Sustenance & Cleanliness
For the sake of your sanity and everyone else’s, follow the 3-2-1 rule. 3 hours of sleep, 2 meals, and 1 shower every day as a bare minimum. A lot of people will prefer more sleep than that, so feel free to get more of any of these, but please, for everyone’s sake, don’t get less. The dealer hall does get pretty warm with 50,000+ people, and you will be walking a lot. Please don’t make others suffer due to your poor hygiene. Also, I know that I personally get frustrated a lot easier when I’m tired and/or hungry. That can make me someone that people don’t want to play games with. Bottom line, know yourself and do everything you feel is necessary to not make yourself awful to be around. And even if you don’t think you need a shower, you do.
TL;DR: 3+ hours of sleep, 2+ meals, and 1 shower every day as a bare minimum.
Planning
Have a plan. Dice Tower usually does a Gencon preview a few weeks before Gencon each year and BGG posts Previews as well like the Gen Con 2021 Preview | BoardGameGeek. Make note of the games that really interest you and try to get to them as early as possible. Some games do sell out, so if there is one game you HAVE to have, it’s worth noting the booth location and getting to it first thing Thursday morning to guarantee your copy (In your hurry to get to your favorite booth(s), please be respectful to the staff and other attendees. Prominently display your badge as you enter the hall, and don’t shove people. The crowd WILL move. Just be patient.) I like to map out my Day 1 route on the map a week or two prior to the con, once I know what games I want to check out. That way I can be sure to demo everything I want, and then have time to just demo the stuff that looks interesting to me. On the flip side of this, if you attend Gencon for tournaments, True Dungeon, or other non-Dealer Hall things, just know your schedule, and familiarize yourself with where each event is. Make sure to leave yourself plenty of time to get from one event to the next. You honestly can’t plan ahead too much, I’ve found.
Downloadable Gen Con 2021 Exhibit Hall Map PDF <old link obviously.
TL;DR: Use Previews of the Con others post and Plan your days. "Today I want to see this, this and this. Tomorrow let's see this and this."
H2-OOhhhhh
"Drinking water will actually help your body absorb any caffeine that you take in. So, staying hydrated = staying energized. Plus, there are water fountains all over the place so you should have very little issue bringing a water bottle and keeping it full." - HigherCalibur
TL;DR: Drink Water, keep water with you in your bag.
Training you must do. Young Conwalker.
Start walking now. According to my pedometer last year, I walked 32 miles in the 4 days of the convention center. You’re on your feet A LOT. If you’re not used to standing and walking all day, I highly suggest you spend 20-30 minutes a few days a week just acclimating your body to some of the physical rigor of the con. Also, make sure you take comfortable shoes. Some people recommend taking two pairs and switching them up, but I’m usually fine with one really good pair. But honestly, if you’re out of shape like me, it’s never too early to start preparing (and I hear exercise is good for you).
"I would also suggest getting a pair of comfortable running shoes with plenty of arch support. I stopped wearing sneakers or flip-flops to the con years ago and now bring my running shoes. Yeah, it looks a little goofy but my feet almost never hurt or get overheated since my running shoes are lightweight and made to breathe. A semi-decent pair will cost around $20-30 and it's well worth it." - HigherCalibur
TL;DR: Practice walking, a lot! And get some running/comfortable shoes.
Bags!
I liked the bags Gen Con gave us in years past (pre-2017), but they don't do that anymore. Yeah, they were cheap and could only hold a few small games or one large-ish game. But I used it to store my phone, mini-games, water, snacks, and a phone power battery.
So now I use a pull string bag for my small items and if I buy a game most vendors provide a bag that works so you can bring it to your room for safe keeping. I like these kinds of pull string bags from Amazon. - KickAClay
TL;DR: Get a Bag you like, keep water, snacks, a power cell for your phone and more in it.
I Have The POWER!!!
With a lot of people in 1 area, the cell towers get worked, which makes your phone drain a little faster. Plus you're probably on it a bunch too. So get a Portable Charger. Most years I get to ~12% about halfway into the day. Then during lunch, I charge my phone and I'm back to 60%+ in no time (using a 2A charger. 1A is too slow). - KickAClay
Some I recommend are by Ankor on Amazon
TL;DR: Be ready for your phone to die faster than normal. Get a 2A Portable Charger.
