What We REALLY Thought About Gencon!

0:00 Hey everybody, I'm Joe Evans. And I'm Alex Evans.

0:03 And how is that for a clickbait title?

0:05 that was a good one.

0:06 I know. Yeah, so the whole thing is, what did we really think about Gen Con? Well, spoiler alert, we loved it.

0:12 Oh, it was amazing.

0:13 We loved it.

0:13 I actually came back and I felt very refreshed.

0:16 Did you?

0:16 Yes. I did Well, I was exhausted, but I felt like a renewed sense of energy, like I'm ready to go for another year.

0:23 I felt exhausted.

0:24 Well, yes.

0:24 But I loved every minute of it.

0:26 Yes.

0:27 So, this whole thing is going to be about what we did at Gen Con, and what we loved at Gen Con, and what we change next year. And we are going to talk about some games. But there's a lot of videos out there that talk about the games at Gen Con. And people just muscle on the games. Here's the thing about Gen Con. I've heard this so much. Gen Con is just a buying convention. It's only It only exists to buy games. If that's what you get out of Gen Con, I think you're doing it wrong.

0:56 Correct. I would definitely say that there is more to Gen Con than just the exhibitor hall. If that's all you see the whole time, you're not doing Gen Con right.

1:02 Yeah, according to us. I mean, some people go there just to the exhibitor hall. That's all they need, and they go back. That's fine. I like to enjoy a different part of Gen Con. So, we're going to talk about what we loved, or what we thought about Gen Con this year. The truth.

1:24 Okay, now first off, what we do every year is a getting there early for us is huge. We mentioned this on the on our preview. The whole thing is getting there before everything opens. I know it's not possible, but we do kind of make an event out of it.

1:37 We do. We try and get there nice and early, so we get We just like seeing them set up. Like I We sat there, and we watched them put the sign on one of the little walkways between the hotels. I just sat there and watched that for I don't know how long it took, but it was a

1:50 You were going to say hours, weren't you?

1:51 I was, but I frustrated myself. It was a considerable amount of time. I just we Julianna and I, that's our 9-year-old, we just enjoy seeing that stuff.

1:59 It's nice to get there before. Now again, getting there early depends on as an exhibitor uh we have to get there even earlier because we kind of start our set up unloading on Tuesday night and Wednesdays are set up and all that. But if you're just an attendee, get in there on Wednesday, get in there the day before because there's still stuff going on.

2:15 Absolutely.

2:16 That's the big thing, too. Like we like to get there and see the set up, see the posters go up, see like the things go on the steps, see see like where the magic happens, right?

2:24 watch people put that that that some glass ca- cl- I was about to say gla- glass

2:31 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

2:32 there we go. Got the word out. And uh people will put little things in that. I like seeing them like how they arrange them. I like seeing what they're going to put on display there. I like to watch that stuff, too.

2:40 Yeah, I didn't think about that. All the glass cases that have like All Play has one, all these have their like their their games of the convention that are right there and you can see them setting those up.

2:48 I really like to see those, yeah.

2:50 It's And then on top of that, I think getting there early also it's kind of like the calm before the storm.

2:56 Yeah.

2:56 Like we end up playing games like our friends Jen and Liz were over and we played games with them because we were all going to be busy once the con started. But we played like Black Fleet, which spoiler, older game, but it's great.

3:11 That was a really good game, I know.

3:13 So it's not a new game at all. It's like out of print, my Space Cowboys, I think. Anyway, great game. But that that's the whole thing and you walk around those those lobbies and you're going to see a lot of people playing games and a lot of these guys are usually exhibitors, designers, whatever. So it's before they are stuck on their booth for the next four days, they're going to be playing games and stuff in the lobby.

3:34 It was nice to see some people playing some Shadows of Brimstone before the Gen Con decided to, they had set that up. I think they were actually in charge of the event, so that's why they were there early. But it was great to see that stuff being ha- like happening before Gen Con officially happened. [clears throat] It was really good.

3:47 And that's the other thing is walking through and just seeing people playing the game just stop and say "What is this?" I mean, obviously Shadow Realms I know what it is, but I'm like, "Let me play this." I did not say that, but that's what's really fun. I mean, you do it in every single lobby through there. So, getting there early was great. Next year we talked about getting there even earlier, like we might go next week.

4:10 Oh, yeah, sure. Let's go.

