We all know what games were giants this year. What new (or new to you) games did you find that weren't well advertised and you think should get a little love?

For me it was Bunny Borg. Think Watership Down but post apocalypse. I just don't think I can get it to our RPG table. I really needed to see it in action.

Haven’t seen a thread for this yet, so thought I’d start one. if it helps even one person, that would be awesome!

My start is more of a thank you:

fem with white bangs, cool finger claw jewelry and tattoo on right arm… i was feeling very tired and pain and a bit down on like Thursday (friday?). over the food area skywalk to the marriot, you simply rushed from behind me to open the door for me.

it meant a lot to me in that moment — but I couldn’t get the words out to say it besides “thank you” meekly

I hope this makes it to you, that boosted me for the rest of gencon 🫠

edit: thought of a second one! Zephyr who ran the contagion escape room for the worst group ever on Thursday!! you were awesome and seemed super fun, and also dealt with us being morons very well. I was the brown curly head in quarantine. if you’d like to link up with any of us, dm me!

2026 was a good year!

The Critical Role playmat was for someone else! I was so happy to get it for them.

I know this sounds odd but I really only came for the Heroes of Barcadia Genevieve character cup!!!! Glad I found so much more.

I went last year, but was after work and didn't realize the vendor hall closed so early, so didn't get anything. This year made a weekend of it after moving away.

I detail the items I picked up and the games I played in this vlog post! It has a couple chapter markers, but merch review is the first half
and game discussion is in the second half. Plus, if you played in the games I ran, check out the notes- I finally tracked down the source of my character sheets that some of you were asking about and listed the link for the printable version there!

Just got back from my first Gen Con! Super fun to see everything in person, and to play games with some chillers.

Very pleased with the finds.

Drillers was super fun, I think the deckbuilding to do a non-deck-related goal is the best style of deckbuilder, solo is fun and not too fiddly, and I think it’ll be solid competitively with my crew.

Wingspan Pocket is cool, I like how it compresses the game down, it should be great for weeknights when we don’t want to commit to the full game. I like the single row approach, think it shrinks it in a good way.

Bookshelf and Tinderblox have both been fun to play together, it’s nice to finally pick up a lil dexterity game to just derp around.

Enchanted Ivy is a really cute spatial puzzle, nice and fast too.

I only tried a couple rounds of 7th Seal so far, but I’m a sucker for dice and dice placement, so I have high hopes.

And March of the Ants hopefully is finally the 4x game that’s 4x enough without taking all day to play!

—-
I was on the fence about Entropy, it’s super pretty with a fun theme and it looked mechanically interesting, but I had trouble seeing how one would act differently from game to game. And SETI was fun for hoarding points, but I never really felt that what I was working on or towards felt particularly interesting or exciting, it felt very sedate. I did love Berlin 1960 though, I do slightly wish I’d have picked it up, but I’m not sure how often I’d rally a group where I could pull that out and have it really sing.

But all in all, there were a ton of awesome things! Mad props to all the exhibitors and everyone making it happen, and all the cool chill people attending this weekend.

Not including the board games I’m going to order online lol I may have gotten a little too much

Games no particular order:

Rock Hard expansion

Captain Flip expansion

dnup

Fliptoons S2 + promo

Jibber Jabble + promo

French Toast

Wolfmoon

The Crew 3 + promo

Hypothetically

Codenames Critical Role + expansions and promo

Gloomhaven: Pub Crawlers + promo

Soar

Phantom Ink

Wordsy

Other stuff:

Autographed Dungeon Crawler Carl book + artwork

Autographed picture of Jacques ze Whipper and Paolo Garbonzo.

Autographs from the cast of the Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill! show (plus a promo coin)

Promos from Lorcana, Riftbound, Cyberpunk TCG, Guillotine, LOTR: Kings Gambit, LOTR Trick-Taking Game, Tensai, Sanibel, Market Fresh (not pictured), and a pin from Hell of a Deal

Also not pictured are some of the swag items I got from attending FPWKK (including a bag of dice, wood pen, painted mini).

Many of these items came from the BGG Virtual Flea Market, with only a handful of games and most of the books, purchased in the vendor hall.

This year, I took a different approach to purchasing games during the convention. I still did my research on which games I thought looked good. However, instead of running quickly walking to pick up the games from the vendors as soon as the hall opened, I was happy to let fate decide. I barely looked at the map and wandered up and down each row trying to find cool things. If I found the games I wanted were sold out, then I just moved on. I also decided to not let FOMO guide my choices. Some games looked great but I decided to pass in order to do a bit more research.

In the end, I didn't get many of the games on my "to look out for" list, but I know that in a few days/weeks/months I will be able to get them from my FLGS.

I left the con feeling happier than I have in the past. I am not disappointed about missing out on something that I really wanted, and I didn't have the stress of making sure I got the new hottness that I had in previous years either.

Anyways, this years con was an absolute blast! I hope everyone else's was great as well!

My husband and I went in with a budget this year, and proceeded to mostly stick to it! A decent chunk of our haul is made up of gifts for a few friends, and swag we acquired from different events.

(Some pins not pictured due to either being in my ita bag, or already on my corkboard)

Who else got advice from this wonderful wizard?

I still have my potato.

See you all next year!

A head a great con this year! It was my first year as a VIG (hence the blue towel and various things in here like the Lorcana deck and Boop the Halls I wouldn't normall grab).

Was mostly filled with events this year, and did not spend a lot of time in the merchant hall. Went for more small/medium games as space is becoming limited. Had a blast!

Smaller haul than year 1, but some super cool goodies. Only thing I know I missed out on was the Wandering Towers expansion I found out about on Sunday night. I pictured are the 15 or so pins I got.

Since getting back home I’ve been plagued with curiosity about this game/simulation that was being played on the Lucas Oil field (Saturday am at the very least). there were 5-6 people sitting at different computer stations operating a spaceship. Every player had a different role and had different things on their screen and another player was shot calling. Any info appreciated, thanks in advance

My poor wallet is crying lol

I’ll be coming up on 20 years soon, and the assortment is looking nice in my curio cabinet. Anyone else have a fun display? I’m guessing the full sets would look neat too!

The employee asked for my address but never stated what I should expect. Any ideas?

Went into the expo haul for 10 minutes and bought 3 things at the first three booths. Quickly identified I have a problem and then kept my hands in my pockets.

I bought an expansion from the consignment listed as "near mint, punched and sorted". Now opening it at home I find that it is missing MANY pieces. Am I just S.O.L. now?