What I Look Forward to at Gencon Part 1

Gencon is now less than three weeks away and I thought I would list a few things I look forward to every year:

1. The first double-take by an Indy native – While I think Indy has adjusted to Gencon, it is inevitable to spot someone doing a double-take of a storm trooper, cloaked person with pointy ears or the person walking along with a dragon on their shoulder. I have never been a big “dress up” guy, until recently, as it is my daughter’s favorite game, and that involves me being either a princess or a rock star, but I digress… My point is that despite these occasional double-takes people feel safe to show their gamer pride and that is not trivial!

2. The constant flow of nerd comments and observations – I think it was my first Gencon in Milwaukee and I was stuffed into the hotel elevator on Thursday morning with everyone’s impossibly heavy suitcases of rule books, figures, cards, dice, Mountain Dew, and various accoutrement, when I first experienced this behavior. The doors slide shut and someone say, “Shields up!” In nearly every other elevator in the world this would have been met with uncomfortable silence, but at Gencon this elicited a chuckle from everyone in the elevator. That is when as a gamer or nerd, you know you are with “your” people. Plus trust me nearly every other person you meet is just looking for that excuse to tell you about their character or game.  “Did you just order a a not fat mocha?  That reminds me of my 3.5 elven ranger….”

3. The auction – Of all the years I have attended, I have never actually bought something in the auction but I go there every year. It is fun to see some of the old stuff that is up for sale and the auctioneers are a riot. Between the bids you can learn all kinds of interesting gaming history tidbits. It is a great way to spend 15 minutes between games or when you need to rest your feet from the exhibit hall.  The auction store is not bad either and is a great way to give your shoulder a rest as they check your bag but if your like me you will leave with some old book, figure, or some treasure you can’t believe was only a dollar.

Well that is the end of part 1.  I actually don’t have a part 2 planned but there is much more I look forward to Gencon and since there are still three weeks left and my wife will, if not already, be tired of me talking about it I might as well just send it out to the internet.