4:11 Let's

4:11 Let's cancel everything.

4:12 So, anyway, um that is one thing to definitely check it out and that really was worth it. Paid it off. Getting there early. Okay, and again, best part of Gen Con again is seeing really seeing our we had family there. We had like our nieces, our nephews there and things like that. We also had friends that we only normally see at cons. You know, like um so many different people like uh Bonds, we had Alex Radcliffe, we had a lot of designers that that we only get to see at these type of cons. So, it's cool to kind of see them for the first time in sometimes a year.

4:41 And that I would There's several people There were people that I've met at Gen Con. One particular example is Cindy. Hi. And we met at Gen Con

4:48 Mhm.

4:49 a few years ago where we played a game.

4:50 Okay.

4:51 And that's how we met in the lobby playing a game. And now we see each other every year at Gen Con. And it's kind of like we just pick up where we left last Gen Con and off we go, play some games. It was super fun.

5:00 Yeah.

5:00 Yeah.

5:01 It's awesome.

5:01 And our daughter loves it, too. Like she ran up to Bonds for one and just ran up and like Bonds was talking to somebody else and Bonds and Anita. And she just gave her a huge hug and she's like, "What? Hey!" And it's cool to have those moments.

5:13 Correct. It's really good.

5:15 But on top of that is meeting more people every year. We're at the Dice Tower booth a lot.

5:19 Mhm.

5:20 But I wouldn't have it any other way because we get to meet the fans.

5:24 I really like that There were some people there that I had met actually at Big Game Night, which we're going to talk about later. They came by the Dice Tower booth. It was great to actually stop and talk to them. They were awesome people. And then I met some other people that are coming to one of their first Dice Tower events in a few weeks. I got to meet them before. It was so great to see those things.

5:42 They're coming to vacation?

5:43 I yeah, believe they're coming to vacation, Yeah, And they would we would talk about restaurants where to go, all that kind of fun stuff. That was really great to see. It was great to make those new friendships.

5:52 Right. And that's the way Dice Tower booth is not like as busy as these ones are doing releases and lines and lines. It's really nice. We actually get to spend some time and talk to people. And another thing is our entertainment background comes from live people. So, we say this every time, seeing people at cons reminds us that you are out there.

6:13 Correct. It's great We love people. So, I like meeting people. So, that's one thing I love about Gen Con is meeting new people, saying hi to people. I like Sometimes you walk through the corridor and you see someone carrying a game. I have I love seeing what people buy, right? So, I love to see what are in people's bags. So, if they're if you're in a line, I will happily ask you what's in your bag and want to see what you Yeah. So, anyway, I love that. I love to see the people. I like to find out what's happening, all that fun stuff.

6:40 Everyone's so nice there. Like if I'm in the elevator, somebody walks with a couple big bags, I'll even say, "Well, I'm about to judge you." And I will look in there and see exactly what they bought.

6:48 I love to see what they bought. And sometimes I like how you can hear of people going to the Is it the consignment? Is that what they call it or the auction? Like they've got some older games for great prices. Amazing. I love that.

7:00 That is one thing I have on here, things I wish I would have done and I'm going to do next year. Consignment I didn't put on there, but that is one thing I need to do. Because those consignment The way their consignment works, their flea market, you can see a game there. Maybe it's $50, but tomorrow if it's still there, it'll be 40. Next it'll be 30. You know, so it's it's really neat.

7:19 I'm so bad at those things. I always just want to get it the first day cuz then I will have buyer's remorse so bad. I'm so bad at that.

7:25 Bad FOMO. So, again, that's great. Thanks for to everyone who comes comes by and says hi because that means a lot when you say, "Hey, thank you so much for I love your videos, love your content." And I love to talk to people about what they like, you know, so we can also do more of what they like. Because they're so nice. All the comments we get are so nice. All the comments and the real life comments it is. So anyway, um that is just seeing friends, family, and making new ones. Okay, next is the Dice Tower Awards. Um that is it's a lot of fun every year. Alex and I present for it. And it's one of those that first off, we do a lot of these skits throughout the year and kind of record those, but they're actually shown to the public in Dice Tower Awards. So it's always cool to see how those are taken in by people.

8:10 Correct.

8:11 I like I hear little bits of about the skits as they're happening. Like sometimes I'm like, "Oh hey, I need to wear that shirt that I wore 3 weeks ago again because we have to do something." I'm like, "What?" Wonder why, right? Now it makes sense. After seeing that those skits were phenomenal. They were so great.

