Someone start it off .....

• Good - participated in some games with systems I'd never played with before and had really great DMs and players. Brought one of my 13-year-old twins to his first Gen Con and he had a blast. Really liked how the Westin embraced the convention this year, the staff all had Gen Con t-shirts, lots of posters and decorations up, that kind of thing. 
  
• Bad - can't really think of anything offhand. 
  
• UGLY - dining options have really dwindled in downtown Indianapolis and I'm not particularly optimistic on new ones succeeding. We ate a lot of meals at hotel restaurants (service was great and the food was good) but the wait times were brutal as a lot of people must have been doing the same thing. 
  

Good - Baldman Games, the Vendor Hall seemed almost slightly less crowded and I got whacked by 75% percent fewer backpacks this year.
Bad - One event organizer was completely disorganized and ran us through the wrong adventure... but they refunded it and we still had fun.
Ugly - It was Gencon, I wasn't at work... nothing was Ugly.

Overall a B+ year at the Con for me.  

Good:  for the first time EVER, we stayed in a connected room furnished to our gaming group.   I could get used to that!

Running the podracing Boonta Eve classic this morning.   Everyone had a great time and the players who won was someone who had been trying to get into a game all weekend.   Such fun!

Most of our party survived the Tomb of Terror, which apparently was causing a lot of TPKs.  As the bard, I made one crucial Monster Lore skill check and really enjoyed myself.

NASCRAG.  Cthulhu.  Enough said.

Bad:  running back to back podracing events with no breaks Thursday morning wore me out.  Gonna plan differently next year.

Wound up skipping an event I was really interested in Friday evening because it would have involved trekking from the field to Hall D and back again.

Never enough time in the dealer hall.

Ugly:  navigating Gen Con with a cane necessitated by a torn meniscus.  I cannot tell you how many times I had to awkwardly maneuver due to a sudden directional change nearby.  Also almost got run over by a scooter.

This is petty, but...the restrooms have two doors for a reason.  You're meant to go in the door near the handicapped stalls and out the door by the mirror.  You should not be going out the same door you came in.  Many near-collisions due to folks not getting this.

Did not get to buy, try, or even look at any of the games I had my eye on.  This was really my fault, as I didn't prioritze hall time.  Still,  disappointing.

Our group, SWMGamers, had a great con and we loved playing with everyone.  Looking forward to next year.

Good
-Had great groups of players for each of the four games I ran. They were all very clever and forced me to improvise due to taking paths/options I never considered for a second when writing the adventures, and that resulted in some really cool moments. Plus they were all just really cool people to game with generally.
-Got a whole bunch of cool stuff in the Exhibit Hall.
-Played a two hour game of Cohors Cthulhu that was so good (awesome plot plus a great GM) that it ensured I'll buy the full game ASAP.
-Got to take a peek at the Fools Gold: Into the Bellowing Wilds 5E book, and I'm really looking forward to buying that.
-Homewood Suites by Hilton Indianapolis Downtown IUPUI is an awesome place to stay. Besides an in-room kitchen and good breakfast options, I actually got nights of uninterrupted sleep in a hotel bed!

Bad
-The two hour Star Trek Adventures 2nd Ed game I played in had a GM that either didn't know what he was doing or just didn't care. Either way, I wasn't impressed, though it did allow me to see how the game plays in the new edition, which was the big reason I signed up for the event.
-A small gripe, but failing to sell 1/3 of the stuff I put in the consignment store. Apparently 1st Edition nWoD books just aren't that popular or in-demand.

Ugly
-My body odor after the 12 minute walk back to my hotel room in the August afternoon heat and humidity, carrying a bunch of extra weight in the form of stuff I bought.

Good

• Stayed at Home2Suites over by the airport.  Breakfast was okay, but mostly the same.  Rooms were very nice, stuffed some microwave dinners in the actual fridge I had, really helped with keeping my blood sugar under control.
  
