By Stephanie H., Staff Writer, Inside AX – Anime Expo

Besides anime and manga, there are many different conventions that are held yearly across the nation. Some of these conventions range from the bizarre (Pyrate Daze Convention held in Long Beach, CA) to normal (anime, manga, comics, and gaming) fare. Recently, Inside AX had the opportunity to attend Gen Con, a convention held in Indianapolis, Indiana that is centered around tabletop gaming, trading card games and more! Basically it’s a haven for all things gaming-related. Read on to find out what exciting adventures we (I) had!

Gen Con is considered to be one of the largest and most prominent annual gaming conventions in the Midwest and in North America. Traditionally held in August, the four day convention features trading card, pen and paper and board games, including role-playing games, miniature wargames, board games, live-action role playing games, collectible and non-collectible card games, strategy and computer games. For those of you who are into anime or manga do not fear! Recently Gen Con has featured anime-related events as part of their programming. (It even has it’s own category in the programming guide!) With a wide variety of events, attendees are sure to find something interesting to go to.

The main venue for Gen Con is the Indianapolis Convention Center, which spans two floors. However as events are divided up into different categories, each section of the convention center is devoted to one category. Furthermore, Gen Con also utilizes various hotels to hold events, as the convention center is attached to several hotels (and the Circle Center Mall) via SkyWalk tubes. This made the halls significantly less stuffier than at Anime Expo but there was definitely more walking to do.

Events…there are so many that it makes it extremely hard to write about. One thing that is makes Gen Con different is that for most of the events you have to pay money for. This is reasonable as the events are usually workshops, entertainment events such as concerts, or interactive events. Fortunately, all of the anime events were free. One of the most notable events featured at Gen Con include True Dungeon which is a massive two-hour, live-action, walk-through Dungeons and Dragons adventure complete with highly immersive sets, working props and amazing monsters. Groups of ten players work as a team to detect traps, solve puzzles, and defeat animatronic monsters. This attraction is present at Gen Con every year and attracts over 4,000 attendees. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get tickets as every session was SOLD OUT!

Of course no convention is complete without seeing people in cosplay! Gen Con hosts a costume contest and a costume parade every year. Another Inside AX staff member and I dressed up for the occasion and joined in the massive parade which had us snake around the whole convention. You can find many videos of this year’s parade on YouTube. Apparently this years’ Costume Parade has been the largest so far according to one of the attendees I talked to. This year also marks a momentous occasion for Gen Con’s costume contest…as we had a 3-way tie. Yep! The costumes were so amazing that the audience and judges couldn’t decide who to put in first place! Anime fans will be glad to know that there is a anime section for the costume contest. Maybe I’ll enter next year?

Both the merchandise and exhibit halls are large. I found myself spending most of my time there as there was a lot of booths to visit. Card games, dice, miniatures and even anime related goods…you can find it all. They even have an area for the Guests of Honor and artists to sell their artwork. The artist alley which is mainly for anime-styled works could be found in the Westin, where the anime-related events were being held.  Besides selling merchandise, the exhibit hall features many demo tables. Gen Con is very considerate of indie and other smaller companies. They highlight many of these smaller companies with fun scavenger hunts and other promotional events. Demoing different games such as Mage Wars and the Naruto Collectible Trading Card Game was fun not only because you got to preview the product before buying, but because many of these booths gave out freebies. For instance, I got a free t-shirt for playing the Mage Wars demo and a free starter deck for the Naruto Collectible Trading Card Game.

Speaking of free things, the “swag bag” that you get after you pick up your badge is filled with fun things for the attendee. This year we had copies of RIFT, the MMORPG game created by TRION, tossed in our bag along with a free Magic the Gathering deck (same ones that Anime Expo 2011 attendees got in their own bags). Each attendee also had the chance to pick up a free Gen Con commemorative d6 (traditional six sided die). A nice coupon book was thrown in that included discounts and vouchers for more free things. Yay.

Overall, I enjoyed my first time at Gen Con immensely and I can’t wait to go back next year and report on more happenings! The best four days in gaming indeed!

Tags: conventions, Gen Con 2011, impressions