8:24 They're so good. I think that's actually online now you can see a lot of those. But the other thing is seeing the actual award shows themselves. First off, when you when you go there to Dice Tower Awards, if you haven't been there, um everyone sits there and there's also like tables up there with all publishers and designers. I mean, it's like the who's who of all these publishers and designers. And because everyone of board gaming is in one room, we always keep the Secretary of Agriculture somewhere different in like a hidden place just in case, you know.

8:50 You never know.

8:50 Just in case they can lead the charge if something happens.

8:53 But no, also the fact that we all love games and us all of us have no idea who's going to win.

9:02 I Yeah, right. That's the thing. We don't have a clue.

9:05 It's a great experience It's a great experience. Several times number one, you get to see certain games that just sweep, that go through like Luthier did great this year. Galactic Cruise, right? Or you see games that you hope win, but you weren't sure you weren't sure if they're going to, like Flip Tunes this year won best welcoming game, I think. I was like, "Awesome." I didn't know people loved it as much as we do.

9:28 Yep.

9:28 And that's really fun because what people don't know is backstage when we're backstage and everyone's backstage, we are watching that award winner just as closely as everybody out there is. Because we always say that Tom always says, "No one knows who won." That's the truth. None of us know.

9:46 Isn't that crazy? I This was actually the first time I was able to watch the award show from the front cuz I was taking photos. So, it was nice to be there kind of in the audience like hearing the reaction like in the middle of it. That was kind of fun, too.

9:57 That's right cuz you got you kind of went back to give out your award and then came back over there. And it's it's really fun to see that. And again, the following day, the fact that people are so happy when they get up there and they accept those awards because it's so nice to see all of that paying off. And the next day at the exhibit hall, you see those awards proudly being displayed at certain booths.

10:18 It is fun to get there early for the at the exhibit hall and seeing that, you know, that 8:00 a.m. There's that award. You're like, "Hey, hey. I know that."

10:27 And then you see those little runs of people going to get that award-winning game that they may not have either heard about or have overlooked. They never got a chance to play.

10:35 Yeah. Yeah.

10:35 So, Dice Tower Awards are great. If you guys I mean, you can also stream. I think they stream it live on the Gen Con channel. So, you can watch if you don't make Gen Con. But if you have a chance, make sure you go because it's fantastic. And then at the end, that whole picture that you take every year of all of them holding up their awards

10:51 is awesome.

10:53 It's so good. It's really To me, it's what's what board gaming is about. This isn't like a very like like I don't I almost said snooty, but thing like the Oscars very like this is just people that love what they do and it really shows.

11:06 Absolutely.

11:06 So, Dice Tower Awards were great this year. So, make make it to that if you can. Okay, and right from the Dice Tower Awards, it's another thing. Seeing designers is always something really fun at cons.

11:17 Mhm. You realize they're real people?

11:19 That's the biggest thing. Here's the thing. I come from the magic world where magicians when you meet magicians it's really hit or miss on whether you're going to like them in the real world. That's just the bottom line. You're really nodding way too fast on that, by the way. You're married to a magician, you know that, right?

11:33 Correct.

11:34 Okay. Anyway, that's hurtful, a little bit.

11:36 But the whole thing is seeing designers These designers are fantastic. Like every year we get to see like uh John Declare was there this year. Great. Henry Audubon, which is one of the nicest guys out there. Matt Monday, we walked together. And then we met Toby Sarnelle, I think, from who who designed Tin. Again, you get to meet some of these designers that design some of your favorite games. And then Cassie uh Sykes, who did Gibber Jabber, was one of the most lovely people you'll ever meet.

11:59 really cool seeing her like actually demoing the game at the All Play booth. I really liked that. And also Toby was back in the um IV Studios room with his family. They were there hanging out. It was really cool to It's just cool to see like that. You know, you see behind the curtains kind of thing. You're like, "Oh, this is so great." That's what Gen Con's about.

12:16 Yeah, I mean, you've got designers demoing their games.

12:19 Yes.

12:20 And I watched it. I think I watched Cassie a couple times, and she never is is like, "I'm the designer." She's just teaching this game. You have no idea she's a designer. It happens a lot. Number one, I think they want to hear honest reactions of the games, right? But these people are out there, and they're meeting their It's It's so great to see. And year after year you get to see different designers. Whether you meet them or not, you know that they're there, and it's a really cool kind of community they create there.

