Can someone explain the ticketing system like I am 5?

I have been to many anime and pop culture conventions and have never worked with this ticketing wishlist system.

The gaming conventions i have attended are on the smaller side, and all of the tickets are either run through Warhorn or tabletop.events, and you just sign up (and they are free unless they are VIP events).

I have never been to a panel/event that was a paid ticket. Do you have to pay to attend everything at GenCon?

If so what does your attendant badge actually pay for?

Can I just walk into a panel that is ongoing or about to start if there are seats available?

(editted to add follow up question)

Has anyone gone to GenCon by themself? Was it still a fun experience? Would you do it again? I really want to go next year, but finding people to go with me is challenging. Just wondering what people’s thoughts are?

Edit: Thanks so much for all the replies. I think I will definitely try to get tickets for 2027.

I got further confirmation the neopets "The Two Ring" 2 of 2 ring was pulled at gencon by a kid and his family. Trying to locate the family so I can make an offer on the ring. Currently offering $10k and willing to travel wherever it is or arrange secure payment method of your choice! Even if you don't want to sell it reach out so we as a community can confirm it was found!

A little Gen Con full-circle moment for me:

In 2025, I brought an early version of Gibbon Take to Gen Con for playtesting at the FEPH. It was still very much a game in development at that point, and getting it in front of convention players helped me figure out what was working, what needed simplifying, and what people found fun about it.

Then I came back in 2026 with the finished game and got to showcase it by running it in the gaming hall all weekend long! It was surreal after spending the previous year testing and refining it.

Now Gibbon Take is officially live on Kickstarter.

It's a quick 2–6 player family/party game about building a party of Primate Dancers, collecting fruit, and occasionally stealing it from everybody else. About 20 minutes, easy to teach, and just enough take-that to let people be mischievous without completely wrecking somebody else's game.

A lot of what the game became came directly out of watching people play it at conventions, so getting from those Gen Con playtests to an actual finished product has been rewarding.

If anybody here remembers playing it in 2025 or 2026, I'd love to hear from you.

And if you'd like to see where it ended up, we're live here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gibbontake/gibbon-take-a-primate-party-game?ref=a9fwlz

Shout out to the wizard at the Red Gold Chili Cookoff in Elwood Indiana today who handed me this dope little bear and said "For Gencon" all mysterious like after seeing my Orc Stomp shirt. This community rules.

Looking for anyone that went in 2024 and snagged a set of Atomic Purple Dispel Dice they may want to part with. Missed that year and stumbled across them recently hoping to add to my collection. Feel free to DM if you do!

Does anyone have a picture of the menu from the PureTrition food truck you can share? I'm trying to recreate the green smoothie. Thanks!

Sorry. Soooo late.

Hello everyone ! I hope this is allowed I apologize in advance if it’s not. Im trying to get ahead of planning for next year and wanted to get peoples opinions.

Normally when I run my chainmaille classes I like to do a variety priced like a keychain or pendant for about 18 or earrings and then bracelet classes for 30 my take for supplies and time on bracelets is 25 of the 30

I was thinking of doing a necklace as an advance class but they take 2 to 3 times the supplies and charging 45 for a 2.5 hour class and with the way gencon does stuff I’d get 38 of that back for my time and supplies

So after all that my question is would you pay 45$ to make this necklace or should I just keep doing smaller items

I'm thinking of setting up a booth next year to showcase a game development engine I have designed - Just a Game Engine. It's for writers, GMs, comic creators etc. who always wanted to see their creations as a video game. Using tools like UnReal and Gogot means they have to become an engineer first. Prompt-to-code tools water down and distort your vision until, by the time you finish, it's not yours anymore. The prompt to demo platforms are toys that no serious creator would even think of using.

JGE does not require a"change in profession". You don't need to spend the next year learning engineering. You talk the way you already talk; describe your world the way you already do. The engine does not change your intent, smooth out the edges, or make a decision you never wanted without telling you. Your world stays yours.

