By Jen Carman on May 15, 2016 at 9:19pm
The day has arrived! GenCon2016 Event registration opened May15th at noon and the house I was staying in this weekend was filled with equal parts excitement when wishlists were submitted to the automated system and disgruntled dejection when said wishes could not be fulfilled. Even hitting submit at 12:01 pm as precisely at humanly possible, we were placed 1,092nd and 3,000th-and-change in line literal milliseconds apart from each other.
GenCon2016 returns to the Indiana Convention Center, the surrounding hotels, and Lucas Oil Stadium Thursday, August 4th through Sunday, August 7th. This is the biggest, most comprehensive four days in gaming, leaning more heavily toward the tabletop variety.
“Last year, Gen Con set an attendance record with more than 61,000 unique attendees. With attendees from all 50 states, every Canadian province, and more than 54 countries, Gen Con is an international destination for gaming.”
Co-sponsors Mayfair Games (makers of Settlers of Catan), Rio Grande Games (Dominion), and Paizo, Inc. (Pathfinder RPG) will again welcome record-breaking numbers this year as well as 2016 Author Guest of Honor New York Times Best-Seller Robin Hobb, creator of the acclaimed Farseer trilogy, and 2016 Artist Guest of Honor Tyler Jacobson, and award-winning illustrator who has created imagery for Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, Simon & Schuster, Paizo Inc., Rolling Stone, and The New Yorker.
Sun King Brewery is also joining the festivities for the fifth consecutive year and will be brewing another specialty, limited edition beer based on the GenCon 2016 theme “Share Your Legends.”
“While Gen Con and Sun King have had four previous naming contests for official beers, this year’s naming selection process will give Gen Con fans more control than ever before. Sun King will craft a beer specifically based on the name chosen by attendees, as opposed to attendees naming a previously chosen beer style.”
As an attendant of GenCon2013, 2014, and 2015, the Sun King GenCon Brew is the very first thing that I look forward to after our convoy arrives in Indy. 2013’s was the Flagon Slayer, a braggot style beer, 2014’s was The Froth of Khan, a coffee infused brown ale, and 2015’s was my favorite so far, Drink On and Prosper, a blonde ale in memory of the late Leonard Nimoy. I am eagerly awaiting the announcement of this year’s brew.
To top off all of those fine sponsors, GenCon has also chosen The PourHouse as their 2016 Charity Partner.
“The PourHouse assists individuals experiencing homelessness in overcoming barriers to housing, treatment and healthcare. Through community-style street outreach and a unique peer advocacy approach, The PourHouse helps people define and achieve their goals.”
Over the four-day convention a number of auctions and events will be held to raise money for the organization. One is the Balloon Sculpture “Slay the Creature” created by Tim Thurmond. During the con he brings to life an *enourmous* balloon creature which is then auctioned off to be destroyed by the highest bidder at noon on Sunday. Last year the octopus he made nearly filled the corridor outside the exhibit hall with its tentacles stretching along the wall from one door of the hall to the other. Cardhalla XVIII is another con-long event where con-goers build towers, walls, and sculptures out of every kind of playing are you can imagine and on the last day everyone shows up to try to destroy it all by throwing change at what has become an impressive landscape. All of the projectile coins are then collected and given to the charity. Bulid. Destroy. Do good.
GenCon has quickly become the top convention of my year and I am so excited to attend for my fourth year in a row. Many a new game will be played and too much money will most likely be spent, but it is always an amazing experience with fantastic friends that I never forget.
GenCon2016! The Best Four Days in Gaming! Share Your Legends!
GenCon.com The PourHouse