• Met and caught up with a guy I knew before I moved out of Minneapolis.  Completely random encounter in the hall between the convention center and stadium.
  
• Games ran well, even when some of the groups running them were short handed by chance.
  
• Despite my fears caused by a recent diabetes diagnosis, my numbers came back decent all weekend.
  

• Couldn't get a ticket or into a 6th Edition Car Wars demo, couldn't even find them in the hall.
  

• Bathroom etiquette.  For the guys, If you simply must use a stall to take a piss rather than a urinal?  At least have the courtesy to lift the seat first.  No one's aim and control is that absolute.
  
• General not paying attention to your surroundings while walking.  Things like forming blocks, stationary and slow moving in the flow of the main traffic areas.  Some people are in a bit of a rush to make their next game, please keep your head on a swivel.
  
• Related and impactful since I drive in from a more distant hotel?  That last three or four seconds on the crossing signs?  Is a yellow light, telling you to hurry up and get clear, not rush into the crosswalk.  A fair amount of congestion could have been avoided by people not doing so and letting cars actually make right turns.  Hell, one time I saw a guy nearly step out in front of a car when the crossing sign and lights were both in the car's favor, and someone else had to grab his backpack to stop him. 
  

GOOD

• Terrific game of Blister Critters (an indy RPG that takes the zaniness of Toon up a couple notches) - great GM and players.  So much fun racing raccoons, ants, and lizards down Stone Mountain
  
• Great GMs: Doug (Vaesen), Bryant(Dragonbane), Wythe(Blister Critters) and players.  The reason I go to Gencon - to play all these new RPGs
  
• Conversations with total strangers : gamers from Guadalajara, game designers while in Will Call line
  
• Gaming "celebs" are so friendly: conversations with Margaret Weis, Ed Greenwood, Tom Vassel, Bob Brinkman
  
• D&D commemorative stamps and first day covers was cool
  

• Gate 10 Parking: story is that their rental agreement with the Colts was revoked 10 days before the con.  Thankful that they accommodated us but I needed a closer lot for the early morning Orc Stomp.
  
•  HUMID!  Orc Stomp was sweltering
  
• The "murder hobo" in our D&D game (killed his friend's character!) and the mad bomber in the M,S,&P.I's game - hard to be stealthy when you decide to blow things up
  
• The crowds.  Didn't attend last year but the crowds just seemed so much bigger (even compared to 2017 when Gencon was sold out) 
  

Good

• Had a lot of fun with Blood on the Clocktower.  Our GM was super cool and ran the event very well.  I usually don't like social deception games, but went to spend some more time with friends and wound up having fun.
  
• I loved a lot of the artists they had this year in the vendor hall
  
• Really enjoyed several games tested in First Exposure
  
• Really enjoyed the folks running the Gooey Cube "gambling" event.  Event was a lot of fun
  
• I know there were a lot of frustrations with the ticketing for Star Wars and the 2024 PHB, but I do appreciate the attempt to bring that online instead of letting them turn into massive lines (like Lorcana last year).
  

Bad

• People sitting along the walls in the large hall from near the vendors to the hallway with will call.  There's a lot of traffic in that hallway and I nearly tripped on people with their legs out a few times.
  

• Our experience with buying the con merch from Rollacrit was very frustrating.  We got in the line before the booth opened on Thursday and were in the part that snakes right in front of the booth (not the long overflow line) and it still took 2 hours before we were able to start ordering.  The lady who was helping us was very nice, but extremely frazzled.  She repeatedly grabbed wrong shirts and sizes.  We went though the order multiple times and had thought it was all figured out by the time we checked out, but still wound up with two wrong sized shirts.  I feel like the way Rollacrit was running that booth did not set her up for success.  Their point of sale system seemed to have a lot of issues and other Rollacrit employees were constantly interrupting her to grab merch for other lines as well which would often throw her off.
  
