There’s more to GenCon than a bunch of publishers hawking their wares.  I would hazard a guess that GenCon is the largest convention around for trading card and roleplaying games.  There are minis galore and grognards in deep concentration playing their wargames.  Here’s a few photos I snapped that didn’t really have much to do with boardgaming.

Hop into your own private sphere to play cutting edge VR technology from a few years ago.

This is what happens when a gamer walks into a craft store and has too much time on their hands.  I don’t know what game this is set up for, but I’m 90% sure it has a science fiction theme.  (Bonus points for naming the game in the comments below!)

Every year I take a photo of one of Mayfair’s giant games.  I think this is the first time I saw Catan Jr. there, but the real reason I took the photo was the sheep.  “They’re just so fuzzy!”

Make your political statement this fall through boardgaming!  (I won’t comment on the height of Trump’s tower…)

We had the political side, now we have the religious.  They have nice stickers and pamphlets to give away.  While you may be pro or con against the organization or its marketing methods, I’m very glad they aren’t trying to promote a specific game as well.

Chris already showed you a photo of Cardhalla.  This is the booth in its early stages (it’s this built up already by the end of the day Thursday!)  If you missed his photos, these buildings are destroyed Sunday by convention goers throwing loose change at them.  The money goes to charity.  I’ve been there a few times, there is always one tower that stands tall against everything thrown at it.  Cheers ring out when it finally falls.

Surprisingly, I didn’t see many people catching Pokemon on their phones.  I may not have good instincts for it as I don’t play.  However, you could catch all the Pokemon you could afford at this large booth in the dealer hall.  (It wasn’t a Mayfair sized booth, but it was about Z-Man sized.)

And the award for most creative marketing goes to Gamelyn Games and their Viewmaster display.  Sure, you could see the games on display at the booth, but if you step back and pick up a ViewMaster you could see the games in glorious 3D!  (No, really, I thought they were cool.)

There are all manner of clothing and accessories for sale at the show.  This booth had to fully enclose itself with a roof to show off its line of light-up shirts and ties.  They actually responded to the loud music playing in the booth.  (I wanted one but I think it was $40 for a shirt – too pricey for me.)

The Lapidary booth was selling racks and racks of princess tiaras.  I didn’t know there were so many princesses around…

No, wait!  Now I’m a princess!

There’s nothing I can do to top that photo, so see you next year!  (And go back and read the reports earlier this week if you missed out on them!)