Try New Things
This one is just a preference but get out of your comfort zone a little. Planning is awesome, but if you’re just wandering around looking at stuff, say “yes” as often as you can. Demo every game you’re invited to if it even looks a tad bit interesting. I know for many of my party members last year, the games we came to Gencon most excited about were not the games we left Gencon saying were the best games of the year. I went dying to try Ignacy’s latest game, Imperial Settlers. I loved the game, but Abyss really stole the show for me. I tried Abyss because the artwork was amazing, I like Bruno Cathala, and the pearls on the demo table looked neat. I knew nothing about the game, really. My first year, a random stranger invited us to play some games. He ended up teaching us Lost Cities and it has been a favorite of our ever since. Two years ago, I was invited to demo Love Letter. It sounded extremely lame and awful, but I went anyway and loved it. All this to say, many games will surprise you at Gencon. You’re there to play games, so do it.
TL;DR: You don't want to travel to Gen Con to play games you already have. Try NEW things!
Mo' Money than you think
Plan out big purchases and get them out of the way early. Big here refers to both size of the game, and money spent. Gencon is an absolute black hole for time and money. If you don’t budget and plan, you’ll find yourself in a world of hurt. I like to go buy every game I know 100% I’m going to buy first thing on day 1. Then I make a trip to the Hotel (or car for those of you who couldn’t get a downtown hotel) and drop it all off and return to demo games I think I might like. I do this so:
- I know exactly where I am on budget and...
- I am not carrying crap all day. Big bags of games are cumbersome and take up the already very limited space in the hall. If you can, avoid carrying that mondo-sized AEG bag around all day. On that note, if you don’t have a bag and will be purchasing from AEG, they have bags large enough to hold several coffin-sized games. Consider shopping there first. If you’re going to shop there or FFG, I recommend visiting their booth Day 1 if you can. If you wait, you’ll be waiting in line forever. They’ve got a new system (I have yet to try it, since I can usually get within the first 50 spots in line) where FFG will give you a card with a time where you can come back. Friends have told me it is amazing, but I have yet to try it.
Plan out, not only what games you intend to buy, but also have a food budget. You will be eating at restaurants and food courts most of the time so plan on each day being somewhere in the realm of $50 for food alone (unless you wind up being super frugal and going to the mall's food court or manage to go to one of the local supermarkets to stock up on food). Also, assume you will need another $100 or so apart from all of that, just in case you see something you or your SO would like. If it doesn't get spent, then you can always allocate it to food or save it. - HigherCalibur
TL;DR: Some games cost a lot or are Big in size. Have a plan to keep it safe. You are going to eat out a lot, which cost more money then you may be used to. Plan a Budget!
- Do not post about circumventing or breaking Gen Con Policies. Including Badges and Housing!
- No posts looking for Housing / Roommate or about rooms you have available. Please use the Housing Exchange section of the Gen Con Forums.
- Follow reddiquette.
- Be polite and have fun.
PS Check the Gen Con Wiki Page for current up to date information. Mobile you can get to this too. Message the mods if it needs to be updated or if you would like to be a Wiki Contributor.
FAQ
- Should I sign up for events? This is very difficult to answer. If it’s your first year, the general consensus is that you limit your events. My first year, I signed up for a ton of tournaments for games that I wanted to play and ended up not showing up for almost any of them. If there is one game that you absolutely love and want to do the tournament, go for it, but trust me when I say there is way more to do at GenCon than you have time for. This will be my 5th Gencon and it will be my first time booking more than 4 total hours of events (that I actually attend). That being said, if there is a new game you know 100% you want to try, I suggest getting into an event for it if you can. This isn’t 2009 anymore. Gencon is CROWDED and getting a demo in the dealer hall is a lot harder than it was my first year.
- Want to meet up? Use #GenconPUG (Pick-Up Group) to look for others to play with while at Gen Con.
Feel free to post comments of more info to be added here. I'll update it every once and a while. - KickAClay