  
  
  • It would be really nice if in the future they support ordering online and picking up at the con.  I feel like it'd help a lot of with the lines
    
  
  
• The vendor hall needs larger walkways between booths.  There were several points where a 4-way intersection would get gridlocked, especially on Thursday
  
• This was the stinkiest of the 3 years I've been to Gen Con.  Maybe travel deodorant should get added to the pickup for coupon books and swag bags lol
  

The Good:
VIG Swag this year was surprisingly exceptional
New games! I took this year "off" and just played what games/demo's were available.
The Fairfield; is just far enough away to be quiet but close enough to be convenient.
GenCon staff were friendly and helpful as always.
The Auction! the amount of items in the store this year and just how big it was.
The clickable link online showing the location of the game. GenCon has sprawled out and seeing just how far apart two events will be has made life so much easier (especially this year).

The Bad:
The humidity; I skipped anything to do with going outside (block party)
People in the dealer hall; obviously this will never change but backpacks, armored battle strollers, and just stopping in the middle of walkways to have extended conversation blocking everyone.
The Auction! Some people priced their items very "aggressively" and were surprised during Sunday pick-up. Had some interesting conversations with a couple sellers inline for payouts.
Was really hoping to find a cartographer in artist alley for a commission. Walked the floor and asked around but didn't find any, which is surprising.
The D&D "museum" was a bit disappointing and feels like it was put together as an after thought from items all purchased from Jim Wards estate (by the 3 people who lent the stuff).

The Other:
The litigation between Gate 10 & the Colts early contract termination. I assume this will not turn out well for gate 10 and we will likely be using horseshoe parking next year. I hope this is communicated to us in January when GenCon usually partners with Gate 10 for announcements.
That weird five person protest screaming at people prior to the Indians game Wednesday.
The coupon book seems more and more redundant each year (at least for me).

The Good:  Our first GenCon since COVID.  It was just as good as we remembered it. 

Want to specifically call out the folks running Sorcery: Contested Realm events over at the Stadium.  They were so welcoming and generous with their time and game materials.  Definitely made us fans of both the game and company.  

Likewise, the folks running the Take2 Games RPG aisle.  My son accidentally dropped his notebook after a purchase there and we realized it later on and came back and they had it on a table and so happy that they were able to reunite it with it's owner.  Also, they had a great selection of RPG's.  Probably spent a majority of our RPG dollars there.

The demo of Wandering Galaxy by Plaid Hat.  The scenario was about recovering a pallet of "WizKill" cards that had been stolen from a loading bay!  Besides just being very funny, it was also quite fun.  I look forward to getting my Kickstarter copy ...

Finding games that I never would have bought until I tried them and liked them.  Compile in particular was inexpensive ($20) and quite fun.  

The Bad: People with wagons trailing behind them in the dealer hall.  What.  The.  Hell.  The hall is already crammed to rafters and now we have to deal with people taking up three people's worth of space?!  I saw *multiple* carts with coolers in them.  This needs to stop.  A stroller is one thing.  I really hate the giant board game backpacks, but they are here to stay, so I've consigned myself to having to deal with them, but GenCon really needs to draw the line at carts in the dealer hall.  I understand people need them to get game materials to and from events, but there is simply no need for them in the dealer hall.

Lack of common courtesy in the hallways.  Do not stop in the middle of hallway to have a conversation.  Or to check your phone.  Or for any reason, really.  Do what you see thousands of other people doing, which is moving out of the stream of traffic before stopping.  Fun fact:  this also applies while driving and in supermarket aisles too.  The world doesn't revolve around you, so have some consideration for the rest of us please.

The Ugly: Getting verbally assaulted by some "hustler" hawking his CD's in the middle of Sunday afternoon on Illinois street.  Really kills the vibe of the moment.  Not GenCon's fault or anything, but it was ugly.