12:45 Correct. I liked hanging out with uh Toby and the IV people and their families, right? And we were talking about the cupcakes at the food trucks, which we'll get to also later on, too, right? And we realized they had to line up in the lines just like us.

12:56 Just I mean, they're normal people.

12:58 people.

12:58 Who said that? They're normal people.

13:00 Normal people, just like us, lining up for cupcakes.

13:02 Did you expect them like in the cupcake line to be like, "ALL RIGHT, CUPCAKE

13:05 WAIT A MINUTE. YOU GUYS DID TIN?

13:08 COME ON UP HERE.

13:09 You never know.

13:10 Person who designed Tin does not wait in line.

13:12 Not for cupcakes.

13:13 It's Oh, and the designer of um um Ivan from He did This game is Killer. All right, he came by the booth, I got to meet him, and I'm just like, "Thank you for letting me kill my friends for 2 years."

13:24 It's It's It's cool to do that.

13:26 Yeah.

13:26 And I I'll tell you what, it's a fantastic thing to do and I think the designers love it, too, because again, they get to see the fruits of their labor because a lot of times these designers are just working on games non-stop, quietly in a room, taking breaks to eat, coming back. So, it's cool for them to see that, too. So, again, if you're there, make sure you meet your designer because they honestly would love to meet you, too.

13:48 Yeah, absolutely.

13:50 Okay, so cosplayers this year did not disappoint.

13:54 I I don't know why, but this year at Gen Con I was like, I don't know what the cosplays going to be like. I wonder if they do a good job, but I was so wrong cuz it was phenomenal. I gained Oh, so good. Yes.

14:06 And every year I think we talk about the fact there's always some sort of unwritten kind of theme, right? It's well, like Bro Thor at one point and then another year it was Mandalorian. This year it was Dungeon Crawler Carl.

14:19 In all sorts of varieties.

14:21 Yeah, so people that had not read Dungeon Crawler Carl and they just see this royal cat everywhere and these people just wearing these white heart like boxers everywhere were probably very confused.

14:33 very confused, I'm sure, but it was great to see all the varieties of Princess Donut.

14:37 Yes.

14:38 Yeah, I liked that, too. You know, sometimes it was just a person wearing a tiara and that was it. You know, and sometimes it was the full-on thing. You're like, you got all of it. I love that. That's one thing I like about the cosplays. I like all the variations.

14:49 Yeah, it's that's the thing. And we we walk to the exhibit hall or back and forth. That's the thing, we walk so much at Gen Con.

14:56 My watch would die because I had done so many steps each day. It just couldn't The battery was like, "And we're done."

15:01 That's The lady from All Play asked Adelia, I think, she's like, "I see you more than I see anybody else." Because we were continually walking to every room seeing what are we missing? What is going on here? And every time we walk by the cosplayers we're like, "Who's in this little" because they keep them in a little corral sometimes.

15:17 Or area.

15:17 Yes, which is funny. Um, there was one moment where we saw these one cosplayers from a distance. I didn't want to run up to him, but they're like I don't know what they were. They were like Transformers dressed in like suits or something.

15:28 yes.

15:29 And I'm like, "Huh, okay." So, I wanted to run up to him, but it's weird, right? Run up and chasing this person. So, but sure enough, I saw him in the exhibit hall come by, and Tom and I both were like,

15:40 Must have a phone.

15:41 "Optimus Prime?" And oh, so we

15:43 Yes, we ran over there. We got pictures with him, which is pretty cool. And that's another thing, you see these cosplayers, we'll go up there and sit there for a while, get pictures, and then they'll walk the exhibit hall in their full cosplay.

15:53 I love when they do that. That's always good. I do like I do try and not take a photo with them if I'm in a big like hold of people, so it's always nice to see them later on in their little area be like, "Now I can get a photo with you." Cuz your costume is awesome.

16:06 Unless you're Transformers in a suit, then I'm going to stop you and say, "I need my picture with you."

16:10 Right now.

16:10 And Tom and I are going to get our picture with you because we like Transformers. We're simple people. That's what I'm trying to say. But again, cosplayers, I love the fact

16:19 Yeah.

16:19 Again, these guys are on vacation. They're paying to be there, but they're using their money and time to really brighten your day, you know?

