Talk about game overload!!! Gen Con 2011 was an absolute blast. This was the first time for all of us in the BG team to go. Sporting our sweet t-shirts, on a mission to see what games we need to add to our site, and announce our presence to the board gaming community! (below left to right: Jim, Jon and Greg)
Holy Gamers Batman!!
The first thing we experienced was the crazy amount of people there! And lines like you’ve never seen before. We’re talking lines you’d be in for 2-3 hours just to get your badge to get in. Luckily we ordered our badges ahead of time and had them shipped to us. I would highly recommend that to anyone planning on going to the next Gen Con.
Can you spot Waldo in the crowd?
Then there was the massive amount of places to play games. After three days, I still was finding places and rooms I hadn’t even seen yet.
No better place to play
The beauty of the whole experience was how open everyone was to playing games with complete strangers. It was common to put the box of the game you were learning on the edge of the table which was an open invitation to anyone else to join in! The only downside was that the combination of not getting enough sleep and learning rules for tons of new games completely fried my brain by day 3.
This is someone’s creation of Lego RoboRally!
Stay tuned for more articles about Gen Con 2011. Did I mention I got pre-release copies of Gears of War, Elder Sign, Arcana Revised, Eminent Domain, Blood Bowl: Team Manager and more! I’ll be writing articles about them, with photos of the contents and my impressions of the gameplay!
Happy Gaming!
Someday…
Sweet
I have never attended a convention, but I am going to make it to this one someday!
This is definitely one of the biggest conventions for board games out there. If you’re looking to spend four amazing days with thousands of fellow game enthusiasts, it’s definitely the one to go to. Plus, you can play any game you could imagine there, and then unless it’s sold out, you can purchase your own copy. You’ll also have the chance to meet many of the actual designers and illustrators of the games. I highly recommend going! My biggest advice, get your badge mailed to you before the conference to avoid spending hours in line. And get your hotel reservations early!
Would you guys say that GenCon is the U.S. gaming convention to save up for in the future. or are there others to consider? I’ve been pretty envious looking at all the photos and conversations about the convention.
I thought blood bowl was a fantastic reinterpretation of the original game. While I was a little sad that it didn’t come to fruition as a DBG, what was released was a fun game that I ended up playing far too many times over the course of GenCon. Little Sad FFG couldn’t sell me a demo copy of the game though, as I was in a booth and didn’t get a chance to snag one of the <350 copies they brought with them.
Wasn't really impressed by Rune Age or Quarriors though. I wanted to like Rune Age and its flexibility to change between co-op and/or competitive, but it just left me underwhelmed. Quarriors just seemed entirely too luck based, and the person who rolled well first and bought a high cost monster/hero almost always ended up with a blowout win.
Also, if you like Race for the Galaxy, definitely check out Eminent Dominion. I felt like it was much more user friendly.
We had to ship the games we bought to us, so I’ll be trying Rune Age tomorrow! I love the idea of a BoardGaming.com party at Gen Con! And I’ll throw a shout out to everyone that Jon, Greg and I played with. We had a ton of fun learning new games and playing with everyone. And an extra big shout out to everyone that taught us how to play, especially towards the end of the conference when I’m sure everyone’s brains were full to the brim with rules!
No love for Rune Age! Jim, playing Race for the Galaxy with you was quite fun! Hope you guys are around GenCon next year. Let’s have a party.
Oh wow!!! Envy reeks all through me. That had to be incredible! I am intrigued by pre-release games especially blood bowl! Can’t wait to see the pictures and review.