10 things to know before going to Gencon, a newbie’s guide

10 things to know before going to Gencon, a newbie’s guide

I’ve learned quite a few things during my first adventure to GenCon, so I came up with what I think to be the 10 most important things for your average con-newbie to know before embarking into the epic sea of awesomeness that is GenCon. I hope it does someone some good, I hope my experiences can help others avoid some of the pitfalls I ran into along the way

  • Bring Cash: – most booths do take credit but some of them do it manually. Security concerns are an issue along with possibly waiting days for it to show up on your statement. Also some booths have a minimum purchase amount for credit.
  • Bargain Hunters: The final day is the best day for deals, most vendors want to haul/ship back the least a mount of product possible so prices get slashed and bargains surface.
  • Parking: Avoid parking at the Hyatt or other hotel garages, the Circle City Mall parking is much cheaper, also parking prices increase on certain days. Also obviously – arrive as early as possible if you want any chance at a decent parking space.
My first GenCon: Day 1

My first GenCon: Day 1

The Hotel: If you could care less about my personal experiences and wanna get to the good stuff, skip on down to “The Con”. Oh where do I begin, first off let me just say that the hotel that I’m staying in is a real piece. I called in advance this morning to be sure that it was okay that we dont have to check in exactly at 3pm (our check in time) they said later was fine but not earlier. So when we arrived to check in around 7 after we’d left the convention center I was given the keys to our room, to which we promptly walked in to discover peoples belongings strewn about, a mirror with nasty greasy fingerprints all over it, and the TV on.

Needless to say I went straight back down and got a new room, they apologized but the two guys at the front desk really seemed like they could give a shit less.