Upcoming Gen Con Coverage

But before we get to all of that, let’s get to what my coverage is going to look like this year. Both leading up to Gen Con and post Gen Con. I did a video, two actually, of all the Board Game Geek listed games for sale and demo. I plan on doing two videos on that again this year. Those can be fairly long so likely will take the place of campaign games the next two weeks.

Beyond that, I like to put up my Top 10 games to demo and my Top 10 games to buy. The other look is more about everything, this is specifically what I’m most excited for. Slightly different, also fairly similar.

Finally, when I come back from Gen Con, I like to list off what I’ve played and talk about those. Write a “Point of Order” for the new games that I got. And then highlight some of the best experiences at Gen Con in another article. So expect that for the coverage leading up to and around Gen Con.

My 2023 Gen Con Events

7. Beacon Patrol

Beacon Patrol is a small tile tableau building game from Pandasaurus Games. I like that style of game with Carcassonne and I am curious to see what this one offers. It’s a shorter event and a cooperative game, so I want to know how this game comes together. And how as a cooperative game it is building in meaningful decisions for the players.

6. Splintered Lands

I like to find games that are in playtesting if I can. Something that is new or still in the works that I can sit down and get a look at first. Splintered Lands is one of those games. A deck building game in a post-apocalyptic world. Two things that I like there. I want to see how that works in a card battler game of building defense and attacking. It could be great, it could feel like what’s been done before. I am just curious and need to know.

5. Burncycle

One thing that I like about some events at Gen Con is sitting down and playing a game that I own. If I already own it, why do I need to play it there? Because I have yet to play it at home. Burncycle is maybe the only purchase from Gen Con 2022 that I need to play still. The rest I’ve played, and Burncyle is the biggest and most intimidating. So might as well learn the game at Gen Con and be able to take it back home, the knowledge, and play easier at home.

4. The Dice Tower 2023 Awards

First of two event ones here back to back. I enjoy the Dice Tower and while I really liked their Top 5 last year, this year they are doing an awards show. I haven’t watched their awards shows in the past two years. But I figure that it will be a fun time. And it’s part of an evening that should be a very good time with some laughs and hear about some games that I might have missed over the past year or what people are touting as the best.

3. Floodgate Games Celebration

The other event with Floodgate Games Celebration. I missed it last year, I think I maybe had an event scheduled over it. I just know that they had an ambitious event for their legacy game which they took down. Then this event replaced it. But because it came up later on the schedule in 2022, I missed it. This year, on the look out for it. A chance to learn about new Floodgate project, I’m excited for that and to just celebrate the games that they have put out already.

2. Lost Ruins of Arnak: The Missing Expedition

If it weren’t for a late added event this would have been #1. I really like Lost Ruins of Arnak. The system works well, the adventure, for being a worker placement game, is there. And there’s enough going on with buying cards to add to your deck, exploring, and fighting monsters to keep me entertaining.

The Missing Expedition expansion is going to make the game cooperative. That to me is weird and I need to know more. Also it is for a game that I love, so I want more. I already pre-ordered for Gen Con pickup the expansion. So that will b great to be picking that up. But like Burncyle, while I am at it, why not learn the game. So I signed up, on the first day, for a slot to get to play the game.

1. Star Wars: Unlimited

But my #1 event is a trading card game. Danger Will Robinson for that. I got pulled back into TCG’s with Magic the Gathering’s set for Lord of the Rings. Now there is a Star Wars set and I like Star Wars. This is a game that won’t even come out for a year, I would guess. But they are demoing it here. And if you demo it, you get some exclusive cards, Vader and Luke Skywalker. Don’t worry, they will be in the set as well, these are just special versions.

This one really interests me though because I like Star Wars. And I like a few things about what they said for the game. Firstly that you are battling on two fronts to take down your enemy. Both with land and space, so you can lean into one or the other. A balanced approach might mean you can get damage through on both, but if you lean heavily land or space, you might be able to overwhelm with more force. Of course, leaving yourself then vulnerable as well.

Final Thoughts

I often have a weird combination of events. And sometimes I don’t even make it to all the events. I was intentional about what I signed up for this year, a bit more than last year and less than the first year. Also shorter events.

It’s easy to overwhelm a schedule y signing up for a ton of things. And then you find that you don’t want to play them all. You want to spend time on the floor and demoing more games. On the flip side, it’s easy to just play a little bit and find yourself done every day when the dealer hall closes. Or find that you don’t sit down at tables and play. I play with random people all the time at Gen Con, that is part of the fun. But I get why it is hard for some people.

