Hey all. Newer GenCon GM. Just had a few of my events edited by Derek without warning or discussion. This is totally fine. He pared them down from 32 to 16 players. I think one of them is unlikely to even meet the 16 player cap. But two of them have a good chance of hitting the 32 mark and a small chance of going over.

In the event that this happens - let's say 16 people pre-register and another 16+ show up with generics hoping to play - what is the protocol? My events are CCG's which I have tournament policy with instructions for 4-400 players on so in my mind there really is no cap. However, the tables in the CCG Hall are all numbered so I have to assume we can't just steal adjacent tables to accommodate more players.

In my position would you reach out and request that the additional player slots be restored, wait and hope to adjust on the fly to accommodate the extra players, or tell the additional players, "Sorry, we'll push for more space next year." ?

I'd contact Derek and see if you can talk him into increasing your cap.As a newer GM, he wants to be sure that your games will fill, rather than giving you table space and seeing a flop (hey, he doesn't know you or how well your games fill).

If he says "okay", then great. If he says "No", accept it, and let him know after the con how many people, you had to turn away. There might be a lot of games that want space in that time slot and he is trying to schedule as many as possible. But you'll never know unless you ask him.

And no, you can't just expand into available space (assuming that there is any at the time your game starts), because there might be another game scheduled into that space in an hour or two. 

Derek has a pretty deep database of whats been offered, how many tickets were bought, and how many players used those tickets. So its not like he’s just picking numbers at random. The last few years they have also left some wiggle room to grow in demand events after registration opens. If the organizer can accomodate additional players.

Thank you both for your replies. The game in question had abysmal turnout last year so I understand his tinkering with my numbers. I did grow an event from 12 players in 2017 to 30 players in 2018 when I took the reigns in another game. Hopefully this will also be the case for the  events in question.

Roderick, thanks. Those are all replies my gut had already given me but I wanted the reassurance of others in the GM community.

Thanks to you both and happy gaming!

Hey muk! Welcome to the world of GMing. Whats the CCG? We are entering our 4th year now running what is now over 100 events! I remember our first year, and they would much rather cut you short of your target and see you fill over having a bunch of empty seats.

Depending on your number of events, you will be assigned a color and number. For instance, Red Tables, Hall B, tables 1-4. You might not have the same assignment for other events, so expect to be moved around if your events are on different times and days.

That is where getting involved with gaming groups (like us) to help lend logistical support and advice. Plus groups generally run events across the span of the entire convention and get allocated space that does not change. 

The event that I grew the numbers on was Warlord CCG and the game/events I'm currently looking to grow is WoW TCG. Totally get DG's distrust of WoW TCG numbers - it's warranted based on his data.

I'll look into gaming groups (joining or starting) before next year if there's not already a Dead CCG Coalition or similar. At the rate CCG's blink in and out of published existence there's a lot of games out there people miss having events for.

If you were interested in teaming up with us this year, it is possible we could still bundle you in. You would be joining a great group of GMs and have a great deal of support and infrastructure to lean on.

DM me or email me [email protected] if you like.

As other folks have mentioned, we adjust max players based on the data we have available. If you think you have cause to expect more, certainly email us that supporting evidence and we can talk through it.

For any event, if it sells out (or gets close) and you want to expand it, reach out to us and we'll see what additional tables might be available to either expand onto or move the event to, depending on the whether tickets have been printed, where tables are available, etc.

If you get more walk-up players than your assigned tables can accommodate, just check in with the local event HQ. They'll let you know what tables will be available for the window that you need them.

Ultimately, we'll do just about everything we can to get people playing if the event is sold our or lots of players show up with generics, but we only reserve space based on our best estimates based on historical data (and other context).

Hope that helps, but let us know if you need anything else.

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Derek Guder
Senior Event & Program Manager
Gen Con LLC

@BC - Thanks for the offer! Will consider.

@DerekGuder - Perfect information! Thank you for all your hard work!