The Good

- The staff in the VIG lounge are amazing. Every year they make our Con better in a multitude of ways.
- Had some really great GMs this year that made for some really memorable sessions- from Shadowrun to Battletech to Vampire. 
- Got to check out the Auction for the first time ever - every year I tell myself I'm going to find time for it and never do, but this was the year. Really impressive how many items they move over the course of the weekend.
- Had three different GMs tell us our group was their favorite session of the weekend, and multiple GMs ask to take photos of/with our group which was a great feeling.
- Just Gen Con in general. It really is the Best Four Days in Gaming and not an experience you can get anywhere else.

The Bad

- Had three different events cancelled, one the night before the game and two the day of (one under an hour before the event). Have never had more than one event cancelled in a given year.
- Played in a War of the Ring Card Game that was listed as no experience needed, rules will be taught, but the GM had clearly never played the game and was in no way prepared to teach the rules. Turns out he was only GMing because the company gave GMs a copy of the game for running it, which means you're incentivizing GMs who don't know the game, because anyone who already owns it and knows the rules doesn't need another copy of it. Completely backwards.
- A Kickstarter that I backed in July of 2022 and was supposed to deliver in Sep of 2023 was selling games at the booth when none of the backers have received ours yet. (Everything Epic Games, to name and shame)

The Ugly

- The IT department. Event registration is better since they added the queueing function a few years back (the servers no longer crash instantly and stay down for 20-30 minutes) but it's not good. The website still crashes and gives 404 errors, there were problems checking out once you had items in your cart, etc. It even crashed on badge registration day, which was a new one for me and caused major issues for VIGs for whom badge registration day is also hotel registration day. I didn't try to sign up for the D&D handbook or other limited releases, but heard lots of grumbling from people who didn't get into those because of server lags & misfunctioning. There are probably hundreds if not thousands of competent IT professionals that attend Gencon and would happily volunteer to help fix the situation, probably for free! I don't see any excuse for this one.
- Half of the elevators at the Embassy Suites being out of service (for months, apparently). Ended up walking down 10 flights with my luggage on Sunday after waiting almost 30 minutes with nothing but full elevators. You could look across the atrium and see lines forming on every floor. I understand mechanical & supply chain issues, but there was zero communication. Clearly they knew about this before Gen Con - a heads-up would have been nice, as well as an explanation of why they were down and for how long. (I talked to the front desk, to housekeeping, and to the bellhops, and got three wildly different explanations so clearly they haven't even told their staff what the problem is)

Good: Ran events for the first time ever. Taught three session of Beginner's D&D and enjoyed it all.
Colts Parking opening up the McCarty lot. Will use next year if the price is still sane.
Crowds were polite with very few exceptions.
Saw Deadpool movie Wednesday night at the mall.
Battletech pods are back!
I came up on the Saturday before and hit those locations that haven't returned to the vendor's hall. Hit all of the Half Priced Books as well as the Doctor Who museum/store.
AirBNB for nine days for $1,550.
Nightmare Before Valentine's Day RPG was a hoot.
Who's Line Is It Anyway is my favorite event.
Math Trade was done and gone within one hour.

Bad: One booth I went to was just advertising for publishing services even though I was looking for one of their games.
Got whacked four times by backpacks on Thursday. Not backpacks... backcubes.
People selling in the consignment hall asking for more that MSRP on used games. I saw 20ish copies of Warriors of Krynn for $15 after Ollie's Discount had them for $10.
My Battletech pod locked up with two minutes left to play.
Played a LARP where we were all villians. Okay LARP but I suspect some of the players had "issues" to work out.
Vendors who don't spread out their bins even though they have space for it. Some people just do logistics better.
Several poor game teachers leaving out important parts of the gameplay.

