The largest tabletop gaming convention in North America, GenCon, kicked off this week in Indianapolis. The convention is a 4-day event (with Trade Day that starts the day before) that’s filled with vendors, gameplay, tournaments, cosplay, playtesting, escape rooms - anything to do with gaming.

The convention first started in 1968 under the name Lake Geneva Wargames Convention. It was created by Gary Gygax (who also co-created Dungeons & Dragons) and was hosted in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Since then, it has been renamed GenCon and hosted in Indianapolis since 2003.

As someone who has lived in Indianapolis my entire life, I’ve never actually attended the convention before. As someone who enjoys games and recently got into tabletop role-playing games or ttrpg (thanks to Critical Role), I was really excited to attend this year.

I’ve heard a lot of things about the convention from friends and family who have attended before and they gave their fair share of tips and advice on what to do for my first time attending. After taking their advice and having attended the first day of the convention, here are 5 things I wanted to share with you about my experience with GenCon.

This Convention Is MASSIVE!

I’ve always heard that GenCon was big in terms of attendees and space, but I didn’t think it was much bigger than some of the other Indiana conventions that I’ve been to such as Indiana Comic Convention and PopCon. But I vastly underestimated it when I attended in person today.

GenCon is expected to hit record number of attendees this year. In 2019 (the year before the COVID pandemic), the convention logged 70,000 attendees. Last year they reached 50,000, and they are expected to announce how many people attended after the conclusion of the convention.

In terms of the space they use, it’s definitely the biggest I’ve ever attended. Most conventions in Indianapolis will use the Indianapolis Convention Center, which is approximately over 937,000 square feet, taking up an entire city block. Whereas most conventions only rent out most of the space in the convention center, GenCon rents out the entire building. Not only that, but they also use and host events at Lucas Oil Stadium (home of the Indianapolis Colts), which is connected to the convention center, as well as three hotels that have a number of large banquet halls for gameplay. You will definitely do a lot of walking, and there’s a lot that you can do!

Plan Ahead!

This may seem a little bit obvious but I cannot stress how important it is for you to plan well in advance for this convention. Now be prepared - it’s going to be overwhelming when you do this.

For starters, when you attend the convention, you’ll need a badge that will serve as your admission entry to the convention itself. Inside the convention are a myriad and large number of events that you can attend. The majority of these events will require tickets in order for you to attend - this is different than your badge. This allows you to be able to attend a demo, gameplay, gaming tournaments, panels, programs, etc. and they’re sold at a variety of different prices. Many of them are affordable whereas some cost more.

One of the best pieces of advice I received is for your first year to walk through and just take it in and don’t worry about tickets. While I would say the same thing to you, I would add to try to book one event per day. This way you get a sense of how the ticketing system works, you’re not trying to cram too much in, and more than likely there’s at least one event that will sound interesting to you that you want to check out.

Pro Tip: If there’s an event that is sold out, try checking during the convention itself. This year when I found out that Darrington Press was hosting some playthrough events, they were already sold out. But luckily today, I checked the event tickets on GenCon website and I was able to snag two of their events!

You’ll also need to be prepared to walk A TON. I’d recommend prepping to do daily mile walks just to build up your endurance and strength for it. If you are parking at the convention, try to use a website or app (I used SpotHero) to reserve your parking space for the duration of the event ahead of time for a reasonable price. I paid $73 for a 4-day parking garage spot that’s about a 10-minute walk from the convention center. If you wait closer to the event, there will be fewer spots available, and the ones that are will end up costing more.

The Displays Are AMAZING!

As anyone in marketing will tell you, your product needs to be eye-catching, and the vendors here definitely understand that. From large castle-like entrances and displays to recreating a monument from a popular tv superhero series, the sheer creativity and amazing details in the displays that they put out to get you to visit their booth will leave you interested and impressed like no other event.

GenCon and their vendors definitely get creative in the use of space at the convention. One of the more creative ways of the space was the gaming publisher Doomlingswhere they printed and taped signs on the floor with their card designs accompanied with QR Coes and if you find all 12 of them, you can come by their booth and win a prize!

Games And Events For Everyone!

Truly, there seem to be something for everyone here. No matter if you are a hardcore gamer or if you like to play the occasional board game every once in a while, you will find something that you will enjoy. In addition to the traditional board games and ttrpg, people could enjoy the fantasy-genre escape rooms activity from True Dungeon, people could get into painting miniatures that they use to play in various games, as well as find games based on their favorite superheroes (like Marvel, DC, Hellboy, or Invincible) or a game that’s inspired by their favorite movie or show (such as Stranger Things). Hell, there was even one booth that had scented dice!

This year, one of the most popular games to be released at GenCon is Disney Lorcana, published by Ravensburger. Lorcana is a trading card game (TCG - think of Pokemon) that uses classic Disney characters as part of its gameplay. This morning, people were lined up well into the hallways of the convention center at 8:30 AM to try to get their hands on one of these games in the vendor hall, which didn’t open until 10. There were some concerns about safety due to people pushing and shoving to get a good position. To help address this for tomorrow, GenCon is allowing people to line up starting 6 PM Thursday evening for an early spot for the Friday release. To my knowledge, this has never happened before at GenCon

This Event Is For Everyone

Lastly, GenCon has been about inclusiveness, meaning they include everyone to feel welcomed to their events. This includes having posters outside their doors saying harassment is not welcomed; providing pronoun tags for attendees to include on their badge; they also provide kids areas and activities for those who take their families to the convention.

Overall, this is one of the most exciting and impressive conventions I’ve ever been to, and I can’t wait for Day 2!