Overall, I like the events that I signed up for. There are definitely some less interesting ones to me on the list, mainly the bottom two. However, they are still interesting and I want to explore and experience them to see if they are a game that I will just fall in love with. There is certainly the chance so I got to try and take that and see what happens with them. Because one thing I love about Gen Con is trying new games.

What event sounds more interesting to you? And if you’re going, what event are you most excited to attend on your list?

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However, like many things in 2020, Gen Con has been cancelled. Not really surprised by it, even with Indiana having plans to slowly re-open the state as it flattens the curve on Covid-19, having so many people come from not just out of state but around the world would have been risky for not only the people attending Gen Con, but also the population of Indiana/Indianapolis just with more chances of the disease being spread.

Am I saddened that Gen Con won’t be happening this year? Yes, it saddens me, but I have been expecting it for a while. They might have figured out a way with their costs as to not go bankrupt, and they have announced the dates for Gen Con 2021 that I’m already looking forward to going to.

I think we have to ask what this means for board game companies. While sales are huge at Gen Con and a chance to get people excited about your game that is coming to Kickstarter, the cost of shipping games and paying for the space is also high. For more established game companies, they’ll be able to release their Gen Con games through their own stores and probably end up making about as much money. But it will hurt on the hype. There’s always some hot game coming out of Gen Con that does more sales because of buzz built there than it would have otherwise. Likewise, smaller or newer companies, one of the biggest benefits is brand recognition. When people walk through the dealer hall multiple times, they can run across a company that they haven’t seen before. It might be a harder year for those less established companies, just for brand recognition.

Finally, they are doing something as an online Gen Con over the same time period. To be determined what that is. But I’m glad that a lot of cons that are being cancelled, CMONExpo, Board Game Geek, Dice Tower East, and more are doing online “conventions”. This might be something as little as them playing games online or talking about upcoming games and giveaways and things of that nature, but it’s nice to have those board gaming options still show up. It won’t be the same, but hopefully it’ll be a chance for some board game companies to still get the brand recognition and game sales that they need to keep the hobby growing.

Were you planning on going to Gen Con this year? What do you want from an online version of the convention?

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We’ve talked a little bit about it already when we went through packing, but let’s quickly hit those points again.

GenCon is a HUGE con. That means that a lot of areas are going to be packed and it’s probably going to be tough to move around. Be considerate with what bag you bring. The board game bag that you brought might be cool looking and work well for taking games to play with your friends, but it’s probably too bulky for something like GenCon. Keep it simple with a backpack or something else small that isn’t going to be swinging and hitting other people. Even though it might be obvious you’re wearing something large, it is still your responsibility to make sure you don’t hit someone, not theirs to give you a large birth to avoid being hit.

The other thing that I mentioned before is that you should please follow a 1/2/6 rule. That’s one shower per day. Two meals per day minimum. And six hours of sleep, which is actually the trickiest or should be. But when you eat and sleep you are going to be in a better mood and better to be around at the con. And the shower is really important for everyone else to be in a better mood to be around you. So please, do these things all days at GenCon or whatever Con you are going to be going to.

There are a few other things you can think about as well.

One of them will be in a con as huge as GenCon, don’t spend a ton of time on your phone in the bahtroom. If you need to get away from people for a little bit, GenCon has a quiet room or get out of the convention center for a little bit, you can probably go not too far and be out of the throngs of people. Clearly, something like GenCon is going to know their bathroom needs, but I’m sure once in a while a random bathroom will have a line at it, so don’t spend extra time.

When on the dealer floor and getting ready to make a purchse, if you know your cash or credit card is at the bottom of your bag, work on getting to that prior to being at the front of the line. This is especially important for hot games because there’s probably going to be a line, so don’t be the person holding up the line. You also never know when you’ll be the person in line buying that set of dice you forgot or decided you needed for a game that starts in five minutes and someone is taking a while. So be responsible yourself when you are in line. And if there’s no line, that’s fine to take your time, but if people are starting to queue, be courteous.

And this last one is going to seem pretty general. But pay attention to your surroundings. I know it might seem super obvious, but there are a lot of things to look at, and you might not notice everything and everyone around you. I’m 6’4″ so this is something that I have to pay attention to, and I always have to pay attention to, so I doubly do so at Cons. But when you’re always on the lookout for people shorter than you whom might not be in your eye-line, it helps. But there will be kids there, there will be people with accessibility needs who might not be in your eye-line, keep an eye out for them and be courteous about it.

