I know a lot of companies and organizations offer badges for working for the con, but has anyone had experiences with getting a hotel room and a badge for working at Gen Con that they'd like to share? What was required? Anyone you'd recommend?

Anybody have experience booking cozy suites one year out? They have some downtown availability listed for next year but I'm wary of having things get cancelled the week before GenCon '27. If anybody booked well in advance how did it go?

Hey everyone! We're still thinking about our first Gen Con experience and the memories we've made. We put it into a comprehensive Day 1 & 2 vlog so far:
https://youtu.be/Qckbn7azjnE

I also share some tips for newcomers and have put it into this Wanderlog itinerary guide: https://wanderlog.com/view/pcjskvebxt/gen-con-trip-to-indianapolis/shared

Happy to answer any questions too! We did opt to stay in a nearby Airbnb and fly in instead of driving. Feel free to comment on the vid or down below!

Hello GenCon fans.

Years ago I came to GenCon and there was someone over in Indy Row pitching their TTRPG and I was really intrigued by the art and the concept, but didn't have the funds at the time. I've been to every GenCon since, and haven't seen them again, so I'm assuming it fell off the radar.

Here is what I remember:

The game design was done by a blind author, all the art was done by someone from Russian. The game had a very dark post apocalypse (possibly leaning more Sci-fi) theme. The book itself I remember was a wide style source book.

That's all I remember. I know it's not a lot to go off of, but if anyone can help me I would appreciate it.

This year I attended the monster fighting LARP, and to say it was disorganized would be an understatement. The rules were poorly explained, the rule about *gentle* hits were ignored by almost everyone, and a teenage kid on my team was not shockingly, hyperactive and unaware of his surroundings and managed to accidentally elbow me in the nose pretty hard and still ignore that he did so. The game rules were explained by two girls who seemed to only have a vague sense of what they were doing and explained almost nothing. I just didn't enjoy myself after the event and will not be doing fighting LARPs again. Not hating on it if you like it, but it's a lesson I had to learn.

Hello! I made a comment on a missed connections post but it's burried pretty deep and I'm still searching! I'm looking for anyone who took pictures or videos of me and my boyfriend dancing at the gencon party in the train station on Saturday night. We were swing dancing to some of the songs and I know a Blues Brother got some photos/videos and another person with a more professional camera. We havent had the time (or health) to go dancing together in years so any images or videos taken that could be shared would be so appreciated! I was in a black tank-top and blue jeans with big curly/frizzy hair while my boyfriend was in a light gray shirt and dark plaid shorts with black curly hair. I have been scanning all the gencon social media pages and tags for any posts but i thought this could be a good place to reach out too. Thank you!! Pics of us from the night of/in the general outfits we were wearing if it helps: https://imgur.com/a/BEXTXLD

Did my first true dungeon this year, and I'm feeling conflicted

Context: I played the werewolf one

The good: the tokens were a lot of fun and I think I might steal the idea for loot in my dnd campaigns going forward. The building out my character was a fun twist and extremely user friendly. The puzzles were well thought out and I enjoyed the way the puzzle room was decorated.

The unfortunate: after running through the game I think the timeframe is too short, one of the people in my group told me she had been in several where they didn't finish the dungeon. Shuffleboard as a battle system is definitely an interesting choice but I can't say too much because I'm not sure what they could replace it with. I feel like there wasn't a lot of difference between the classes, I guess the rogue had a mini game and there was a matching game for the wizard? But both were really only used once the rogue opened a chest and got some loot in the first puzzle room, and the matching game was only used at the end in the final boss room.

The bad: $80!?!? REALLY?? for four rooms? I know there were people who did all 4 of the different dungeons that's $320?? That's not worth it I'm sorry.

My favorite parts: the people in my party were really cool a great mix of new players and experienced players. It was a lot of fun going through it with my friends. I got the werewolf at the end to 6,7 which was probably my highlight 😂.

Conclusion: I did have a really good time playing through the dungeon mainly due to the people we were with. I'm glad I did it but I'm not sure I'll do it again. It just cost way too much, I did kind of felt rushed through the rooms which was sad. There's definitely a good idea here just a rough execution.

