I was cleaning out my closet and found the 2001 program book from Milwaukee.Pretty amazing to see how much Gen Con has grown in just 15 years. The convention center map was just 1 page! Even the extra hotel space was just 1 page. 

The exhibit hall looks so small. The intro says 600 booths and 125,000 sq ft. Any idea what it is today?

What is that giant void in the center? It's the TSR castle! (I still like to think of it as TSR castle.) And they even took out a full page ad to promote it. Now they don't even go at all. So sad.

Just noticed in the exhibit hall listings shows Avalon Hill. Wow. Had no idea they were still around in 2001.

Few photos for those who weren't there.

cover
http://i.imgur.com/sNSsGcb.jpg
convention center
http://i.imgur.com/fEWIF3k.jpg
hotel space
http://i.imgur.com/pi2y9tP.jpg
exhibit hall map
http://i.imgur.com/yuCC6mx.jpg
wizard ad
http://i.imgur.com/ixoCtDA.jpg
guests of honor
http://i.imgur.com/cjm0KN7.jpg

The Dealer Hall this year was 283,000 sq ft.  According to the Indianapolis Convention Center web page.  More than double.  Wow!

Thanks for posting those pictures.  They sure bring back memories.
 

In 2001, Avalon Hill was a sub-company of Hasbro.  (Hasbro's version of History of the World, for example, had an "Avalon Hill" name and logo on it.)  AH as a separate company went out of business in 1998.
 

Ah, forgot all about Hasbro buying Avalon Hill. Still surprised the original company was around until 1998. I just remember them from all of their old bookcase games from the '70s and '80s. Don't really remember Avalon Hill doing anything after that.

That dealer's hall number is pretty staggering solumar. Way over twice the size and without the TSR/Wizards booth taking up a big chunk of it. Amazing.

Interesting that growth was fairly slow through the first 40 years and then just exploded over the last 10 years or so. Wonder why that is.

Wow!  I would have liked to meet Richard Biggs during his time on Earth.  Thanks for sharing.

RIP, Richard.

Those did bring back some memories! I had TOTALLY forgotten that we had great Guests of Honor that year :). (okay, I wouldn't have noticed... I spent all 4 days in the Arena, LARPING... I think that was the last year they did it... - it ended in either 2000 or 2001.

Billy Dee Williams was surprisingly boring and looked bored to be there...just collecting a paycheck.
 

Back then the cost of your booth depended on your location to he TSR castle. Near the entrance and flanking left and right, big bucks. Behind and in the shadows not so much. It was pretty funny.
Randu

DrMean, Could you find the Nascrag entry and post a scan of that?  I'd really appreciate it.  

I had dozens of these tucked away with my old Dragon Mags.  They all got tossed I think.  That's what makes a true collectible, right?  Stuff no one thought to hang on to.

Neat find! I was there! But now I'm dating myself :)

Sorry nascragman! Just saw your request. I'll go through the books and see what I can find. The older books are time consuming to scan because the game listings are not sectioned off by type. It is just one big list each hour with each type of game just starting over at "A".

I did find a small blurb for NASCRAG in the 2001 book on a page highlighting some roleplaying events.

I'll post a link in a bit.

Nice this was my first GenCon