16:27 Absolutely. I really like it. I I was in the exhibit hall, and I got a photo with the Beaker from the Muppets. Did you see Yeah, that was a great one, too. There was so many great costumes this year. Rapunzel was there.

16:39 Now, you did the parade, which I did not make it to cuz I was stuck at the booth, Tom Vassal.

16:45 I did make the parade. Actually, I turned down playing a big large group of ten so I could go see the parade. It was a great

16:50 And how was the parade, Tom?

16:52 was awesome. Oh my goodness, it was so great. It's lasts about 20, 30 minutes. I got there at 1:00 for the 3:00 parade time. Yep, I'm that person. But it was so good. Front row right there. I loved it. The kids loved it. It was amazing. I really loved the parade. Yeah, I really like to see we the suit Transformers were there. He-Man drinking or Skeletor drinking coffee was there. It was really great to see I saw Magik, I saw um, Zatanna was there. I was They were great There were so many They were some highlight but they were great costumes throughout that parade. It was They do a great job. I really like that. That's a must of Gen Con and I'm glad I got to see it this year.

17:32 It's so good and then our daughter has like the same cosplayers that she sees every year and it's just really neat to see her run up to them and you know, one girl is like dressed like a different princess every year and it's fantastic. So again, that's again our one of our highlights of the the vacation at Gen Con is the cosplayers.

17:50 I love it.

17:50 And the parade which I missed. Come on, Tom. Okay, you know what? Fine. Let's talk about the exhibit hall. You're all like, "What about the exhibit hall?" It's my person voice. It's pretty good, right? So, exhibitors were fantastic.

18:05 Amazing. They do a great job every year.

18:07 Mhm.

18:08 This year didn't disappoint. I like it.

18:10 It seemed more spread out. I think there are some changes are going to kind of spread out even more, have more area next year. Um, we'll talk about that later. I'm not sure what they announced, but the whole thing is

18:18 Mhm.

18:19 it was fantastic. Our daughter got her huge picture of dice from Chessex.

18:23 We waited literally to the last 30 minutes to do that though. That wasn't Our bad. Wasn't meant to be that way, but we did do it every year.

18:29 She's got so many dice, but she wants to do it every year. And then you get to play games there. I demoed quite a few more games than I normally do, yeah. Right. Of course, the new This Game is Killer was an immediate demo for me. And I demoed one game where you play I might review it here on the channel. You I did it with our friends, Jen and Liz, and then we're doing it we're doing it and then the whole thing is you have to do a blast off then you hit this rocket and it shoots up and you have to catch it. I had a blast in it, but then I took it home and I'm realizing there's like a 1,000 foot ceiling there. I'm going to be playing that at home which is a normal

19:05 ceiling.

19:05 10 foot ceiling.

19:06 Mhm.

19:07 Crazy. But, it was a fun game to demo there and I up buying it. That's the thing. you stop by and you demo a lot of these games.

19:15 I Yeah, I do like it. I don't know. I feel like this year I didn't get to demo as much, but I did try and walk all the hall like all the aisles. Um I like to see what was there. I I really like them.

19:26 And then Artist Alley was great. We actually got to spend some time in there. I didn't buy any books this year, but some artwork though from one of our one of our daughter's favorite kind of comic cover designers.

19:36 I know. I walked by and I was like, "I know that comic." And then I was like, "Hey, so that was awesome to see her."

19:41 So she bought a lot of prints and things that she has the comic of. Now she has these big 11 by 17 or 19 by 20, whatever, prints. So that was really good. So again, exhibitors were great. I love to see them year after year. You see a lot of the same ones with new stuff, and you see a lot of bigger Oh, and Exploding Kittens was there unofficially.

19:56 Mhm.

19:57 They had a great booth like several years ago that just just most random thing. You put money in and they'd give you just like a watermelon with like some lips on it or a parachute thing. They don't have that this year, but they were walking around with this cat that you can get. You can see it on our vlog. It's pretty good.

20:12 love the cat. That was pretty awesome.

20:14 It was So it's really cool to see how creative a lot of these booths get.

20:18 I really like that. We were with some friends, Bradley and Madison, and they were like, "Hey, have you seen the cat?" I was like, "No." So we went back and we tracked down this cat, and that was awesome.

20:25 It's fantastic. So anyway, exhibit hall was fantastic as usual.

20:28 Yeah.