Ugly: Aerodome not being Aerodrome with a similar description, location and cost. Suddenly had a five hour hole in my Friday afternoon. Was not alone in this but GenCon gave us a refund and played Sunday.
Some idiot wanted to look at a booth with minis and left his bag in the middle of the aisle! I was looking at booths and didn't expect a bag of games to be in the middle of the aisle.
Friday night, Whose Line Is It Anyway was next door to a parody musicain. We heard his entire set and had to scream several times just to be heard. Really lousy seminar placement; I'm looking at you GenCon...
The mall...it's just so abandoned... can we host some events there next year?
Road construction. I came across a road that has the same construction at the same location it was at three years ago. It may even be the SAME construction. 

NEW CATEGORY: Okay: There is a bar a block west of the stadium I visit several times every con. Empire Street Bar but it'll have a new name as it changed owners. Thought it was closed but they re-opened on Monday. Good location, no one knows about it, decent prices, comparable to the food trucks. They only had the basics; not even having unsweet tea the first day I stopped by. I'll hit them up again next year. I'd recommend it but I don't want my favorite hidden gem to be overwhelmed.
 

My favorite thing about the wagon discourse is that some people lump them in with backpacks and strollers and say "get over it."  No, I will not get over people blatantly breaking the social contract that we are all aware there is not enough space for us and we are all doing our best within our own limitations--your child needs a stroller if you are going to attend.  Your leg injury needs a scooter for you to be able to attend.  You certainly might need a backpack for snacks and drinks depending on your health conditions.

NOBODY NEEDS A WAGON FOR PURCHASING GAMES.  THIS IS A WANT.

I accept that I do not have a better solution for the one person I saw pulling three kids through the Exhibit Hall (I mean other than not bringing three kids into the Exhibit Hall) but that is by far the tiny minority of wagon users. 

Good:

• Getting to know the other volunteers in the auction. They are a good group of people.
  
• Seeing the "golden tickets" from the Marriott on the charity auction stage. My jaw dropped. They raised a decent amount of money.
  
• Deadlands Dark Ages quick demo - can't wait for this Kickstarter to go live.
  
• Spent < 4 minutes in the Exhibit Hall, made one purchase.
  
• The VIG swag was kinda awesome this year.
  
• Ran a Call of Cthulhu one-shot Tuesday night that felt like an episode of Fargo, one of the better sessions I've ever GM'd.
  

• Humidity was positively swampish
  
• Fitbit tracked 45+ miles walked, Wed-Sat, and came home to find I had GAINED a few pounds whatever.
  

• Covid hit a couple of us Sunday morning. Not terrible symptoms, but sure didn't make going back to work any easier.
  

To add to the wagon and cart discussion, I have to add the advertisement on the floors in the hallways.
Not bad on their own, but when they have QR codes to scan for a scavenger hunt or whatever, suddenly groups stop dead in front of you to scan the codes and makes already congested hallways worse.

Wasn't going to do one this year, but what the heck.  This wasn't one of my better GenCons, and I don't really know why.  
Going to add an additional, "Not GenCon's fault" after opinions because I heard a lot of complaining about various things that had nothing to do with GenCon, but still some that did.  I tried my best to help explain who was responsible for what issue to those complaining, though.

The Good

Due to not being able to get into hardly any games we put in for, this gave us a chance to play something new, which turned out well.  More on this below.*  (Not necessarily GenCon's fault).

Bought a ton of games on discount that I was looking for.

Variety of food truck options.

Looks and sounds like the online purchase of tickets for big products like Lorcana and Star Wars was a huge success.
Seeing new hotels built to house more GenCon goers.

Best GM I've ever seen and played with: Ted Bushman, made The Last Caravan.
 
Seeing the Block Party back on Georgia St.  Wish there was also entertainment in the food truck area.

The Meh

Consignment store wait line.  I know it's popular, but every time I went there was so much room available during the non-popular auctions that there could have been much more room for the store.  I don't think GenCon can do anything about that, that's most likely the vendor of that area.

Paizo Pathfinder was, again, very meh with quality play.  Will only do 1 event with them next year.

For all the online hype about DnD, I saw practically nobody carrying Dnd products and heard nothing about it.

