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What is Electronic Ticketing?

Electronic Ticketing (E-Ticketing) is Gen Con’s paperless ticketing system used by many Event Organizers to make events easier to attend.

When you purchase tickets for an E-Ticketed event, there’s nothing to print, pick up, or hand over. E-Tickets are 100% digital and linked directly to your Gen Con account. Your badge is all you need. Just show up to the event. The Event Host will scan the badge to redeem your ticket. That’s it!

Important: Not all Gen Con 2025 events use E-Ticketing. Be sure to check the event details to see whether it’s ticketed as Electronic or Paper.

How E-Ticketing Works for Attendees

Register for Events. Use the Gen Con website or Gen Con Mobile App to browse the Event Catalog and purchase tickets. If the Ticketing Method in the event details displays “Electronic”, then it’s an E-Ticketed event, and your ticket is digitally linked to your Gen Con account and connected to your badge. No printing, or Will Call pickup required.

Attend Your Event. Show up with your badge. The Event Host will scan your badge to redeem your E-Ticket.

Enjoy Your Game! That’s it! You’re checked in and ready to play.

Benefits of E-Ticketing for Attendees

Skip the Will Call line: Your E-Tickets are delivered instantly to your account.
Purchase on the Spot: Attendees can buy E-Tickets directly from the Event Host!

No Paper, No Stress: No paper to lose, forget, or tear!

How E-Ticketing Works for Event Hosts

Submit E-Ticketed Events. When creating your events in the Event Submission Form, choose “Electronic” as the Ticketing Method. This flags your event as E-Ticketed and enables badge scanning at the table. See the Event Host Policy for details.

Add additional GMs. Only an event's GMs can scan attendee badges and manage tickets.

Complete E-Ticketing Training. Log in to your EO/GM Dashboard, Press “E-Ticketing” and select training to use the Interactive E-Ticketing Training Walkthrough.

Redeem Tickets at the Event. Use the Gen Con Mobile App or the Web Scanner Interface to scan attendee badges and redeem their E-Tickets.

Sell, Comp, or Issue Tickets On-Site. If a player shows up without a ticket, you can sell, comp, or issue an E-Ticket directly from the Gen Con Mobile App or web interface, as long as there is space available for your event.

Handle Scanning Issues. Can’t scan a badge? Use the Mobile App’s “Can’t Scan Report” to take a photo, manually enter the Badge ID, and submit. The system will tentatively redeem the ticket for Event Team review. See here for a quick Troubleshooting guide for E-ticketing Hosts.

Host an Amazing Event. With E-Ticketing, you spend less time on paperwork and more time running a fun, smooth event for your players.

Benefits of E-Ticketing for Event Hosts

Quick Metrics: Know exactly how many E-Tickets have been sold and redeemed.

Sell on the spot: Sell, comp, or even oversell tickets directly at your event.

No more Paper: No more paper tickets to collect and turn in.

Faster wrap-up: Post-event reconciliation and reporting are quicker and easier.

Event Host Equipment Requirements

Hosting an E-Ticketing event requires:

A late-model iOS or Android device with the Gen Con Mobile App installed, access to the Internet, and a functional camera or a Bluetooth Code39 compatible barcode scanner, and/or;

A computer with Internet access and a Code39 compatible barcode scanner.

Test your scanner using this barcode test page.

Event Host Best Practices

Scanning only takes a second or two but may take longer than collecting paper tickets, so plan accordingly.

Bluetooth handscanners are a favored device amongst many Event Hosts.

Larger events should have multiple GM’s assigned to them for quicker scanning

Add anyone who will be helping you host your events as Gamermasters (GM’s) to all your events so they can scan badges.

Edit GM assignments anytime through the EO/GM Dashboard. See walkthrough video here.

If your event is E-Ticketed, you are not required to accept generic paper tickets, but you may choose to if it helps your group. If you do collect paper tickets, you must turn them in to Event HQ at the end of your event.

E-Ticket In-App Scanning Options

There are two ways to redeem E-Tickets, Single Event Scanning and Multi-Event Scanning.

Single Event Scanning (default): Select your event from “My Schedule” and scan attendee badges for that event.

Multi-Event Scanning: Ideal for Event Hosts running multiple events at the same time.

Learn how to use this mode in the Interactive E-Ticketing Training Walkthrough.

Looking to the Future for E-Ticketing

Event Organizers who wish to host E-Ticketed events for Gen Con Indy 2026 will be required to complete E-Ticketing Certification by taking the Interactive E-ticketing Training Walkthrough

Need Help with an E-Ticketed Event?

Electronic Ticketing Refresher Workshops

Visit any Event HQ or GM HQ for in-person assistance.

Email: [email protected]