20:30 Okay, so now again, we'll talk about AEG Big Game Night, which we love to go to every year.

20:35 Yes, that was awesome. I had a a great time. We had a great group. Actually, we went over several tables. Our group was so big, and it was awesome. Yeah.

20:43 Yeah, well, I did not make it because I had a dinner meeting that would have been too long. And so I did not make it. I was very sad.

20:52 Yes.

20:52 So but you did. So you had a huge group there.

20:56 We did. Like I said, we had a huge group. We went over several tables, which was awesome. Uh we got there early so we could, you know, kind of all get together. It was great. We played Honeycomb, and then we also played Assemble.

21:07 Okay.

21:08 Word Wipe, and Jungle Jack. So, those were the games we played. We We were able to actually play all of those games.

21:13 Which is [clears throat] nice.

21:14 It was really good. Yeah, I I love Big Game Night. I like it because I like playing those games when you're What is it? 4 or 500 people? I'm not sure if that if it There's several hundred people. You're all playing the same games together, and that kind of community feeling, that's what I like a big about Big Game Night. The The games kind of I'm like oh, like you know, whatever. But, I don't even mind what they play. But, I love to play together, something together. So, that's what I really enjoy about Big Game Night. And once again, it didn't disappoint. It was great.

21:42 And you're at a table with people Some people you know, some people you don't. And that's what's really cool. So, I mean

21:47 I got to meet some people, and then I got to see them later on at Gen Con, and we could talk about That's exactly it. Some the games they were playing that they had just demoed. It was That's it's great. It's a great way to make meet people in Gen Con where there are so many people. It's a nice way to do that.

22:03 Kind of way to get a reprieve. You're away from the craziness of it, right? And I seen the pictures you I mean, it's great to see all of those different game masters and things. I just I They do a great event there.

22:12 They do I love what they do. I love that they do it every year. So, it's it was great. Yeah.

22:16 Yep. Yep, exactly.

22:17 Yep.

22:18 Okay, so next, talk about food. That's a very, very big thing for us at Gen Con.

22:23 I love those food trucks.

22:24 The food trucks And then also Steak 'n Shake. We did hit Steak 'n Shake a couple times.

22:28 Yeah.

22:28 Yep, they had milkshakes all and everything so good. It wasn't The lines seemed to be not quite as bad this year.

22:35 At the food trucks? No, I feel like they kind of did a good job of kind of people were spreading out a little bit better.

22:39 Right. Right. That was Now, oh, I will mention I didn't have this written that there was a tornado warning one of the nights, which was a bit crazy. So, after that, the food trucks all the tents kind of got pulled up, and I don't know if they reopened. They did reopen, right?

22:53 on the Sunday. They weren't reopened that Saturday night. They were kind of done. Which that that then made Steak 'n Shake crazy cuz that was kind of the option to go to. but it was nice that they I I was amazed. I thought that was it. No more food trucks for for the day, but Sunday morning, back business as normal.

23:10 It's It's crazy. Now, one thing I did I again got that Who's that Wild Bill's?

23:16 Yes.

23:16 I got the you get this big like pitch not a pitcher. So, I guess it's a mug, but it's

23:21 Almost a pitcher.

23:22 Almost a pitcher. It's free refills throughout the week. And I buy one every year and I never really use it outside of that. But this year I did get the free refills of these drinks they have and let me tell you these are the sweetest things I've ever tasted. Did you try any of them?

23:41 I tried a little bit of them. I must admit, I would prefer to eat like have my sugar with a cupcake as opposed to drinking it. So, that's what I did. I let you kind of enjoy Wild Bill's.

23:52 I had a Ring Pop soda.

23:54 Was it good?

23:55 It had so much It had more sugar than most small countries. It's I drank part of it and I'm like Got to chase it down with something like lemonade or it was like even my daughter was like

24:10 It was but it was good. They had sugar free options, but again, it was nice. I have that big monstrous mug. I don't know what I'm going to do with it. It doesn't fit any cup holder.

24:19 We should do some coffee in that one.

24:21 That would kill me, by the way.

24:23 Like you like the whole day coffee a lemon. This is it. Maybe.

24:26 It comes in pints.

24:28 Yeah, so that was great. Now, the one thing is Hot has their pizza every year. I said I was looking forward to it this year. And before I got a chance to eat it, I had a magician friend that comes and he texts me. He's like It's good. It's normal pizza. Which that's the thing. It's the Dragon Luau pizza. Here's the thing. It was good. But the problem is it's something that you could honestly see getting at Pizza Hut or Domino's.