That's all, I can understand why people like doing this but it's not just for me. Definitely a one and done sort of thing for me.

I had the absolute pleasure of interviewing Luis at Gencon 2026 and wanted to share it. We will also have him on our podcast this Saturday at 7pm est https://youtube.com/live/0pTG7eZkAUs?feature=share for some more juicy questions. So let me know if you have any questions we didn't cover here.

Gencon Interview here.

https://youtu.be/MTp2P3z1pPc

Look upon my works, ye mortals!

Cross posting my own post from r/18xx. :)

Made a fun video where I went around to as many vendors possible to see what the most expensive card they had for sale. There was quite a wide range of various TCGs. Crazy how pricey they've become.

Took these pics Saturday night, and I added a copy of Through the Desert the next day when I walked by the Allplay booth and saw they had a small discount on it, plus I picked up a Mark Tedin Necropotence print for a friend. Otherwise this is all the stuff I got. I’ve already gotten Estate and Vine to the table and liked them both. Those display case advertising setups by the Westin skywalk worked on me - I saw the Estate display and immediately wanted to know more, and I did end up tracking them down on the stadium field and getting demos of that and Vine, liking both.

As for dice, I was originally not planning to get any resin dice besides the Crystal Caste freebie, but the CRWN booth had some fantastic designs that were part swirl, part clear with foil inclusions, and they catch the light amazingly well. The purple/blue swirl dice caught my eye at Crystal Caste’s booth when I was getting the freebie, so I guess that loss leader worked for them, even though they were just a buck a die. I kind of wish now that I’d gotten some extra d6 in that style.

Pretty good chance I get to play Greylune and Aiye, at least, this weekend, and hopefully Hacienda as well.

I also preordered Old King’s Crown. <3

I just wanted to join in on the fun and commemorate my first haul from my first GenCon. This is it. I need to not do this again. I have no room for any of these games and they can’t keep living on my dining room table. Lol

They’re making me feel self conscious! Am I broke? Do I not like board games as much as I used to? I literally ended up with two games from the consignment hall and one game from the vendor hall. The vendor hall just didn’t grab me this year like years past.

All in jest! I’m glad everyone found such cool stuff! I was just so out of the loop this year and the vendor hall was overwhelming to explore!

My husband was prioritizing solo and two player games, while I went too hard on cats and delta green.

Hi! I finally got the go-ahead to set up my own gaming room in my house since my oldest has moved out, and I can't think of anything else that would go better with my new black kallaxes but a piece of the Indy carpeting!

Anyone in the general are of Indiana/Kentucky have a piece they're willing to part with?

We did a quick recap video for Gen Con’s channel. We decided to make it shorter but try to connect with people more. I hope you like it and if you haven’t already subscribed to Gen Con’s YouTube you should, you’ll be seeing more of me there 💜😄

Recently ran True Dugneon again this year. With all my consumables and everything else I carry (loot box items, etc) I discovered that I hated having so many tokens hanging out in my pockets all the time and having to dig to find my weapons.

So I went looking for a solution and couldn't find one! I decided to provide the solution to those that want it. I designed and will print/sell True Dungeon pendants for those that want easy access to frequently needed tokens during your runs.

I have also designed and printed board game inserts in the past and will likely upload my designs for purchase here as well in the future. Please let me know what you all think!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/BervsKeep

I did some dice trading at the 2026 Dice Swap and ended up with extras of the give-way Dispel Dice Green d20.

Did anyone end up with spares of the 2026 Dice Swap d20 Dispel Dice in yellow, orange, blue or purple and want to do a 1-for-1 swap?

Spending the weekend with my son.

So this was a couple years ago I saw someone mention it on reddit. They said they went around the artist area and had artist all sketch a cat on the mat for them (they paid of course).

Anyways I had questions for them on his it worked because I'm thinking of doing the same thing next year with squirrels instead of buying art prints. I also only heard of this legendary mat and would love to see how it actually came out!

Bought the dice set and added it to the stack. ;-)