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'Gen Con' is the one of the largest and most prominent gaming conventions in North America. It was founded in 1968. Gen Con 2002 brought in about 26,000 attendees; which makes the convention similar in size to E3, Dragon Con and Origins. Gen Con is currently held in Indianapolis, Indiana. Gen Con UK conventions have also been held in the UK in a variety of cities. Gen Con Paris was held in France in April 2006 and again in 2007.

Contents

History

Timeline

1967 - 1977: Lake Geneva

1978 - 1984: Parkside

1985 - 1997: MECCA

1998 - 2002: MEC

2003 - now: Indianapolis

Noteworthy events

Logos

Recent Logos

Past Logos

References

External links

Official Sites

Related Sites

History

Gen Con began in 1967 as an informal gathering of war game enthusiasts at the Lake Geneva, Wisconsin home of Gary Gygax, later termed "Gen Con 0"^[2]. A year later, Gygax organized the first formal convention at the Lake Geneva Horticultural Hall with roughly 100 attendees.
Gen Con's name is a derivation of "Geneva Convention," given the convention's origins in Lake Geneva. The name also is a play-on-words, as the "Geneva Conventions" are the name of a set of important international treaties regarding war and the earliest Gen Cons had a focus on wargames.
During the following decade the event grew and was hosted at a variety of southern Wisconsin locations, including an American Legion Hall, George Williams College, and the former Lake Geneva Playboy Resort. In 1978 the convention moved to the University of Wisconsin-Parkside campus in Kenosha, and in 1985 it moved to the Milwaukee Exposition & Convention Center & Arena (commonly known as the MECCA) in Milwaukee. Attendance steadily rose from 5,000 paid admissions in 1985 to a peak of 30,000 in 1994, making Gen Con the premier event in the role-playing game industry. Gen Con moved to the Midwest Express Center (MEC, now the Midwest Airlines Center) in 1998 when the MEC replaced the MECCA.
For the first nine years, Gen Con was sponsored by the Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association.^[3] Beginning in 1976, Gen Con was managed by TSR, Inc., original publisher of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. In 1997, TSR was bought by Wizards of the Coast, which in turn was purchased by Hasbro in 1999. In May 2002, Gen Con was purchased from Hasbro by Peter Adkison, the founder of Wizards of the Coast. The Midwest U.S. convention moved to Indianapolis in 2003. Peter Adkison attributes the move to lack of hotel space, a less spread out convention center, 40% more floor space, and frequently broken escalators in Milwaukee's convention center.^[4][5]

In 2003 Gen Con in the United States was split into two different conventions: Gen Con Indy (in Indianapolis, Indiana) and Gen Con SoCal (in Anaheim, California). Gen Con Indy is the larger of the two, drawing approximately 25,000 attendees per year,^[6][7] on par with the Gen Con conventions in Milwaukee during the 1990s and early 2000s. It takes place in the Indiana Convention Center.
Gen Con SoCal was smaller, with approximately 6,300 attendees in 2005.^[8]
Gen Con SoCal was the 3rd largest consumer hobby game convention in North America. It was held in the Anaheim Convention Center. One day badge prices were $30 to $35, while 4 day badges were $55 to $65. On January 26 2007 Gen Con So Cal was cancelled.^[9]

After two unsuccessful years of running Gen Con Europe in the UK, Adkison decided to scale back and focus his efforts on the US shows. In 2004 licenses were issued to groups who would go about creating the franchises Gen Con Barcelona and Gen Con UK.
In 2005 it was reported that Gen Con Indy generated the most direct visitor spending of any annual convention in Indianapolis.^[10]
In early 2006, Gen Con LLC announced that it was going to run a new official Gen Con Europe, to be held in Paris, France. The convention was held on the weekend of April 21-23, and reportedly received 4,000 attendees.
In mid 2006, Gen Con LLC announced plans to provide more show space for video games to allow video game businesses a place to show their products after the downsizing of E3.^[11] Gen Con described their intentions as to "pick up where E3 [left] off."^[12] Several years earlier in 2003 Gen Con's owner, Peter Adkison, said that he did not want Gen Con to become a "mini-E3".^[13]
Gen Con LLC also runs Star Wars Celebration, the Official Star Wars convention held in banner years of the franchise.