24:54 Correct.

24:55 There was nothing weird about it. It was hot, honey, bacon, and pineapple.

24:59 Okay, was it bacon or was it um pepperoni?

25:02 I can't remember.

25:03 Okay, but you could just get that.

25:04 You could

25:05 make that yourself.

25:06 It was disappointing because and then as soon as as soon and I knew it would be it would disappoint me a bit when I read what it's about and Tom's like, I'd try that. Cuz he's not adventurous at all. I want it to be weird. Swing for the fences. Give me weird.

25:22 The one year they just had a random chips on there. Throw some peanut butter on it. Do something strange.

25:28 What flavor would you do?

25:29 I don't know. I'm not on that side. I'm on this side. I'm not in the kitchen. I'm eating it.

25:35 request.

25:37 I'd be doing some weird stuff.

25:39 Peanut butter

25:39 Cheetos

25:40 Cheeto peanut butter, Cheetos, and

25:42 Jell-O No, that would be very nasty. I'm not the guy. But all I'm saying is swing for the fences. I had it once. It was fine. It was good. I can get that at Domino's. Next time I'll just get breadsticks. But give me something weird. Anyway, that was it. But um the rest of the the food was great there, you know. We did St. Elmo's. St. Elmo's was good. All the different I actually did the noodle truck that has like the line that reaches all the way to Seattle.

26:11 Correct.

26:11 I did do that and it was really good. I see why you do it.

26:13 I love the noodles.

26:15 It's so good. And then you get to go right into the the um Lucas Oil Stadium Stadium and eat. And what's really neat is every time we would go get our food and go sit because the tables at Lucas Oil, we'd go sit there in the actual stadium seating.

26:30 Yep.

26:30 And it's like you're just sitting there watching the game. And by the game you mean all these little tournaments going on out there and you just I don't know. It's a nice, again, a little reprieve.

26:40 Yes.

26:41 Right? To get away. It's one of our favorite things. We probably do it almost every day that I don't have a meeting or I don't have to go to. But you just go right in there and you sit, talk, and then re-energize, get up, and go back to the con.

26:54 It's awesome, isn't it?

26:55 So, so great food was huge hit this time. Fantastic. Okay, so now let's talk about the games. The games were great this year. We looked at a lot of them, and it's always neat to see those hits that you did not anticipate.

27:10 The surprises of Gen Con.

27:11 Yes. Oh, first off, there was like a CCG with like um Universal Monsters. That looked good, right?

27:16 Yes, that looked amazing.

27:17 And apparently they played it here. They said it's pretty good.

27:19 Oh, really?

27:20 Oh, yeah. I don't know.

27:20 Maybe I need to play that, too.

27:21 No, you don't. Because it's a CCG, we would lose our house. But, the whole thing is Oh, Driller's was a huge hit from CGE. Driller's, and they had the Arnak expansion, and I think Codenames Critical Role was from there, which is which is massive. So, they That was a very busy room and very busy booth.

27:40 I was going to say, I saw lots of people walking with a Was it Game Makers? That box? I saw lots I saw lots of people with that box, too.

27:47 Which is That's a huge box.

27:48 That was giant.

27:49 They were They're actually right They were right next to us, and Game Makers was a big thing.

27:53 Yeah, I did that I saw a lot.

27:55 Yeah, that was Which is surprising for a game that size. But, it's like Foundations of Rome when that came out, you would see that every One year, I remember just seeing it in a stroller. Some guy's like, "That kid's got to walk. I got to

28:07 have a place for Foundations of Rome." So, um

28:12 There was someone actually I think they had brought Game Makers, and their little baby is on their like around their neck

28:17 in the strollers. Yep.

28:19 That's Decisions are made.

28:21 You know what? There's no judgement.

28:24 Can I tell you one thing I do like at the booth, right? You see people, and they just walk in, and they've got a little bag of games. I'm like, "This is all you bought, right?" And they're like, "No, no, no. We've been to the car like five times already." I'm like, "Oh, well, then tell me what you've taken to the car." I love that.

28:37 that, and you're like, "You have such good self-control." They're like, "Oh, no, no, no, no. There's a lot more crap." And then you see the people that are just so overwhelmed. They have like so many bags of stuff, and it's just like I feel you.

