Gencon Indy August 2011

So, this was my very first Gencon, and I was told by many it was "The best four days of gaming". When I think of gaming I thought instantly "video games, sweet!". Unfortunatly, there was only one video game room. Thomas Berdinski was very generous to get us badges for that weekend, so I thank him for everything, even though it wasn't what I expected, generosity is always appreciated.

The convention was a four day event, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, but we stayed Friday, Saturday, and then left Sunday morning. The city of Indianapolis is very clean and pedestrian friendly, sort of like a cleaner Cleveland, but without the lake. Since rooms were scarce we stayed with six other people (Thank you Taokaka!). The convention was held at the Gianormous (yes, that's a word, I think) Indianapolis convention center. The dealer's room was huge and was a geek's wet dream if they love D&D, Magic The Gathering, Yu-Gi-OH Cards etc. Several tables were selling comic books, hentai, and anime stuff, so for a non table top gamer going to this, I shopped at only those tables. Connected to the dealer's room was a huge room set up with lots of tables and chairs where some table top gamers camped out battling each other for hours.

In the lobby and lounge areas where they had comfy couches and plush chairs, there was more dice rollin' and card shufflin'. If you're into LARPing(Live Action Role Playing...not THAT kind you perve:) there were special LARP rooms for all you wanna be Blood Elves, and Orcs.

In other hotels connected to the convention center, they had anime and horror film viewing rooms. I heard that Lloyd Kaufman was there and a Troma Merchandise table was set up somewhere. Although I did see The Toxic Avenger and SSgt Kabuki Man there, or their cosplay facsimile, I couldn't find their table for the life of me. Thomas Berdinski's Giant Rubber Monster Movie was to be playing at some point that weekend, but on the convention schedule it didn't even list half the movies I heard were going to be there, and when I tried asking around the answers that people gave me were lacking knowledge. On a positive note, I gave out flair promoting The Giant Rubber Monster Movie, and left business cards scattered about for random gamer geeks to find.

In my opinion what really made the convention fun for me was two things. For starters, the really nice group of friends we stayed with at the hotel. We played a drunken card game, ate pizza, walked around. Was a very enjoyable experience. The second thing is, the cosplayers! There were so many amazing costumes and lots of people stopping to take photos (including myself,photos on facebook). Friday afternoon I wore the Miss Mario Outfit, and the rest of the time I was the Succubus from Castlevania Symphany Of The Night (Hail Lord Dracula). My other half was Richter Belmont from Rondo of Blood on the PSP.

SO, GENCON, GET MORE VIDEO GAMES! I want to buy and trade video games. It is NOT the best four days in gaming if I can't play or buy video games! Make all us nerds happy, okay!? Geez!