Getting to GenCon Part 2

Getting to GenCon 2014

When do you need to buy your ticket?

GenCon tickets go on sale in January, normally around noon on the last Sunday of the month so that’d be the 26th for 2014.  Timezone wise Indianapolis is (currently with daylight savings etc) 5 hours behind the UK.
Your 4-Day ticket to GenCon will be roughly $70 (£43.25 according to Google) which gets you entry to the convention.  Note that’s entry, not playing any games as those have a supplementary cost which I’ll cover shortly.
For those of us outside the USA you need to arrange to collect your pass when you get there.  This, for me, is the real reason to go a day or so before the con really starts.  You can collect your ticket on the Wednesday which will also include any event tickets that you’ve pre-booked.

When do you need to book your events?

The events themselves go on sale in May which for 2014 looks like being May 18th again normally about noon Indianapolis time.
To get a feeling for the variety of events available I’d recommend that you check out this website - http://gencon.highprogrammer.com/gencon-indy-2013.cgi - which has a breakdown of all events at the 2013 GenCon which not only gives you an idea of what you can do when you’re there it also gives you an idea of the cost of the events.
Event tickets come in 2 forms – generic and specific.  A generic ticket is just that, generic and each of those costs around $2.  You can trade generic tickets for entry into specific events based on the cost of that event.  So if the specific event you want to attend is $6 then you’ll need 3 generic tickets to attend but this is discretionary based on the organiser having space for you to take part.

What can you do at GenCon?

Ok you’ve looked at that link above right?
Obviously there are a lot of games being played at GenCon, after all it’s kind of why most people go.  In addition to that there are a number of seminars, talks, special events, films and many many more events that you can attend when there.  Alongside that in the trade hall you will have the chance to play/demo a whole host of games from established companies and new companies looking to promote their games.
The “showcase” events will be the quickest to sell out so be sure to think about your priorities when booking events when the time comes.

I’m going to build a sample schedule for me based on the link above (you have checked it out right?) in the next post to give you an idea of what the GenCon experience could be like.