28:50 Yeah, like they're carrying like a Santa sack of games. I love it. I love it.

28:54 And there's so many you see a lot of these games out there being played. Mountain Goats Legacy was huge everywhere. Gibber Jabber was good. Got 5 was got a lot of traction. I saw a lot of people playing Got 5, which is a great game. Oh, and Final Titan was being demoed. Man, that's such a good game. Not out yet, but demoed. Oh, and Camp Grizzly

29:15 Yes, that was

29:16 Good to see. And then Trey Parker from South Park was there. Not from South Park. He didn't actually live there. He created the the whole show. But he was there and he demoed Camp Grizzly, which was pretty cool.

29:26 awesome.

29:27 Yeah, so Camp Grizzly was there. And it's really cool to see a lot of those games come to fruition, you know? And and then again, at night when last nights we always play games in the lobby of uh we played in the Hyatt?

29:39 We played at Hyatt this year, but this year we should have gone to the JW cuz they had a big big ballroom of open gaming. I did not know about till after everything was over. My bad.

29:49 We find out a lot of things too late.

29:51 Mhm, we do.

29:51 Right. And we're doing this to remind ourselves for next year. We played caution signs in the Hyatt lobby, but yeah, they have these huge ballrooms just for playing games. I will say Hyatt too, by the way, kudos to them. They did a whole like um Gen Con carpet t-shirt.

30:07 Yes.

30:08 And the cup is made for like of the old Gen Con carpet, which is like some nostalgia thing.

30:13 I love that.

30:13 And we did Marriott, and the Marriott when we had our do not disturb on there because we're big about just like whatever, we don't need that. But um they left those very little D&D kind of fantasy-esque thing on our door.

30:26 That was fun.

30:27 I liked seeing the hotels kind of get into that whole feel of Gen Con, right?

30:32 I I even think the Marriott had like a hot dog stand like in the lobby, too. But it wasn't just called a hot dog stand. They had called it something like dungeon-y. I'm like, that's awesome. Thank you.

30:43 Same with like their Starbucks, their coffee place have like the potions and all that. And I didn't know one manager of a restaurant is like every restaurant circles Gen Con every year. It's kind of the start of their season, I guess, their convention, but also one of their favorite ones to to see and to do, which I don't see why it wouldn't be mine, too.

31:00 Yeah.

31:00 So, anyway, we're talking about hit games, but yeah, a lot of different games out there and you're going to see a lot of games here on the channel that we're going to talk about. We're going to have reviews coming out, but there's a lot of great games that came out this year. Okay, so then really quick quickly we're going to end with like next year's goals. Quickly what I want to make sure we do, we did not make D&D the D&D tower. So, we need to do that. We did see people like Joe Manganiello walking around, all that type of stuff, so we're going to make sure we hit that. I want to do big game night. I want to make sure I do pinball, did not get a chance to play pinball at all this year.

31:31 Didn't really?

31:31 I did not, very sad.

31:33 That's terrible.

31:34 Loved walking the halls at night, so I need to make sure I do that a bit more, get to see what's going on in those little rooms. So, that's something right there that I really need to do.

31:42 I agree. I didn't make it over the JW until later on Sunday and that's when I found out about the open gaming, wish I'd gone over there earlier. Need to I just I say this every I need to go to those hotel rooms. That like Thursday night, maybe after Dice Tower Awards, that's when I go to walk around just to see what's going on so I can plan out those other nights a bit better.

32:00 Yep, and next year will be a new hotel, so it might open things up a bit more. They're going to add more stuff like they do every year. So, anyway, that is what we thought of Gen Con this year. Please post below some of your favorite memories, what you enjoyed about Gen Con, or what you'd want to do if you do come or come back. I'd love to hear that kind of thing because we love Gen Con as a family and it's one of those things that honestly there's we have a countdown to Gen Con right next to our door. We're excited about next year. So, comment below, love to know what you thought, but thank you guys for joining us. I'm Joey.

32:28 I'm Alex.

32:29 see you later on the channel.

32:31 Bye.

32:31 Or Gen Con.

32:38 Hey folks, thanks for joining us for that video. If you haven't yet, like the video, subscribe to the channel, and hey, make sure you check out what's happening where I'll cover an app on an iOS or a Switch device, and you can check it out along with me. Thanks very much. You've been watching The Dice Tower.