bots and cars and there are some player specific upgrades you can install. The board has elements that have different effects depending on what mode you are in. I had brought King of Monster Island and we played three games of it, with Larry's boy Neal joining us to make it a four player game. I didn't read to the last line of the rules so we were giving the boss monster too few turns. Google maps screwed me going home, not realizing I couldn't hit 465 from 70 because of construction, so I was pretty late getting home to Bloomington that night.

I was tired Saturday so I just chilled out at home. Sunday I woke up pretty early and felt pretty good so I decided to head on up for the last day. Hit the dealer room, ran into about five people I knew and picked up the new Warcrow starter from Corvus Belli. Gundam, Battle for Hoth, and Battletech Gothic all seemed to sell pretty well. I heard attendance was like 72,000 this year. The new electronic ticketing seemed to help with the will call line.

One of these days I’d like to check it out , but between the throngs of people and the Hunger games nature of securing a hotel, I doubt it will happen.

A lot of companies are always looking for help at the con. Most will at least pay for your badge and I think some at least help with lodging.

It’s a time/hassle thing, not a money thing. I am not traveling halfway across the country to work in a booth.

The value proposition is terrible for con workers when you consider time and money. But I found I really enjoyed working cons (when I used to in college and immediate post-college years).

It’s not going to be for everyone.
But it can be a lot of fun.

Battle for Hoth looks dope!