The biggest and oldest gaming convention Gen Con 2014 has just ended its 47th annual event and Here Be Geeks was fortunate enough to be part of “The Best Four Days of Gaming” in Indianapolis from August 14 to August 17. For the uninitiated, it’s the number one annual destination to experience the latest in all types of gaming, from boardgames to computer games to tabletop miniatures and much more. A latest press release celebrated the recently concluded convention for breaking another attendance record of over 56,000 visitors and 370 exhibitors.
And what an amazing experience it was! After a 36-hour flight, we finally arrived a day before the event to pick up our 4-Day passes and already one can feel the geeky gaming electricity in the air the moment we stepped through the airport, just look at that huge floor greeting as we got ready to claim our luggage! In the city, almost every eating joint had a ‘Welcome to Indy Gen Con’ sticker at their doors and the local comic book shop that’s just across the street from our hotel was in on the action too with extended opening hours and special offers.
At the Indiana Convention Center, huge banners were being put up and game exhibitors could be seen hauling their merchandise to the main Hall H. Plus there were already hundreds of gamers queuing for their passes when we got there in the afternoon. Fortunately the queue moved exceedingly fast so we had time to purchase this year’s official t-shirts as well as check out some of the other empty halls as they got ready for tomorrow’s opening day crowds.
To me, Gen Con has been one of the two big geek conventions that I have always wanted to attend since I was a kid. Of cos, the other is the one and only San Diego Comic Convention but recent events appear to indicate that it’s no longer the comic-centric experience that I thought it would be. Gen Con is like the only huge remaining bastion of true geek gathering left around. Over the last 20 years, I believe I have spent almost as much hours reading comic books as I have playing boardgames or tabletop gaming. So finally making it to Gen Con is a very big deal for me.
Anyway, the gaming started a little earlier for us too as we managed to score a brick of the latest Heroclix Guardians of the Galaxy set from the local comic book shop! I definitely call that a sign of good things to come. So stay tuned as I post more pix and reports over the next few days!
