This year’s edition of Gen Con 2023, the biggest board get-together in the United States, managed to draw a crowd of over 70,000 people, significantly improving on attendance rates from last year.
The event was held from August 3 through August 5 in Indianapolis, Indiana and it saw a number of big companies set up shop at the expo, undoubtedly contributing to the turnup. Amongst those were Ravensburger and Wizards of the Coast, which brough Disney Lorcana, Dungeons & Dragons, and Wizards of the Coast.
Disney Lorcana in particular, the forthcoming trading card game that is releasing next week, saw people queue up for 16 hours to get a glimpse of the game. Meanwhile, Gen Con 2023 saw the 70,000 visitors post a consistent upward trend from the 50,000 attending in 2022 and the 35,000 in 2021, showing once and for all that the pandemic has been put behind the community.
Gen Con 2023 was also special because it marked the 20th anniversary of the event and a confirmation that Indianapolis will now play host to the venue through 2030. Disney Lorcana’s pull this year may have stilted numbers a little, but it also offered people a chance to try the event and familiarize themselves with the format, which could see many return visitors next year.
The event did not go without some interesting situations, as well, after $300,000 worth of TCG cards were stolen with two culprits caught on camera spirting away with a pallet of the goods. Disney Lorcana was not amongst the affected publishers.
Meanwhile, Dire Wolf announced that there is a new Dune Imperium game coming – an expansion that can also be played on its own that will have players harness the power of the sand worms in Dune Imperium: Uprising.
Nucleum, a new game by Simone Luciani and Dávid Turczi, was also previewed, and so were many other worthwhile titles to look forward to. Next on the board game event calendars is Spiel ESSEN which has plenty to offer when it arrives in October.