Hey friends -- welcome to another Modern Gamer. This week's topic is conventions, and it's something of a two-parter: the majesty that is GenCon50 (a.k.a. why you should be going to conventions), and a brief listing of next year's relevant conventions (especially relevant if you're a California local like us!).
I cannot believe that I hadn't been to a convention before this year. After we founded the business, I knew GenCon was going to be a big deal (even in our first year), so I registered us for badges the first day of registration. As it turned out, this year was GenCon50, and it did not disappoint. They reported that more than 200,000 people attended this year, setting a new attendance record for the nation's biggest board game convention. It's not a wonder either -- there were more than 19,000 individually ticketed events (including the largest ticketed single event in the Con's 50 year history), and over 500 different exhibitors inside the doors of the Indianapolis Convention Center, surrounding hotels, Georgia Street, and Lucas Oil Stadium.
None of those numbers adequately captures what it was like on the convention floor, however. Opening day was packed wall to wall with fans positively vibrating with anticipation. Frank and I had an awesome time trying out game demos and meeting the different vendors and talking with them about their products. We got to attend a D&D Retrospective with Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford, the lead designers for 5th Edition, as well as our favorite Critical Role Dungeon Master, Matthew Mercer. We got to meet other fans of the show, see some great panels, try out some upcoming titles, and more.
In all honesty, we actually left the Con this year feeling like we had barely scratched the surface of the event. There were game tournaments, music shows, live-play dungeon events, book signings (one day I will meet you, Mr. Patrick Rothfuss -- one day!), organized RPG play rooms, costume competitions, game rental libraries -- none of which we got remotely near. Thus I wanted to impart some of the wisdom (we hope?) we gained from the experience.
Go as a group -- or find one there
Attending Cons can be expensive. Between airplane tickets, hotel reservations, transportation costs, and food costs, you can rack up quite the bill without even setting foot inside the convention itself. If you're on a budget (and who isn't these days) -- try to buddy-up on as many of these as you can. Hotels often have roll-away beds (though mind the hotel's max-occupant limits), share your Uber/Lyft trips with other Con attendees, and if you can manage to find lodgings with kitchenette of some kind, pack food for yourself. This is all easiest if you can find a group in your hometown that's going -- but if not, try to find people at the Con who are staying at the same hotel as you. In a convention center of more than 200k humans, no one's a stranger.
Don't be gun-shy - sign up for some play events
There's an electricity in the air at conventions. Everyone knows that everyone else likes the very same things -- which makes jumping into game tables wonderfully easy. Most of the organized play events require pre-registration, however. Sign up for some! Don't overcommit your schedule, but try to sign up for one or two board game events that you think you'll enjoy. Be sure to sign up early -- event registries open as early as 3 months before the Con.
If you have a ticket for an event, but can't go -- pass it on!
There are many events at Cons that reach sold-out status and have hundreds of people who wait in line hoping there's extra seating. Frank and I were among those people several times. If you have tickets for an event but cannot attend (or just change your mind), the Con administration has no qualms about you passing on your tickets to other interested folks. You'll make someone's day for sure. And if you don't have a ticket, have hope -- we got into literally every event we squatted (though one was only because of the kindness of two strangers with tickets to spare).
Now I want to go to more Cons!
But what other Cons are there besides GenCon? The good news is, there are hundreds of various sizes and locales. I happen to be located in LA, which is a hotbed for nerdly conventions. The list below contains more than a few Cons, but is no where near complete. You can check out maps like casualgamerevolution.com's for events nearer to you.
- SoCal Games Day, Oct 2017 in Los Angeles CA
- This one hasn't been scheduled yet, but the facebook page thinks October
- IndieCade, Oct 2017 in Los Angeles CA
- Said to be the 'Sundance' of video games.
- BlizzCon, November 2017 in Anaheim CA
- Tickets are already sold out for this year, but it's one of the highest-demand Cons in existence
- PAX Unplugged, November 2017 in Philadelphia PA
- This is the first year of PAX's dedicated board game Con!
- ES Con, January 2018 in San Diego CA
- Start off 2018 with 3 days of gaming at The McMahon House in San Diego CA.
- DunDraCon, February 2018 in San Ramon CA
- Touted as the longest contiguously running West Coast gaming Con
- StrategiCon, February 2018 in Los Angeles CA
- Three days of gaming that runs three times a year -- that's a lot of Con.
- Wonder Con, End of March 2018 in Anaheim CA
- Sister-show to San Diego Comic Con, at the glorious Anaheim Con Center
- GameStorm, April 2018 in Portland OR
- 5 days of nerdly goodness in the Pac-NW
- KublaCon, May 2018 in San Francisco CA
- The largest West-Coast gaming Con on Memorial Day Weekend
- San Diego Comic Con, July 2018 in San Diego CA
- One of the best known Cons, continues to grow larger
- GenCon 51, Aug 2 2018 in Indianapolis IN
- Scheduled for 2 weeks earlier next year!
- DragonCon Sep 2018 in Atlanta GA
- We just missed it this year -- there's always next year!
If I've missed any Cons that you think should make this list, tell me! Either leave a comment here or use the hashtag #themoderngamer on social media. Also if you have any of your own 'how-to: Convention' tips, feel free to share those as well!
Until next time -- have more fun, would ya? It's good for you.
~ Alex
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