I’m back from Gen Con and it was amazing! Gen Con was everything I expected it to be and so much more. While at Gen Con, I was mulling around what I wanted to write about when I got back home. I decided that I would be writing four posts dedicated to all things Gen Con. This first post is going to be a recap post where I will talk about Gen Con as a whole. The second post will be some takeaways or things that I learned since it had been four years since I last attended Gen Con and there were things that I forgot. The third post will feature some of the games I demoed along with some of the roleplaying sessions I was a part of. The final Gen Con post will be centered around my haul because I bought a lot of different games, accessories, and merch. I’m so ready to recap all things Gen Con 2023.

As a side note, I did receive a press badge from Gen Con. This means that I did attend the convention for free. When I applied for my press badge, I applied under Twin Cities Geek versus BizarreBrunette. While I did receive a press badge, all my thoughts are my own.

Traveling to Gen Con can be long at times. Me and my friend group started driving on Wednesday and it took about 9-10 hours to get to Indianapolis. Wednesday was a really long day, but it was nice to finally get to our hotel. This year, our hotel was within walking distance of Gen Con which was really nice. Me and my brother rented an AirBnB previously and having a hotel was ten times better. It was nice to be able to drop off things versus having to commit to being at Gen Con all day because it was a thirty-minute Lyft ride back. I am sold on the idea of getting a hotel rather than an Air BnB that’s not located downtown.

If there was a theme for Gen Con this year, it would be Disney Lorcana. For those who are unaware, Disney released their trading card game called Disney Lorcana. I’m told it’s similar to Magic: the Gathering, but Disney-themed. I don’t know much else because I chose to not camp out overnight to wait in line. You heard me right, the lines for Disney Lorcana were wild! It seems like Gen Con was encouraging people to wait in line early which I don’t think was a good thing. The lines were lengthy and fans were frustrated. It seemed rather unorganized and chaotic. If anybody was lucky enough to get their hands on Disney Lorcana, I’m happy for you! I was not one of those people and I’m okay with that.

For Gen Con, I had on average 1-2 events per day. Events can be shows, game demos, and roleplaying sessions. This was perfect! One of my friends planned a Grim Fairytale-type roleplaying session for our friend group. It was nice to be able to unwind with our small group after a long day at the convention. In between events, I roamed the vendor haul, went to a superhero music sing-along (I will write about this later), and tried the official Sun King Brewery Gen Con beer. I bought a four-pack, so my husband could also try some too.

This post is already getting slightly too long, but there was one more thing that I wanted to talk about. I wrote a post weeks ago about how Darrington Press, Critical Role’s game company was going to be at Gen Con. I made it a priority on Thursday to visit their booth first. I was towards the front of the line when the exhibition hall opened and I fast walked all the way to the Darrington Press booth. I was waiting in line as the booth only had so many copies of their newest board game, Queen by Midnight. I wasn’t planning on buying the game, but when I got closer to the front, I was sold. I ended up purchasing Queen by Midnight. On Thursday, Queen by Midnight sold out within an hour. On Friday and Saturday, Queen by Midnight sold out within fifteen minutes. I am shocked that I was able to get a copy of the game. I’m still in awe that this happened.

I could honestly keep writing paragraph after paragraph about Gen Con and everything that I did, but I think this gives enough of an idea as to what happened this year. The countdown to Gen Con 2024 begins.