The standard Gen Con advice is good as far as it goes. Wear comfortable shoes. Bring a phone charger. Set a shopping budget. But there's a second layer of knowledge that only comes from attending — the specific, granular stuff that veteran attendees know and first-timers discover the hard way. This guide is that second layer.
Before You Arrive
1. Screenshot your badge QR code offline. The Indiana Convention Center WiFi is overwhelmed Thursday morning when 70,000 people arrive simultaneously. Your phone won't load anything. Have the badge code in your camera roll.
2. Download the Gen Con app at home, log in, and sync your event schedule before you leave. Same WiFi reason. The app is the only way to navigate events efficiently at the convention itself.
3. Know the difference between the Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium. Gen Con events run in both. They're connected but the navigation is not obvious. Walking from one to the other takes longer than you think.
4. The Will Call line on Thursday morning is long. Pre-print your badge. If you have the option to print your badge at home, do it. The Will Call wait Thursday morning can be 45 minutes.
5. Book dinner reservations before you leave home. Every good restaurant within a mile of the convention center is fully booked by the time you're standing on the sidewalk Thursday evening wondering where to eat.
6. The Westin and JW Marriott food options are overpriced and crowded during Gen Con. Walk two blocks further in any direction and the crowds thin dramatically and the price-to-quality ratio improves.
Thursday: First Day Strategy
7. Thursday is the best day for the Exhibit Hall. Saturday is the worst — 70,000 people on a floor designed for comfortable movement at half that number. Whatever you most want from the Exhibit Hall, go Thursday morning.
8. Convention exclusives disappear Thursday. Not Friday, not Saturday. Thursday before noon. If there's a specific convention exclusive you know you want, it is your first stop when the Hall opens.
9. The Exhibit Hall opens at 10am. Be in line by 9:30 on Thursday if you have specific targets. The crowds start forming earlier.
10. Publishers run their best demos Thursday when staff are fresh. By Saturday afternoon, demo staff are exhausted and demos get shorter. Thursday morning demos are the fullest experience.
Events
11. Generic tickets are your best tool. Carry more than you think you need. Any event with remaining capacity can be joined with a generic ticket at the door. $4 each, invaluable for flexibility.
12. If your pre-registered event is in a room you can't find, ask a volunteer immediately. Room assignments shift and the app doesn't always update in real time. Volunteers know where everything is.
13. Show up 10 minutes early to events. Organizers can release your seat to standby attendees if you're not there at start time. Being 5 minutes late to a sold-out event can mean not playing.
14. The open gaming library is consistently underused by first-timers. You don't need a ticket or a plan. Walk in, check out a game, find a table, play. Some of the best Gen Con hours happen this way.
15. Ask to join games in progress. At open gaming, someone setting up a game is implicitly inviting others. "Can I join?" almost always gets a yes. This is how friendships start at Gen Con.
Navigation and Logistics
16. The skywalk system is real and important. The Indiana Convention Center connects to the JW Marriott, Westin, Hyatt, and Marriott Downtown via indoor skywalk. You can navigate most of downtown Indianapolis without going outside. Critical during rain.
17. Learn the room number system before day one. ICC rooms are numbered by floor and corridor. A room number like 140 is first floor, corridor 4, room 0. This is not intuitive but is learnable in 5 minutes.
18. Wabash St. pedestrian bridge matters. The bridge over Wabash Street connects the main convention center to the Lucas Oil Stadium events area. Find it on day one so you're not searching for it at 9:45am before a 10am event.
19. The closest bathrooms are always crowded. Walk one extra corridor. The wait drops dramatically.
20. Set a meeting point with your group at the start of every day. "Text me when you get there" fails when you have no signal. "Meet at the big Gen Con sign inside the main entrance at 6pm" works.
Food, Water, and Self-Care
21. Eat before the convention opens, not after. Restaurant lines inside and adjacent to the convention are brutal from 11am-2pm. Get breakfast at your hotel, bring snacks, eat dinner early (before 6pm) or late (after 8pm).
22. Refillable water bottles have filling stations throughout the ICC. Convention center food and drink is expensive. Free water is everywhere if you bring a container.
23. Sit down every two hours whether or not you feel tired. The fatigue is cumulative and hits at inconvenient times. Build in rest before you need it.
24. The hotel pool exists and you should use it. Twenty minutes in a hotel pool Thursday evening resets your ability to do four days of this.
25. Bring pain reliever in your bag every day. Concrete floor + inadequate footwear + 8 miles of walking = pain reliever at 4pm. Plan ahead.
Shopping Strategy
26. Cash envelope is the most effective budget tool. Put your shopping budget in cash in a labeled envelope. When the envelope is empty, shopping is done. Credit cards don't create the same constraint.
27. Ask about convention pricing before assuming you're getting a deal. Some Exhibit Hall prices match or exceed Amazon. Some are genuine convention deals. Ask the booth staff directly: "Is this a convention special price?" Many will tell you honestly.
28. Artist Alley is almost always better value than the dealer floor for original art. Comparable or sometimes better work at lower prices, and you're paying the creator directly.
29. Buy heavy items last. Carrying a $200 rulebook and three board games for six hours is not fun. Buy big purchases at the end of your Exhibit Hall day and take them to your hotel or car immediately.
30. If you regret not buying something on Thursday, it will be gone by Saturday. The calculus on "should I buy this now" tilts heavily toward yes for anything you genuinely want that has limited quantity.
Gen Con 2026: July 30–August 2, Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis. See the full Gen Con guide for dates, badge prices, and registration information. Use the Gen Con Budget Calculator to plan your total spend.