Finally, I just want to say, all of these “rules” seem like they might be a lot of work. And sometimes these rules are going to be broken by me and by you and that’s fine. The simple rule you should ask yourself is if you’re stepping on someone else’s fun. The goal of a con is for everyone to have fun, so make sure that you are having fun, and that those around you are having fun. I think with that simple mindset, you’re going to have a good time and be courteous to those around you.

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Now, I’m going to quickly gloss over some things that should hopefully be fairly obvious, but I’m not sure always are. First, clean clothes for every day, so even plan an extra set or two of clothes. This means all of your clothes, but I don’t want to see someone wearing the same thing every day. And this also means cosplay. It might be a cool looking outfit but it will start to smell, don’t wear it every day. Toiletries are important as well, deodorant, anything you need to shower and brush your teeth. This ties in with the clothes, and we should talk about another good rule for a convention.

The rule is known as the 1-2-6 rule, though I’ve also heard it said as 1-2-3 rule, but I think 1-2-6 is better. What those numbers stand for is the number of showers (1) you should take per day, the number of meals (2) you need to eat per day, and that doesn’t mean a granola bar for breakfast and lunch, an actual meal, and the number of hours you should sleep per night (6). All of these numbers are a minimum, another meal per day and another hour or two of sleep would be great for a lot of people. But this ties in with the hygiene which is why I wanted to add it to the post here.

But let’s talk about some less obvious stuff, or stuff that is more apt to be forgotten:

• Water Bottle – GenCon this year is doing reusable cups to save on waste which is awesome, but plan on bringing your own water
• Hand Sanitizer – You don’t have to obsessively use this, but using it some will decrease your likelihood of getting con-crud.
• Phone Charger/Extra Battery – You’re not apt to forget a phone charger, but unless you’re planning on going back to your hotel room or where you’re are staying, pack that along.
• Snacks – Now, this one is a bit trickier, some of the places don’t allow outside food in, though snacks are generally not frowned upon. It’s more things like meals, but bring along a granola bar.
• Pen/Pencil/Paper/Dice – Now, this is more for if you are playing a role playing game that you’ll want to have those. As a DM at a con, I always provide those things, but never assume that someone will remember them.
• Small Games to Play – You’re going to have down time, you’re going to want to go out and grab a meal/drinks with friends, bring along some small games to play with people. I’m going to be bringing along Welcome To…, Criss Cross, and Second Change, most likely. But all of those games can play a large number and are easy to teach and they have a small footprint, especially Criss Cross.

Now, I’m sure there are more things that you could think of for bringing along. And that list is more stuff for at the convention itself and the hotel/where you’re staying. There’s also how you’re getting there. You might have to think about audio books for a car drive or podcasts. Maybe you want to bring along some travel games or something like Criss Cross could even be played on a plane if you wanted to.

Final thing I want to talk about is your con bag. And by that, I mean, what sort of backpack, satchel, briefcase are you going to be bringing to the convention to carry those things, above in, plus any games, knickknacks, RPG stuff, or whatever else you might pick up at the con. Be courteous about the size. Don’t go with something too big or something that you won’t be able to control well. Don’t bring along a duffle bag that is going to be swinging away from you. Also, don’t bring along four bags, don’t have a backpack on your back, a satchel slung over your shoulder, and a rolling suitcase with a laptop bag sitting on that. You probably don’t need all that stuff, but you also won’t be able to control all of that and are going to be bumping people with the suitcase and then when you turn to see who you hit, hitting someone else with your backpack. Now, you might want to buy a big game and that might be your reason for wanting to have everything. A lot of dealers will have extra bags for you, so you don’t need to bring along everything yourself. But also, it’s fine to have to actually carry a game itself, just plan when during the day you’re going to get a game. And consider taking it back to your vehicle/hotel if you have one near by, at some point in time, so you don’t need to carry it all day.

There’s a whole lot more that I could recommend I’m sure. But it can be overwhelming. So I think this is a good start, and you’ll know what else that you need. I recommend that you make a list, which I need to start, and when you are getting close, such as right now I have my badge, make a specific spot to collect GenCon/Con stuff and add to it as need be.

What did I miss that you think is important to call out? Is there anything you normally bring that you find you never use? Is there anything that you wish that you’d brought? Let us know in the comments below.

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