Timeline

1967 - 1977: Lake Geneva

Event	Date	Location	Approximate Attendance	Notes
"Gen Con 0"	August 19672	Gary Gygax's Home Lake Geneva, Wisconsin	12[14]
Gen Con I	August 24, 19682	Horticultural Hall Lake Geneva, Wisconsin	50[15]-1003	First official year of Gen Con
Gen Con II	August 23, 1969	Horticultural Hall Lake Geneva, Wisconsin	150[16]
Gen Con III	August 22 - 23, 19702	Horticultural Hall/Guild Hall2 Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
Gen Con IV	August 21 - 22, 1971	Horticultural Hall/Guild Hall2 Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
Gen Con V	August 19 - 20, 1972	George Williams College2 Williams Bay, Wisconsin
Gen Con VI	August 18 - 19, 1973	Horticultural Hall/Guild Hall/Legion Hall2 Lake Geneva, Wisconsin		TSR, Inc. Founded2
Gen Con VII	August 23 - 25, 1974	Horticultural Hall/Guild Hall/Legion Hall2 Lake Geneva, Wisconsin		D&D game published2
Gen Con VIII	August 22 - 24, 1975	Horticultural Hall/Guild Hall/Legion Hall2 Lake Geneva, Wisconsin[17]
Gen Con IX	August 20 - 22, 1976	Horticultural Hall/Guild Hall/Legion Hall2 Lake Geneva, Wisconsin17	3003	TSR takes ownership of con2
Gen Con West	September 4 - 6, 1976	McCabe Hall San Jose, California17
Gen Con X	August 18 - 21, 197717	Playboy Resort/Horticultural Hall/Guild Hall2 Lake Geneva, Wisconsin17
Gen Con West 77	September 3 - 5, 1977	Villa Hotel San Mateo, California2

1978 - 1984: Parkside

Event	Date	Location	Approximate Attendance	Notes
Gen Con South	February 9 - 11, 1978	Robert Meyer Hotel, Jacksonville, Florida17[18]
Gen Con XI	August, 1978	University of Wisconsin-Parkside
Gen Con XII	August 16 - 19, 1979	University of Wisconsin-Parkside17
Gen Con South	February 15 - 17, 198017
Gen Con XIII	August 21 - 24, 1980[19]	University of Wisconsin-Parkside19
Gen Con South	198117
Gen Con East I	July 23 - 26, 198117	Cherry Hill Inn, Cherry Hill, New Jersey17
Gen Con XIV	August 13 - 16, 1981	University of Wisconsin-Parkside
Gen Con East II	June 17 - 20, 198217	Widener College, Chester, Pennsylvania17
Gen Con XV	August 19 - 22, 198217	University of Wisconsin-Parkside17
Gen Con XVI	1983	University of Wisconsin-Parkside
Gen Con South 8	March 16 - 18, 198417	Royal d'Iberville Hotel, Biloxi, Mississippi17
Gen Con 17	Aug. 16 - 19, 1984[20]	University of Wisconsin-Parkside	3,6003

1985 - 1997: MECCA

Event	Date	Location	Approximate Attendance	Notes
Gen Con 18	August 22 - 25, 1985	MECCA (Milwaukee Exposition & Convention Center & Arena), Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Gen Con 19	1986	MECCA, Milwaukee, Wisconsin	5,0003
Gen Con 20	August 20 - 23, 1987	MECCA, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Gen Con 21/Origins	1988	MECCA, Milwaukee, Wisconsin		Gen Con and Origins were run as a single convention this year
Gen Con '89	1989	MECCA, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Gen Con '90	August 9 - 12, 1990,[21]	MECCA, Milwaukee, Wisconsin21
Gen Con '91	August 8 - 11, 1991[22]	MECCA, Milwaukee, Wisconsin22
Gen Con/Origins '92	August 20 - 23, 1992[23]	MECCA, Milwaukee, Wisconsin23		Gen Con's 25th year. Gen Con and Origins are run as a single convention this year
Gen Con UK 1992	1992			Locations between 1992 and 2002 included Camber Sands, Loughborough, Manchester, and London, England
Gen Con '93	August 19 - 22, 1993[24]	MECCA, Milwaukee, Wisconsin24
Gen Con UK 1993	1993
Gen Con '94	August 18 - 21, 1994[25]	MECCA, Milwaukee, Wisconsin25
Gen Con UK 1994	1994
Gen Con '95	August 10 - 13, 1995[26]	MECCA, Milwaukee, Wisconsin26
Gen Con UK 1995	1995
Gen Con '96	August 8 - 11, 1996[27]	MECCA, Milwaukee, Wisconsin27
Gen Con UK 1996	1996	Loughborough, Leicestershire, England
1997 Gen Con Game Fair	August 7 - 10, 1997[28]	MECCA, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
European Gen Con 1997	August 28 - 31, 1997	Loughborough University, Leicestershire, England[29]

