Hey there folks, my name is Chris and this will be my first vagrant contribution to 9to5. I was planning on making my debut talking about Anime but it just so happens that I got back from a rocking tour of one of the biggest games conventions in the world: GenCon. So I’m going to break that one down.
First off, I’ve been going to this 4 day con on and off since 2005 and it never fails to impress. Getting there is a bit of a bitch though as it involves a 16 hour drive from Montreal to Indianapolis. Perks along the way; Kraken Spiced Rum, decent pork rinds (#keto) and catching up on TV Shows on the iPad.
Some people might wonder: “why would you subject yourself to 32 hours of driving there and back just to check out a bunch of games? Can’t you just do that in your basement at home like a normal person?”
Well yeah, but GenCon hosts 40 to 50 thousand people every year and it’s a great place to meet like-minded folks plus revel in the 12000 possible events including; 360 different companies presenting their wares, artist and writer panels and the world’s largest game of Settlers of Catan plus a 50 hour Guinness world record for longest game played. All that aside, the main reason I headed out was to help out some friends run their Dresden Files LARP.
922 players at once on really really really long boards. There were like 20 of those long tables which just as many people.