Prices of food at food trucks are still a bit higher, but I understand the convenience.  Island Noodles is still the best.  Wish there were more options to sit in the area, though, instead of in the direct sun.

I echo the previous poster about using 2 doors.  Do people not understand that if there are 2 doors, that means two ways of traffic?  Just open the door people.

Always heard good things about NASCRAG events.  Did one Chtulhu event and ended up with an unprepared GM who was a friendly fellow but just didn't have it in him.  Other tables were having fun, though.  

D&D "museum" was nothing like the 50th GenCon presence.

Coupon book.  Even the GenCon free dice is useless, because both the 1 and 6 sides look alike with text.

The Bad

*Not being able to get into the events we wanted.  This was the first GenCon where we only got into 1 event out of the 10 we put in for.  Incredibly disappointing and nearly caused us to cancel the entire trip.  We discussed this a bit and just don't know who can make this better, either GenCon by  offering whatever so more tickets are available or individual companies.

There's certainly a solution there.  It turned out well enough that we were able to branch and out play some different games we still enjoyed, but utterly missed what we didn't get into.  That part was pretty depressing for us.  I saw mention of potential server issues, too.

It was hot.  The hottest I've ever been at GenCon.  Thursday even the Vendor Hall was hot and stuffy, not a good combination.  The smelliest con ever.

The crowds and room to maneuver in the Vendor Hall is still bad.  The poor folks in wheelchairs had an impossible task, too.  GenCon really needs to expand the Vendor Hall or widen the lanes between vendors.  If there were a sudden fire or other reason for emergency exit, people will die.  Skipped an entire day on Saturday in the Vendor Hall because it just wasn't worth it with all the people.

Flow of traffic in the hallways.  People should not be able to sit along the wall of some areas.

Went to a game in a bar with a fairly new designer for a social game.  Game was ok and we enjoyed it, but the poor guy was wholly unprepared despite doing the same game last year.  Could barely hear him, terrible rules explanation, and no visual aids whatsoever to help explain during rules learning.  We won't be doing random social games in bars any time soon.

I just didn't have the time to go into any of the vendor rooms to browse games.  Completely my fault.

Wagons and pull suitcases should not be allowed into the Vendor Hall.  If a stroller doesn't have a child in, and has games instead, do not let in.

The Ugly

By Friday evening the bathrooms in ICC are completely disgusting.  I don't think anyone cleans them once 500p Friday hits.

I realize there are tens of thousands of people in attendance, but I've been to professional sports game 2 days in a row that had 50,000 each day and the bathrooms were nearly spotless, even when the game was over.  Can GenCon do anything about this?

Paying to have my badges and tickets mailed to me, only to have to go pick them up at the Post Office anyway.  Not all of us live down the road from a post office.  How about giving the option to not have to do Signature Confirmation upon delivery?  Or force everyone to go to electronic ticketing.  That would save everyone money, including GenCon.

Previous poster mentioned Everything Epic Games selling product that backers haven't received yet.  GenCon should take a stand on this sort of thing somehow.
 

Plus we were pushing 75,000 attendees, and Friday afternoon thru Saturday are when things kick up to max attendance.  Sunday things are spinning down as people have to figure their travel home and how much is left to do.

Plus, well see my comment above about not lifting the seat for guys using the toilet to piss.  Some of this is on attendees, and things like not being able to put your cellphone away for less than a minute to concentrate on doing your business.  Seriously, I've personally witnessed this happening.

Or in some cases just a general "ugly tourist" attitude of not caring about making a mess, you aren't going to stick around afterwards and that's what they pay staff for, right? /s

Finally it depends on the area as well.  The guy's bathrooms around the main game and dealer's halls?  A major mess.  OTOH I had games over in the West Lounge of the Lucas Oil Stadium, and the bathroom there was fine all weekend.  I think it depends on the amount of traffic they get.