1998 - 2002: MEC

Event	Date	Location	Approximate Attendance	Notes
1998 Gen Con Game Fair	August 6 - 9, 1998[30]	MEC (Midwest Express Center), Milwaukee, Wisconsin30
Gen Con UK 1998	1998	Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire
1999 Gen Con Game Fair	August 5 - 8, 1999[31]	MEC, Milwaukee, Wisconsin31
Gen Con UK 1999	1999	Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire
2000 Gen Con Game Fair	August 10 - 13, 2000[32]	MEC, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Gen Con UK 2000	August 31 - September 3, 2002[33]	Manchester Conference Centre, Manchester, England 33
2001 Gen Con Game Fair	August 2 - 5, 2001[34]	MEC, Milwaukee, Wisconsin34	>25,0003
Gen Con UK 2001	August 30 - September 2, 2001	Olympia 2, London, England
2002 Gen Con Game Fair	August 8 - 11, 2002[35]	MEC, Milwaukee, Wisconsin35	23,000	Gen Con's last year in Wisconsin, 35th year of the convention
Gen Con UK 2002	August 29 - September 1, 2002[36]	Olympia 2, London, England36

2003 - now: Indianapolis

Event	Date	Location	Approximate Attendance	Notes
Gen Con Europe 2003	April 18 - 21, 2003	Olympia 2, London, England
Gen Con Indy 2003	July 24 - 27, 2003	ICC (Indiana Convention Center), Indianapolis, Indiana	25,0006
Gen Con SoCal 2003	December 11 - 14, 2003	ACC (Anaheim Convention Center), Anaheim, California	4,148[37]
Gen Con Barcelona	July 1 – 4, 2004	Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona, Spain		(licensed event)
Gen Con Indy 2004	August 19 - 22, 2004	ICC, Indianapolis, Indiana	21,700[38]
Gen Con UK 2004	October 14 - 17, 2004	Minehead Butlins, Somerset, England		(licensed event)
Gen Con SoCal 2004	December 2 - 5, 2004	ACC, Anaheim, California	5,55937
Gen Con Indy 2005	August 11 - 14, 2005	ICC, Indianapolis, Indiana	25,0007
Gen Con UK 2005	November 3 - 6, 2005	Bognor Regis, West Sussex, England		(licensed event)
Gen Con SoCal 2005	November 18 -20, 2005	ACC, Anaheim, California	6,326378
Gen Con Paris	April 21 - 23, 2006	Paris, France	4,000[39]
Gen Con Indy 2006	August 10 - 13, 2006	ICC, Indianapolis, Indiana	>21,250[40]
Gen Con SoCal 2006	November 16 -19, 2006	ACC, Anaheim, California	5,84037
Gen Con France 2007	May 25 - 27, 2007	Paris, France
Gen Con Indy 2007	August 16 - 19, 2007	ICC, Indianapolis, Indiana
Gen Con UK 2007	August 30 - September 2, 2007	Reading, Berkshire, England		(licensed event) (2006 was cancelled due to siting issues)
Gen Con Australia	July 3 - 6, 2008	BCEC (Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Gen Con Indy 2008	August 14 - 17, 2008[41]	Indianapolis, Indiana
Gen Con Indy 2009	August 13 - 16, 200941	Indianapolis, Indiana
Gen Con Indy 2010	August 12 - 15, 201041	Indianapolis, Indiana

Noteworthy events

The convention features a large exhibit hall filled with game publishers, artists, and related businesses. It is a popular attraction and frequently very busy.
The only game to be on the event schedule every year since Gen Con I is Fight in the Skies^[42][43] (later renamed Dawn Patrol), first introduced by game designer Mike Carr in 1968 and a fixture on the schedule every year since.
The D&D Open is a long running series of Dungeons & Dragons games at Gen Con. Game sessions are scored based on the team's progress; those groups scoring the most advance to later rounds. This leads to an emphasis on quickly solving challenges and moving through the modules. The D&D Open is currently run by the RPGA. The open began in 1977.³

The gaming group NASCRAG has run Dungeons & Dragons events at Gen Con since 1980. NASCRAG events sometimes donate their ticket fees to charity. The games run tend to be humorous.
The RPGA or Role-Playing Game Association runs large numbers of events at Gen Con. They run so many events that they are given their own category (RPGA) instead of sharing the general RPG category. These days RPGA events are primarily "Living" games where players create characters who persist between events. The RPGA first ran events in 1981.³

In 1987 a games library was added from which attendees could borrow games.³ The library is currently run by Game Base 7.
MIDI Maze, an early networked first-person shooter video game run by the Milatari Atari computer user group, was a draw to the early video game room of Gen Con. It no longer runs at Gen Con; the original display now appears at the Midwest Gaming Classic.
The Klingon Jail and Bail are a group of people who dress as Klingons from Star Trek. For a donation to charity they will "arrest" another convention attendee for a short period of time. The Jail and Bail originally appeared at Gen Con in 1994.³
Also in 1994 was the first , won by Zak Dolan, who defeated France's Bertrand Lestree in the finals.

