Do we know where the open gaming location will be yet?  I could not find the information.

Ditto. More details needed.

I'm going to keep beating this drum I guess. Where is open gaming going to be?

I don't they have a location yet. Just a guess but with the Con Center closing each night for a "deep cleaning" I bet the hotels that do have available public space are hesitant to book it for an on official gaming spot and instead are saving it for their guests. 

I don't remember there being badge-minders at the open gaming area in the JW Marriott in years past (ie- it was not clear to me whether you needed a badge to go to that open gaming room) , but I could be wrong and just not have noticed. 

I dont recall the official response though.

I wrote a thread in 2019 about our experiences with a badge-checker in the lobby of the Marriott.  That never elicited an official response beyond assurance that they had read it.

Sure, Gencon leases event space in the hotel just like any other private event and you have to have a badge to get into those events, but they are not renting out the entirety of the hotels floor-to-ceiling. Believe it or not, I have actually met hotel guests in downtown Indy during Gencon who were not there for Gencon. As paying guests of the hotel they have just as much right to be in the hotel as a convention attendee. 

So if your experience was negative (I'm assuming it was), then shame on that person. 

Personally, I don't typically wear my badge around if I am not intending to go somewhere a badge is needed, and I have never had someone stop me in the public areas of the ICC or hotels questioning why I am not wearing a badge.

It was negative, for sure.  It happened in the 2nd floor lobby of the Marriott (not the JW, the old Marriott).  We were sitting at a table in the lobby, eating the lunch we bought at the little popup cafe when a middle-aged guy in Event Staff garb accosted us and demanded to see our badges.

I posted a thread in the customer service forum, which has "mysteriously" disappeared.  I have no idea if any steps were taken to prevent this from happening to anyone else.  I guess we'll see.

I had forgotten you were accosted by someone while not gaming.  The only times I ever had someone checking badges at a hotel it was right around Midnight and they were clearly making sure nobody with a (previous day) badge was still in a game or something.  Which actually resulted in the game I was in being immediately killed as the GM realized he had left his badge at home, haha.  Fortunately the whole room was playing the same system and it lends itself well to anthology-style disconnected adventures so we just moved over a table, but still.

Finally posted the information in the blog.

Open game blog

Open Gaming in Hall A will be available until midnight — which means games need to be finished and cleaned up by that time. But don’t worry, night owls! There is still open gaming from 10 pm to 3 am at Indiana Ballroom E in the Marriott, so you can head there if you think your game will extend past midnight or you need to move over when Hall A closes.

Just a thought for the staff organizing the open gaming spaces. If you're not doing so already, maybe number the tables so random strangers who've organized pick-up groups and what have you can find each other easier. 

Then you can post "Two people at table 42 looking for people" here/on discord instead of "we're over in an unspecified corner near that one set of double doors. I'm the brown-haired, average-height guy in the guy in the black t-shirt."

Then you could also include a map of the open gaming area showing table numbers and their locations in the program guide.