Throwback Thursday #4: GenCon 2019

Due to the pandemic GenCon 2020 had to be virtual. For reasons I think we can all understand the in-person GenCon 2019 was more memorable for me. Although I had attended my first GenCon in 2018, it wasn't until the following year that Three Days on Callisto made its debut at the convention.

If you enjoy boardgaming and haven't yet made it to GenCon you owe it to yourself to go some time. It is a massive four-day tabletop (mostly) gaming convention held every summer in Indianapolis. It can be expensive, particularly if you don't live near Indianapolis and don't have friends you can stay with there. But there are so many fun and interesting things to do that you could attend five years in a row and still be unaware of much of it. In recent years attendance has surpassed 60,000, and the 2019 convention reached 70,000!

One of the many events at GenCon is the First Exposure Playtesting Hall (FEPH). It takes up a large conference room in the main convention center. (The vast Indiana Convention Center in downtown Indianapolis is not nearly big enough for GenCon any more. Many events are held in nearby hotels and the Lucas Oil Stadium, where the Colts play.) The FEPH is not unlike a Protospiel event, where designers of games in varying stages of development can get their prototypes in front of playtesters. A major difference however is the thousands of enthusiastic convention goers that are roaming just outside the FEPH, many of whom have set aside four days to devote to all things gaming. This allows the organizers of the FEPH to run a much more structured event. Designers are booked in advance for several two-hour blocks. For each session they can specify the number and even the gender of their playtesters. Gamers at the convention are free to wander into the hall and sign up to playtest a game, and near the start of each two hour session there is often a crowd of around a hundred people, eager to try out an unpublished prototype.

An obvious advantage of the FEPH system is that designers can count on a set number of playtests. Another perk is that because of all the willing playtesters the designers are not obligated to play each others games. Don't get me wrong. I love the chance to play fellow designers' prototypes, and in fact I did hang around in the FEPH to do just that between some of my own sessions. But it's nice to have the freedom to spend time doing all the other fun stuff on offer at GenCon.

At the moment (late January 2021) the status of GenCon 2021 is uncertain. Organizers have postponed the sale of badges until they know whether the pandemic will be under control and an in-person convention will be feasible. I really hope it is. If so maybe I'll see you there!