Remembering the good old days of high school or college class registration nerves? Well, if those days are long behind you, then no fear, Gen Con Event Registration is here to help you relive those memories!
When is Gen Con Event Registration for 2023? Registration opens on May 21, 2023 Noon Eastern Time.
When will the Gen Con 2023 Event Catalog be released? The event catalog will be released online before registration so about May 7, 2023.
How many events does Gen Con have? According to Gen Con, they have more than 16,000 scheduled events.
What types of events does Gen Con have? During Event Registration, you will see all the events divided up into about 20 categories:
*The number in the prentices is the number of events for that category in 2022 so obviously that will change from year to year.
- Anime Activities (79)
- Board Game (5954)
- Non-Collectible TCG (1017)
- Electronic Games (427)
- Entertainment Events (125)
- Film Fest (42)
- Historical Miniatures (60)
- Kids Activities (76)- crafts, first RPGs, etc.
- LARP (113)
- Miniature Hobby Events (177)
- Non-Historical Miniatures (693)
- Role Playing Games (3622)
- Seminar (215) – 3D printing, writing & publishing tips, D&D tips
- Supplemental Activities (204)- crafts and hobbies. Knitting, fitness classes, soap making, cooking classes, jewelry etc.
- Tradable Card Games (642)
- True Dungeon Adventures (492)
- Trade Day Event (64)
- Workshop (170)
- Isle of Misfit Events (992)- as the name suggests, this is a category for events that doesn’t fit in all the others. ie. Mega games, escape rooms, book signing etc.
You can see an example of last year’s Gen Con events at https://gencon.eventdb.us/index.php This is not the official Gen Con site but one built by Jon Schultz who provides another way to keep track of what’s being uploaded to the gen con event registration system since new events are continuously being added even after the official registration date and for some users, this site is an easier way to keep track of them.
How Does Gen Con Event Tickets Work?
Gen Con Official answer: Gen Con Event Ticketing
Consaves tips:
- Generic tickets are great to have on hand if this is your first Gen Con and you are unsure what types of events or how many events you would be interested in. If there is room or no-shows to any events, the Generic Tickets will allow you to jump right in. Generic Tickets are $2/each. The number of tickets to have on hand would depend on your interests. Boardgame events are usually free to very low costs of a couple of generic tickets. RPG events are also mostly in the $4-$10 range. Crafts events can get pricy from $10-$50.
- Any unused Generic Tickets can be refunded back to your account as system credits less 5% administrative fee. The system credits do not expire. This can be done at the various kiosks at Gen Con until the last day of the convention (Sunday) before 4pm. Official Gen Con Refund Policy
- Unused event-specific tickets (ie. you overslept and missed your “Gumpast Batman Logo” class that was $24) can perhaps be used as generic tickets for their value in other events. From Gen Con’s event host policy: You can accept tickets for a different event as if they were an equal value of generics. Do not exchange for generics and do not give “change.” An expensive ticket may be used to cover multiple players. Record these as “other” tickets on the event ticket envelope, counting them as an equal value of generics. Players with actual tickets to the event always have priority – their seats are guaranteed. “ Despite what is written there, there have been reports from past attendees of event hosts refusing to accept event-specific tickets as generics. Most of that is probably the event hosts not realizing the existence of the policy.
- New events are continuously being added even after the official registration date. In 2022, the anime category started out with fewer than ten events on the event registration date but it gradually increased and ended with 79 events in total.
- If you didn’t get a particular event that you really wanted, try showing up 10-15 minutes early to that particular event with generics and see if the event host will either take you right in or put you on a waitlist in case there are no-shows. Events that are held early in the morning or late at night have a much greater chance of no-shows, so those are good bets.
How does Gen Con Event Wish List Work:
Once the event catalog is published on Gen Con’s website, then you can look through them and add them to your account’s event wish list. The wish list will also ask you to prioritize your events according to how much you want them. On the day of the event registration which will open at noon, you will hit the wish list submit button to be put into a big queue and once your number is up, then the system will process your wish list according to the prioritization you have given them if there is still room available in those events. Your list will be up against several thousand other wishlists all submitted at around the same time so there will most likely be events that you wanted but didn’t get. The event tickets you successfully obtained will be moved into your cart. You are given a specific amount of time by the system to look over your cart and to remove any events that you have decided you no longer want. Do check out by the amount of time the system had specified or the event tickets in your cart will be released for others to grab.
Changed Your Mind?
Before the “Ship to Me” (for those who chose to have their badges to them) deadline of June 16, 2023, all event tickets can simply be cancelled and refunded back into your account as system credit. This also means certain sold-out events could become open again as people make changes to their plans.
Getting Event Tickets for Family or Friends:
For individuals you have added as your friends under the My Family & Friends tab of your account, you will be able to purchase event tickets for them. When you choose an event you will be given the option to purchase for yourself, or yourself and one more ticket, or select specific names of your friends. There is a “only if all are available” box. Check that box if you are only interested in going to an event if all members of your party can obtain a ticket.
Be sure to let your friend know that you are purchasing a ticket for them for what specific event because if the ticketing is successful then the system will block that particular time of the event on your friend’s schedule. That means if there was an event your friend really wanted to go to but it happens to be the same time as the event you had registered them for, then the system will automatically skip over your friend’s request for that event since it sees that time slot as already occupied.
When would you choose the “one more ticket” option?
This option allows you to give the ticket to anyone in your group and doesn’t lock one specific person into the slot and doesn’t block that event time on anyone else’s schedule.
Consaves Tips– Strategy for that one event you really want:
To increase the chance of obtaining a ticket to an event you really want, you could ask your friends to put that particular event on their wishlist as well if that’s an event they are also interested in. Whichever one of you gets processed first will obtain the tickets and the system will skip over that particular event on the second person’s wishlist since it will see that time slot as filled in both of your schedules.
Iconic Gen Con Events Recommendations for First-Time Attendees:
True Dungeon- Live-action dungeon crawl with puzzles and a combat system. This one sells out really fast since it has a die-hard fan base. It’s on the high cost side at over $85/ticket. Do a bit of research on this one, especially on truedungeon.com forums (will need to register first) since you will most likely be playing with at least some experienced players during your session.
AEG Game Night- GenCon game night by Aldric Entertainment Group (AEG). They will have many volunteers to teach you AEG games in their library. This one is popular because of the annual swag boxes and the raffle prizes AEG gives out.
Tracy Hickman’s Killer Breakfast- Best-selling fantasy author Tracy Hickman (Dragonlance series) runs an audience participation improv show where he is the game master and the hundreds of participants will die an untimely but humorous death. This was supposed to end a few years ago, but it was back last year so hopefully it will be back again.
Dice Tower Live Show- Dice Tower is a group that does game reviews and they host a live podcast each year at Gen Con.
Auction Hall- Not an event but quite beloved at Gen Con. The auction runs the length of the convention and has a consignment area with tons of board games to the side.
Costume Parade- On Saturday afternoon (it was 3pm in 2022) a huge parade of costumes comes through the convention halls. There are a lot of cosplayers who go all out on their costumes so this is always a fun parade to watch.
Cardhalla- a charity event where anyone and everyone can come build giant card towers with donated game cards throughout the whole convention. At the end of the convention, the towers are destroyed by people throwing coins at them. The coins are gathered up and donated to charity.
Gen Con Game Library- With an inventory of more than 4,700 tabletop games, the library is usually in the Lucas Oil Stadium. You can purchase passes for various lengths and times.
BGG Hot Games Room- Usually located in the Hyatt Regency Hotel, BGG (Board Game Geek) brings the year’s hot games to Gen Con. The passes are sold in two-hour increments.
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