Gen Con 2024 Recap – The Games, News, and Staff Picks

boardgamequest.com:

Gen Con is back, baby! The best four days of gaming has been on a steady rise since COVID-19 and this year felt like the biggest in a long time. All four days were sold out before the con even started and on Thursday, the dealer hall was PACKED. When you were hungry, lines to the food trucks were massive and restaurants regularly had a wait time. Gamers descended onto Indianapolis ready to play, spend, dress up, and just embrace everything we love about our hobby.

And as usual, the BGQ team was on site to provide coverage. We’ve got musings on the overall convention, standout games, and our 2nd annual batch of our “Staff Picks.” Each of our team members who went got to pick out their favorite thing of Gen Con and award the trophy to it. Unsurprisingly, they were all games again (although they didn’t have to be, they could be given to anything they thought was exceptional at the con). But read on to see what stood out at this year’s Gen Con.

James: This was my first Gen Con and it was overwhelming in a good way. I could’ve wandered the halls for three more days and would’ve, if I had the means and the storage, purchased hundreds of games out there. It was awesome getting to talk to designers about their games and see how much love people put into their work. It was also crowded and hard to navigate at times so be prepared to be pushed and bumped into just milling around with 70,000 of your closest friends. But, hands down, my favorite part of the con was getting to meet the rest of the Board Game Quest crew in person and playing games at open gaming with them. I’ve chatted for years with these folks over Discord (come join us!) so finally being able to game and chat with them in real life was really special and has me smiling about it as I type this.

Tony: I can’t really remember the last time Fantasy Flight Games held an In-Flight Report on location at Gen Con, but it’s been a long time (pre-COVID I think). This year they decided to return to form by holding the