GenCon 2025 Wrap

I waved goodbye to Mike and Christina and made my way through the throngs of people getting their last chance to shop in the exhibit hall. By 1pm on Sunday of GenCon 2025 I was tapping out.

I was exhausted, hungry, and my capacity for patience was at an all-time low.

By the time I got back to my car and put Indianapolis in the rearview mirror I started to settle down and even though GenCon was only an hour behind me I realized I was already starting to miss it.

For those gamers out there not familiar with GenCon, shame on you. For the rest, here is a quick rundown.

GenCon is the largest and longest running tabletop gaming convention in North America. It was started by Gary Gygax and friends in 1968 and was originally called the Lake Geneva Wargames Convention. The name was quickly shortened to GenCon and in the early years the convention bounced around from location to location, but in 1985 it landed in Milwaukee Wisconsin. GenCon called Milwaukee home until 2003 when the convention moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, and that’s when it really blew up. If it is even close to the tabletop gaming space, it’s at GenCon.

Fast Forward to 2025 where the convention once again broke previous attendance records with over 72,000 people, 595 unique vendors, and nearly 30,000 events. Our friends at the Finding Attoria Podcast described it aptly as “Butts to Nuts” But GenCon just uses the tagline “The Best 4 Days of Gaming” and for once, they’re underselling it.

In this episode Mike, Christina and I are going to do a little wrap-up of GenCon 2025. We’ll throw out some observations, complaints, kudo’s and maybe even chat about what’s planned for next year.

Christina, let’s start with you. Give me your big takeaway from GenCon.

Kick to Christina

Mike, what about you. What’s your big takeaway from the con.