Hey there, Gamers! I hope you all had a great Gen Con weekend, if you attended, and if you didn’t get the chance, I hope you got to see some new game announcements to put on your wish lists! I had a great time at the show. I got to see a lot of cool new games, try a few, and picked up some new things as well! I wasn’t sure how to go about this post, but I think it’ll mostly just be some highlights of my experience. This post will probably be a long one, so strap in! I’ve got a lot to talk about.

Press Room

It had a nice set-up; I liked the backdrop and the handy sign of the show’s hashtags and handles. I also really liked that the “hot”/new games were featured in the room with booth numbers listed so I knew where to go if I wanted to check out a particular title. I appreciated having drinks available, and having a quiet place to sit and get a little work done if I just needed a breather from the hustle and bustle of the crowds.

Expo Hall

The expo hall was HUGE. Much bigger than anything I’d experienced before, which was exciting. It wasn’t hard to navigate because aisles were clearly numbered, which was great. Unfortunately, some aisles were incredibly narrow, which I suppose can be hard to avoid. There were also some struggles day 1 with booths that got super long lines. And personally, I think that putting trash cans in the aisles is a better idea in concept than in practice – they just get in the way of the flow of traffic.

I thought it was incredibly odd that there was no line system to get into the hall though, especially since there were multiple doors to get in. I thought there could potentially be a better system so that if you were there early you could guarantee to get in first for limited releases.

I did love seeing the variety of vendors – games, artists/crafters, accessories, painting, and more. There were plenty of the big publishers, but also plenty of smaller ones, and I got to see a lot of games I’d never heard of before.

Auction/Consignment

I thought this was a super unique, fun thing to have. Consignment was packed with stuff, and it was fun to just go through it all searching for treasures. The bag check system was a great idea since it was a tight room, and it was very smooth.

The auction was neat, but it was difficult to bid on stuff without getting to look closely at it. I also thought it was strange that they sometimes started an item low (i.e. $2) but it would have a $20 reserve on it and they couldn’t sell it for less. I thought it would make more sense to start it at the minimum.

Regardless, it was a neat thing to do if you just wanted to check out some used games, or watch some bidding wars.

Tickets

Personally, I was not a fan of the ticketing for everything. Even if some events were free (I noticed this was common for demos) it still felt strange for me to have to “buy” a ticket and reserve a specific time instead of just being able to sit down for a demo, since, at least from what I saw, most did not seem constantly full/busy. But beyond that, I also just found it weird to be paying to play games on top of the entry fee. Other conventions are more my speed for this aspect because playing games at other shows has been much easier in my opinion.

Signs

The convention center itself had its normal signs, of course, to attached hotels and such, but I wish the convention had added more signs to increase visibility and help navigation. For example, I had some press meetings in the lower suites of the stadium, and in some of the hotels, and there were next to no signs to help get to the specific rooms.

Block Party

There were so many food trucks to choose from, which was awesome! For the most part, they moved pretty quickly, which was impressive for how many people were out there. Of course, they definitely got backed up during high traffic times, but there’s no real way to avoid that. I thought this was overall a very convenient option for food so that you didn’t have to stray far from the convention.

Sights / Activities

The Gnome Hollow balloon sculpture, the giant Robo Rally Lego build, and the huge card towers in Cardhalla were some of the coolest things I have ever seen. I thought they were all super impressive, and I loved walking past them all the time just to take another look! I also really loved the community painting of the 2024 banner.

A bunch of booths/companies had various “scavenger hunt” type things, which I had a ton of fun with. I did the one for Tabletop Gaymers, Rose Gauntlet, and BackerKit, all resulting in a reward of pins, which are my favorite thing. It was a great way to get booths on people’s radars and helped me find some booths that I’m glad I didn’t miss!