I can definitely say the bathroom by some of the wargaming tables (Hall D, I think) was absolutely disgusting when I used it. Can't remember the day, but there was a HUGE puddle of water by the urinals that you couldn't avoid if you wanted to use them.

Anyway, here's my list:

The Good:

Hanging out with my group:  I much prefer to do Gen Con with a group rather than alone (although I've done that, too).

Wonderful fellow gamers:  We participated in several events and all our fellow players were just fantastic, friendly people.  I always worry since you're rolling the dice with who will sit next to you...this year it was great.

Giving my 1st presentation at Trade Day:  I attended last year, and I've also run games in the past, but this was my first time at this.  It went well, even if turn out was low.  I hope our attendees all got something useful out of the event.

Meeting all the influencers I was hoping to meet.  There were 5 that I was hoping to run into, and I was lucky enough to find every one.  All were kind/receptive; I did my best to not keep them more than a couple minutes.

The Meh:

The Gen Con beer was just OK:  I shouldn't have set high expectations.  I had one glass and that was it.  There were other brews that were much better.

The crowds/traffic in the dealer hall:  It was pretty packed (as is expected), but there were still carts and huge packs to dodge.  I don't mind walkers and scooters that are needed for medical reasons, but a 2-level dog stroller?  Really?  I guess by now I should expect it.  It's so different from my first Gen Con with 25k-27k attendees.  It was also difficult to get to the popular demos with the long lines.  Again, I guess I need to adjust my expectations. 

Lack of food options the area: We we didn't have trouble finding food, the choices were a bit limited.  I guess it's tougher to makes ends meet other times of the year.

The Ugly: (None of these are on Gen Con itself...they were situational)

Flying to Gen Con:  I won't get into the details here, American Airlines had an issue with my boarding pass.  They were unwilling to help and I was forced to buy another ticket on the spot and had to fly through a different city than my daughter (who went ahead to the gate and had my phone).  My daughter later told me my seat on the plane was empty.  WTF?  They wouldn't help me with the correction, charged me for a different flight even when I pleaded to sell me my own ticket back so I wouldn't be separated from my family.  Worst flight experience I've ever had.

Saturday event: Night Cage game moderator was a jerk.  My fellow players were great, but he soured the experience for me & my friend.  If you're going to run a game, please have a minimum level of social skills.  Don't be condescending...especially if you don't fully know the rules.  We're all gamers and there to have a good time.  Do your part or don't run events.

Missing out on meeting up with a friend and seeing more of the con:  We only meet up at Gen Con, and we texted each other that we would, but didn't set a plan.  The time just got away from our group and we didn't remember until Monday.  My group & I also didn't leave enough time to get to all the events we wanted to experience.  Uuuhhh...!  We'll need to plan better next year.

The Good:
This was my 10th Gen Con and I've enjoyed every one.  I love trying a variety of new games, and overall it's an amazingly friendly and welcoming community.

It's the one time each year I get to have lunch with the guy who was best man at my wedding 34 years ago.

I appreciate the promos and occasional discounts you get in the exhibit hall.  It makes buying games directly from the publishers more enticing.

Unexpectedly picking up a free copy of Ziggurat signed by the designers and artist at the pancake breakfast event on Sunday.

First time staying at the Tru hotel a block away from the stadium.  Not connect via walkway but I'd go back there again.

First time playing a game in one of the stadium suites.  A bit of a hike to get there, but great place to play.

The Bad:
I really thought I noticed how crowded Gen Con is when trying to get dinner after the exhibit hall closes.  There's fewer overall dining options with the closures over the last few years, and it seemed like larger crowds at sit down restaurants.

I have to echo the backpack/wagon comments.  A few of the narrow aisles were impassable at points.

The Ugly:
For the third year in a row, I've worn a shirt referencing the British game show Only Connect, and no one has commented on it!!!  Disappointing.

Traffic getting into downtown due to construction.  You think I'd be used to that by now.