Gen Con has also featured a number of events that raise money for a variety of charities. These include Cardhalla, in which donated cards are used to build a large city. Attendees are then invited to throw coins at the city to destroy it. The coins are collected for charity. Cardhalla was first run in 1999.
The Gen Con EN World RPG Awards (the ENnies) are an annual awards ceremony devoted to roleplaying games. Established in 2001, the ENnies are hosted at Gen Con Indy (since 2002) and are organized and owned by EN World, a D&D/d20 System news website.
True Dungeon is an immersive life-sized dungeon crawl live action role-playing game (LARP), run at Gen Con since 2003. It features a challenging series of puzzles and scenarios designed to recreate a D&D environment and session. It emphasizes team work, creative thinking and problem solving, as well as employing a fighting and magic system; furthermore, unlike traditional LARPs, it does not require staying in-character throughout the experience.
The Gen Con Costume Contest runs Saturday evening at Gen Con Indy, and features a range of categories such as SciFi, Historical and Fantasy, Talent, and Children's divisions. This event is preceded by a costume parade, in which all costumed attendees are invited to show off their costumes around the convention center. The contest itself generally fills quickly, both for participants and attendees, and features pre-show and intermission entertainment.
White Wolf Game Studio's New World of Darkness game line debuted at a party held during Gen Con 2004.
Gen Con 2007 added a Trade Day to the schedule for the first time ever. This is an additional day of programming for industry insiders and retailers, held the Wednesday before Gen Con opens to the public.

Logos

Recent Logos

Past Logos

References

1. Contact Us
2.
Gen Con Indy 2007 Program Book, , , , Gen Con LLC, ,
3.
A little History

4. Interview with Peter Adkison
5. Interview with Peter Adkison
6.
GenCon2003: Gen Con Indy Debuts In Indianapolis, Breaks 35-Year Attendance Record

7.
GenCon 2005: GEN CON Indy 2005 Record Attendance for Event

8.
GenCon 2005: GenCon SoCal Official Attendance

9. Gen Con Announces Changes For So Cal
10. Tourism: The last, but definitely not the least Erika D. Smith
11.
Gen Con Expands Focus, Adds LACC Appearance

12.
Gen Con Picks Up Where E3 Leaves Off
13. Interview with Peter Adkison
14. "...a weekend gathering of about a dozen ''aficianados''...at the home of future game designer E. Gary Gygax." (Laws 2007, p3)
15. Gary Gygax is quoted as saying, "I rented the Horticultural Hall for a full 50 dollars.... ...admission was one dollar. I had enough paid admissions to exactly cover the cost of the hall." "...there were only maybe 60 people..." (Laws 2007, p5)
16. Gary Gygax is quoted as saying, "...150 paid attendees." (Laws 2007, p8)
17. Greyhawk Tournament History
18. Convention Schedule 1978, , , , The Dragon #11, 1977 The listing for 'GenCon South' states, "Endorsed by TSR."
19. Convention Schedule 1980, , , , The Dragon #40, 1980
20. The Driver's Seat, , Scott D., Haring, Autoduel Quarterly,
21. Convention Calendar, , , , Nightmessenger, 1990
22. Convention Calendar, , , , Nightmessenger, 1991
23. Convention Calendar, , , , Nightmessenger, 1992
24. Convention Calendar, , , , Nightmessenger, 1993
25. Convention Calendar, , , , Nightmessenger, 1993
26. Convention Calendar, , , , Nightmessenger, 1995
27. Convention Calendar, , , , Nightmessenger, 1996
28. January 9, 1997: TSR Cancels Winter Fantasy Convention, , , , Daily Illuminator, 1997
29. European Gen Con 1997
30. Convention Calendar, , , , Nightmessenger, 1997
31. Gen Con 1999 information
32. Convention Calendar, , , , Nightmessenger, 1999
33. Full Thrust Tournament Rules
34. Convention Calendar, , , , Nightmessenger, 2000
35. Convention Calendar, , , , Nightmessenger, 2000
36. Card Games: Foil Plague Marine Promo Returns and GenCon UK Schedule
37. The End of Gen Con So Cal
38. Gen Con 2005
39. Gen Con Paris 2006: Debriefing
40. Gen Con 2006: A Hit in its 39th Year This press release indicates "turnstile attendance was approximately 85,000". Turnstile attendance counts each attendee once for each day they return. So given a 4 day convention, approximately 21,250. Given that some attendees don't attend all four days, it seems likely that this estimate is low.
41. Future Gen Con Indy Dates
42. "Only one game has been played every year at Gen Con since 1968 -- the ''Dawn Patrol'' board game, originally entitled ''Fight in the Skies'' by Mike Carr." (Laws 2007, p5)
43.
Re: Keeper's Project With Atlas



★ 40 Years of Gen Con: Preview Edition

External links

Official Sites

★ Gen Con LLC (Gen Con Indy & Gen Con SoCal)

★ Gen Con UK

★ Gen Con Barcelona

★ Gen Con France

★ Gen Con Australia

Related Sites

★ The Keeper of Ancient Gen Con Lore's Site