Press Chats

  • I met up with Jess at Thunderworks who showed off Metrorunner, which is officially out now, and Stonespine Architects, which sounded super cool. I did get both of those to review, so keep an eye out for those coming soon!
  • Took a booth tour with Kosmos and saw a few neat games, including their newest game The Gang. This was a cooperative poker game with hidden info and limited communication. I played a quick demo and boy was it challenging! But definitely unique as well!
  • Met with David and TAM from UP Games about their upcoming 2 player game Floristry which looks amazing! Really looking forward to that.
  • Caught up with George from Rabble and saw a sneak peek at their upcoming game Sprout which was a bit of “plant blackjack” and looked super neat.
  • Stopped in with Galen’s Games to see Super Snipers, which sounded very cool and fast-paced, but perhaps a little too chaotic for my taste. If you like real-time though, it sounded exciting!
  • I chatted with Ryan at Japanime who showed me Motto Tanto Cuore and Tanto Cuore: Memento Mori – Twilight Manor, both of which I’ll be reviewing. They both had some unique stuff so I’m excited to check them out.
  • Met with Ross at NorthStar to talk about Biomos, which has been super on my radar since I first heard about it. I’m super excited to be reviewing it. He also gave me a copy of Sacred Valley to review, which looks like it will have a really interesting economy.
  • Attended the Rock Manor media open house and got a sneak peek at Stardriven – a hefty looking space game, and Disco Heist Laundry which has a fun look and interesting theme of recruiting crew to do heists
  • Spoke with Andrew at The Op and we gushed over Gnome Hollow a bit, which I’m looking forward to reviewing. We talked about Stalk Exchange, which he mentioned was a more approachable stock market game, so my fingers are crossed for that one! We talked about a few of their other party games too – Flip 7 and Blank Slate Challenge, which I’ll be reviewing – aaaaaaand while I was in the booth I got to say hi to Manny Vega, who designed one of my favorite games, Flamecraft, and who designed next year’s Gen Con release for The Op – Tea Witches!!! I don’t know a ton about it yet, but it will have some worker placement, push your luck, and it sounds like some really cool components. Plus, witches. So, I’m in.
  • Sat down with Danni from Flat River Group and demoed Babylon which doesn’t look like a game I’d enjoy, but I did think it was a pretty neat city building game with some very cool (if slightly fiddly) pieces. I got a few different games for review from them, from all different publishers, so keep an eye out for those!
  • Met with Nathan from CGE who showed off Little Alchemists which I am dying to try (please let me be better at this than the original) so I’m excited to review that as well as Snatch It, which I got my first plays of in at the show while waiting in line for the expo hall! They also showed me a little bit of their upcoming game SETI which looks intense. Definitely interested in seeing more of that in the future too.
  • I spoke to Danielle from Wise Wizard Games who gave me Star Realms Academy to review, so I’m looking forward to kind of doing a comparison to the original. She also gave me Sherlock Solitaire, which I’m really looking forward to, and Robot Quest Arena! She also gave me a bit of a run down of the upcoming Pack the Essentials which is a tile laying game and it sounds super cool! I’m a big fan of no negative points for empty spaces too haha
  • Finally, I met Nick Sparkman at Left-Justified Games and we talked about Jewels for the Emperor Penguin, which is already in the pipeline for my reviews (spoiler: it’s so cute and fun!) and they also gave me a few other titles to review, so keep an eye out!

Demos

I did not get to demo many games, but here’s a few simple reactions to what I did get a chance to try:

😄Babylon
👎🏻Jack Labrador
😄Cities
🤷🏻‍♀️Dumb Ways to Die
😄Comic Hunters
😄Flickering Stars
😄Crystallo
🤷🏻‍♀️It’s Obvious
🤷🏻‍♀️Speed Colors
🤷🏻‍♀️MonDRAWsity
😄Trash Talk
🤷🏻‍♀️Only Murders in The Building Board Game

Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed Gen Con as a Press attendee. There is a lot to see, and a lot of new game releases, which is always exciting. I also felt like the 4-days allowed me to have a lot more time for press meetings with publishers, which helped me feel not as restricted on time.

As a general gamer attendee, I felt like the need for tickets for every little thing was just kind of arbitrary and prevented me from trying out more games. I prefer other shows for actual game playing, so I’d continue to attend them for that.

Still, I had a great time, and I was glad to see lots of friendly and familiar faces! 🙂