This is not a magic box. It's hard work. A town can take weeks. A world months. But the people I built this for are fine with that. They are not looking for shortcuts or a template with their name on it. They are looking for a game that stays faithful to their ideas.

The way it works is you enter a prompt like "This is a first person RPG. The game opens in a small medieval style fantasy village. There are 50 NPCs with various occupations. And the buildings are a combination of shops and homes. There needs to be a stable, a tavern, and a weapon's seller."

It will ask a few clarifying questions, then generate a very basic version of this. You play for a bit. Then make adjustments. You see if the fixes landed the way you wanted. Then do it again. and again. And again. This can take time. But like I said, it's not a magic box. But it will give you the game you want. The one you created. Not a version AI thought might "play better".

I am looking to demo this at GenCon and not some DevOps con, because I would spend most of my time explaining why it's cool and who it's actually for and why they would want it. I don't have to explain that to the people at GenCon or Worldcon. They know right away.

I hope I can get a booth. If so, I hope to see you there.

And I am not just the creator of Just a Game Engine. I am its target audience.

Sincerely,
Brian D. Anderson

Has Gencon's staff ever considered moving to a different state due to Indiana politics and environment?

I'm not sure if I missed it or if it was filtered out, but did the VIG survey go out? If it has, can someone DM me the link for it.

Did anyone see Winds of Numa Sera at GenCon this year? I hear, the game is pretty cool and I am trying to get some honest opinion from some folks, who have played it!

I picked up Echaton at the last minute before the event hall closed on the last day, and I am so glad I did! What a fantastic game. Can't believe I'm so late to this party.

Anyway, I have a question. Is anyone aware of suppliers of luxury components for the game (I have the options from Archon Games themselves already - the turn marker, coins, meeples and have ordered the cloth map), but hoped to find better Plague and Curse tokens in particular. I wondered if there were any third party providers for these on Etsy or something?

Hi, so this was my first year selling things at the consignment store. I had heard that waiting in line after to get your checks was long and not worth it if you were donating anything that didnt sell. So I figured I'd wait to get it in the mail. But I still haven't gotten a check or have any idea if any of my stuff even sold. Has anyone else gotten their checks or have any idea how long it takes?

Managed Democracy has left the building… or, well, the convention center. Our after-action report from Gen Con 2026 is now live on YouTube. The video is full of photos of our tactical briefings, live-fire demos, and a few things going gloriously sideways on the tabletop.

If you couldn’t make it to Indianapolis this year, here’s the rundown of what Final Stand Games got up to on the show floor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2enNj_iXyH8

Anyone who went to the kids room did you notice a fishing memory game? And if so do you remember the name of it? I think my 3 year old would love it.

Edit: I found the game. It’s called Five Little Fish, I have gotten a copy and my kid does like it. Thanks for everyone’s help!

I am so bummed I missed the GenCon drone show! I had no idea it was happening and I feel like it wasn’t really advertised anywhere. I saw social media posts for it after the fact and can’t believe I missed it!

For context:

1. I spend weeks looking at the events and even used the site that showed when events were added or removed. Never saw it there.

2. I read the GenCon program pretty throughly, it’s possible I missed it in there but it definitely wasn’t obvious if it was.

3. I was at GenCon all 4 days from morning until midnight and don’t remember seeing any signs or anything!

4. This was my 4th GenCon so I feel like I’m getting pretty good at this but somehow I still missed this!

What gives? Did I miss something obvious or did you have to get an invite to this thing!? xD

I am happy to report that we have just added the 2026 event list to https://best50yearsingaming.com/ . You can now browse events from all Gen Cons 1968 to 2026 on the site.

I apologize if I'm putting this message in the wrong area or if there's some other Reddit I should put it in. I am a Reddit rookie.

That being said, I saw that Cards agaunst Humanity gave away bags at Gen Con, and have done so in the past. I have searched basic resale sites like ebay or mecari, etc, but apparently they aren't something typically re-sold(?) So I was wondering if there were other places online I might have better success finding specialty collector CAH items like these bags

Thank you in advance for any leads, suggestions, etc. And thank you also your patience if i posted this incorrectly.