Over 36 thousand Gen Con 2011 attendies

[Inferno!]

The real question is; How soon will Gen Con out grow Indy? 2008 think 22,000, 2009 was 25,000, 2010 was 30,000 gamers, 2011 was 36,000, if you project out less than a 10% growth. 2012 should be 40,000+! 2015 Gen Con could be pulling in 50,000! Of course, that only works if there is growth but the trend is there.

(note: it is quick math )

They won't run out of space anytime soon. In the past, exhibit halls A-E were used by GenCon. This year, E was used for card/board games, and A-D weren't used at all.

Dealers room (halls H-J) was much less confined than past years. Judging from the aisle carpets, the aisleways appeared to be about a foot wider this year than past years.

 

[Lanefan]

Attendance may slip next year as it starts later and some won't go because school will have already begun.

And others like me who work in jobs where back-to-school season dictates no vacation after mid-August also won't be going.

Next early year is 2015.

How in the world do they come up with a "turnstile" number? There were no turnstiles to count people and many entrances.

I *think* that number comes - at least in part - from counting the number of badges times the number of days they were for, thus a 1-day badge counts as 1 and a 4-day badge counts as 4. I've no idea how or even if they count what happens on Wednesday but if it isn't counted it should be: Wednesday is huge now.

There did seem to be a bit more space to move in the dealers' hall this year, but that perception could also come from my memory making it seem more crowded in the past than it really was.

The auction store, on the other hand, still isn't big enough and never has been.

Lan-"already waiting for 2015"-efan

 

[darjr]

Wednesday is huge now.

Yea, So much so that they should count them. In fact I'm counting Wednesday as part of the con for next year.

Best five days in gaming?

 

[Steel_Wind]

It isn't clear yet whether or not the "early" aspect of the timing of this year's Gencon was responsible for the huge uptick in attendance. I do agree that it probably had a significant impact, but it isn't yet clear that was the reason.

But IF the surge in attendance is due to the earlier timing, and we see a similar uptick in 2015? I predict we'll see a LOT more early August Gencons thereafter.

A 20% uptick in one year is a *very* impressive surge.

What wasn't impressive was the Will Call line on Thursday morning. Happiy, I had picked up mine in the VIG lounge on Wednesday night, but it all comes down to this: If Will Call is three hour wait while Buy-it-on-the-Spot is a 10 minute wait? That's not a good result for predictable repeat business.

I will also be happier when the rest of the ICC is in use and we see more of the "older" space back online and "occupied".

 

[Hand of Evil]

I don't know if the later dates will impact Gen Con, back when Gen Con was publishing their demographics, they showed only 1% under 18 in 2008!

 

[darjr]

I don't know if the later dates will impact Gen Con, back when Gen Con was publishing their demographics, they showed only 1% under 18 in 2008!

Wasn't it also later in the month?

 

[Hand of Evil]

Wasn't it also later in the month?

yep, Aug 14-15 but still 22,000. But will later and 1% really impact a growth of 20% we have seen in the last three years. When it was in late July that one year, it was between 15,000 and 20,000. Be interesting to see what the age break down is these days...are we a growing old hobby or a hobby with a good fan base.

 

[darjr]

I have no idea. But I could guess that a large part of that difference was under 18 because it was earlier than when it was only 1% under 18.

Really though I don't know. The pictures certainly looked like they contained more folks under 18, and even the announcement seems to hint that the under 18 stuff got a lot more attention.

We will see, I suppose.