GenCon Attendance Sets Record with 41,000 attendees!

mhensley · Aug 25, 2012

I'm kind of surprised since they moved the date to later in August this year and some people couldn't attend because their schools had already begun. I almost didn't go because of that. Schools in my area started the week of gencon. I went but I had to leave the rest of the family home this year.

Bearpocalypse · Aug 25, 2012

This year was my first time going to Gen Con, and I was a little disappointed in the Exhibit Hall vendors selling everything at normal retail price. Meeting Ed Greenwood at his empty booth helped make up for it!

MatthewJHanson · Aug 25, 2012

Bearpocalypse said:
This year was my first time going to Gen Con, and I was a little disappointed in the Exhibit Hall vendors selling everything at normal retail price. Meeting Ed Greenwood at his empty booth helped make up for it!

Yeah, the point of the exhibitor hall is not to get stuff for cheap. It's to get things that are hard to find elsewhere or to get it first (many products are released at Gencon).

mudbunny · Aug 25, 2012

If you want stuff at a discount, your best bet is to go late sunday afternoon. The more stuff they sell, the less stuff they nee to ship home or carry with them. If they have their own truck or panel van, it is one thing. But if they are packing it up and shipping via UPS or something..

William Ronald · Aug 26, 2012

I am pleased to see that Gen Con set an attendance record. I hope that the numbers continue to grow if only to counter the naysayers who predict the death of our hobby.

Rogue Agent · Aug 27, 2012

William Ronald said:
I am pleased to see that Gen Con set an attendance record. I hope that the numbers continue to grow if only to counter the naysayers who predict the death of our hobby.

Someone's been predicting the death of boardgaming?

JediSoth · Aug 27, 2012

Jupp said:
I find it interesting that librarians are specially mentioned in the text. Not being from the US, are libraries an important factor for RPGs over there?

Before we could afford our own copies, my friends and I would have the Moldvay D&D Basic set on a constantly-checked out rotation from our library. That copy went through the wringer in our first years of gaming!

Boz Shulun · Aug 27, 2012

mudbunny said:
If you want stuff at a discount, your best bet is to go late sunday afternoon. The more stuff they sell, the less stuff they nee to ship home or carry with them. If they have their own truck or panel van, it is one thing. But if they are packing it up and shipping via UPS or something..

The smaller dealers are especially motivated to sell. This year I actively sought them out on Sunday and asked if there were some "Sunday specials" going on. Many were more than willing to haggle.

My only real 'advice' to those who are new to Gen Con, or conning in general, is if you see something you have to have on day one BUY IT on day one. Otherwise it will be gone. If you see something you would like to buy, Sunday is the best day for everything else.

Alzrius · Aug 27, 2012

Jupp said:
I find it interesting that librarians are specially mentioned in the text. Not being from the US, are libraries an important factor for RPGs over there?

As a librarian myself, I can say that this is a half-truth. The more correct statement is that librarians are an important factor for everything!

None of you all could even find your books if it wasn't for us! :devil:

Krug · Aug 27, 2012

Dice Tower has pretty decent video coverage of GenCon, though the focus is more on board games: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ50etNGiOw]Gen Con 2012 Part 1 - Overview - YouTube[/ame]