Gen Con, Indianapolis

Gen Con is organised by GEN CON LLC and held each summer at the Indiana Convention Center in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. The organiser describes it as the largest and longest-running gaming convention in North America, with hundreds of exhibiting companies and thousands of ticketed events across four days.

It has a long history. The organiser's own site traces Gen Con back to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, in the late 1960s, and credits its founding to Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons. Today it calls Indianapolis home. The team behind it is based in Seattle and works remotely across the country.

For a miniatures fan, the key point is that minis are one strand of a much bigger show. You won't find a wall-to-wall wargames hall like a dedicated miniatures convention. What you will find is a dedicated programme called Miniature Hobby Events, with painting, sculpting and competition for every level, plus miniatures games you can book through the event catalogue, all wrapped in the wider tabletop hobby.

Gen Con 2027 runs Thursday 5 to Sunday 8 August 2027. Each year the organiser has listed runs Thursday to Sunday in early August, and it publishes its dates several years ahead, which helps if you're booking flights from the UK.

The convention proper starts on Thursday, but badge pickup opens the day before. Will Call, where you collect a badge you didn't have posted to you, opens at noon on the Wednesday. Arriving on Wednesday means you can collect your badge, find your bearings and start Thursday fresh. Sunday is a shorter day: Will Call closes mid-afternoon, so plan your must-do events for Thursday to Saturday.

Opening times

The organiser's public pages don't give one set of opening hours for the whole convention. Each ticketed event has its own start time in the event catalogue. If you want to know when a particular hall or area opens, check the catalogue or the organiser's help centre nearer the time.

At Gen Con your entry ticket is called a badge. You buy it from the organiser through your Gen Con account, and you need one before you can buy any event tickets. Badge prices aren't shown on the public pages we checked, so check the badge page for the current options. The organiser says prices are fixed, there are no badge discounts, and Marion County adds a 10% admissions tax.

Event tickets and generic tickets

An event ticket is your seat at a particular table or session, and it guarantees your place. The organiser says most cost a small amount (around $2), some are free and some cost more, depending on the event. A growing number are e-tickets: your ticket sits on your Gen Con account and you scan your badge to get in.

Generic tickets cost $2 each and work like carnival tokens. You can swap them for a seat at an event that still has space, which makes them handy for trying a sold-out game on the off chance, but they don't guarantee a place. They're also how you pay the painting competition entry fee onsite.

Children

Children 11 and older need their own badge. Children 10 and under need a Child Wristband and must be with a parent or guardian who has a badge. The wristband lets them register for events in the Kid Activities category only, so an under-11 who wants to play in other events needs a full badge.

Refunds and the small print

Badges are only good for the year you buy them and can't roll over. The organiser charges a $10 administration fee per refunded badge (no fee if you take system credit), and a 5% fee on refunded event and generic tickets, with a deadline for badge refunds well before the show. Check the badge information page for the current dates.

Gen Con's programme for miniatures fans is called Miniature Hobby Events. The organiser says there have been over 100 of them in recent years, covering painting, sculpting and competition for all skill levels. Here's what the organiser describes.

Paint & Take

Pick a miniature, sit down and paint it, with experienced painters on hand to help. There's a family table, it's especially welcoming to beginners, and the organiser says it's free to all attendees with no ticket needed. If you've never held a brush, this is the gentlest way in at the whole convention.

Speed painting

Runs several times a day with miniatures from a range of companies. You get 45 minutes to paint a figure, professional painters judge the results, winners take prizes, and the top performers can go through to final rounds on Sunday. Novices are welcome, and everyone keeps the miniature they painted.

The painting competition

Gen Con and individual companies offer prizes for painted and sculpted miniatures. Entry costs $4, paid in generic tickets onsite or with an entry ticket bought in advance, and the awards ceremony is on Saturday at 7pm. The organiser's page doesn't list categories, so check the Miniature Hobby Events page before you pack. Our guides on how to enter a painting competition and what the judges look for will help you choose and prepare an entry.

Aces of Painting

Professional painters get one hour each to finish a miniature, and you can watch for free on Friday at 7pm in the second-floor Serpentine lobby. Ten of the finished figures go on a wooden display base with a signed certificate and are auctioned on Saturday for Gen Con's charity.

Miniatures games

Miniatures games at Gen Con are run as ticketed events, hosted by individuals, gaming groups and companies. The organiser doesn't publish a fixed list of tournaments or game systems on its public pages, and what runs changes every year. Search the event catalogue by keyword, event type or game system to see what's on, and use the search options to filter by age and experience level.

The exhibit hall and beyond

Hundreds of exhibiting companies fill the exhibit hall, from big publishers to small makers, and the organiser publishes a hall map to plan your route. Alongside the main stands you'll find areas such as the Art Show, Entrepreneurs Avenue, the Makers Market, Authors Avenue and Community Row. Beyond the hall there are seminars, a costume contest, a film festival, a writers' symposium and the First Exposure Playtest Hall, where you can try games still in development.

Painters. Probably the best served of all miniatures fans. Between Paint & Take, speed painting, the painting competition and watching the pros at Aces of Painting, you could fill a day without rolling any dice.

Beginners. Paint & Take is pitched at novices and needs no ticket, and speed painting welcomes first-timers too. If a friend has always wondered what you see in it, this is a friendly place to show them.

Miniatures players. Search the catalogue for your game and book early. If you'd like a small force to bring along for pick-up games, our skirmish warband guide is a good place to start.

Families. There's a Kid Activities category, a family table at Paint & Take, and children 10 and under come in with a Child Wristband alongside a badge-holding adult.

All-round gamers. If you play miniatures games and board games and enjoy the wider hobby, Gen Con puts a huge amount of it under one roof. You'll need a paid badge, so read chapter 03 before you book anything else.

The venue

Gen Con is held at the Indiana Convention Center, 100 S. Capitol Ave, Indianapolis, IN 46225. The organiser places it on the corner of West Maryland Street and South Capitol Avenue in downtown Indianapolis.

Flying in

The nearest airport is Indianapolis International Airport, which the organiser says is about a 15-minute drive from downtown. Taxis, limousines, public transport and hire cars are all available from the airport. Coming from the UK, allow time for US immigration on arrival.

Parking

The organiser says city, hotel and lot-based parking is available in downtown Indianapolis. It doesn't publish prices or a dedicated convention car park, so if you're driving, check your hotel's parking before you book and expect a busy city centre on convention days.

Hotels

Gen Con runs a housing portal for hotel rooms, reached from the "My Housing" page of your Gen Con account. Only badge holders can request rooms, so buy your badge first. Access times on opening day are randomly assigned, and downtown hotels need a stay of four or more nights covering Wednesday to Saturday. The housing and travel page has the latest details.

Details checked against the organiser's website in October 2026. Always check the official site before you travel. Badge prices, the full event catalogue, the badge rules and the housing portal are all published by GEN CON LLC, so that's the place to look for anything this page doesn't cover.

Planning more than one trip? Our miniature events around the world page lists the big shows by region, and the US pages below cover two more conventions worth a look.