Gen Con was created by Gary Gygax, American game designer best known for co-creating Dungeons & Dragons. He is often described as the father of tabletop role-playing games. However, Gen Con had been established before D&D was first released. In 1967, Gygax hosted an informal gathering of wargaming fans at his home in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. The first official Gen Con took place the next year at the Lake Geneva Horticultural Hall.
Gen Con’s location moved between various sites in Wisconsin until 1984. The convention was held in Milwakee, Wisconsin from 1985 to 2002 and then moved to Indianapolis, Indiana where it has been held ever since. Despite spending a short time under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection due to a lawsuit filed by Lucasfilm in 2008, Gen Con remains North America’s largest event of its kind by both attendance (over 60,000 in 2016) and number of events.
Gen Con features all kinds of tabletop games: pen-and-paper, board and card games, including strategy games, collectible card games, role-playing games (RPGs), live action role-playing games, and miniatures wargames. It also features a number of computer games although tabletop games have always remained the convention’s main focus.
Gen Con offers rich and diverse programming featuring game publishers, artists, and other industry professionals. There’s a large exhibit hall showcasing various games (by the way, the only game that has been on the event schedule every year is Dawn Patrol, formerly known as Flight in the Skies). The show also features panels, seminars, contests, cosplay, charity events, and a plethora of other events and activities.
From 1977 to 2013, Gen Con hosted the D&D Championship Series, also known as the D&D Open Championship. The event was brought back in 2016, but now it takes place at Origins Game Fair in Columbus, Ohio. Gen Con also hosts the ENnies (Annual Gen Con EN World RPG Awards), fan-based awards for RPG products and publishers.
Photo: Mike Williams | agamemag.com
