The largest tabletop gaming convention in the U.S. went through some unexpected hardships recently, with attendees facing flooding and a tornado warning. The experience was likely alarming for a considerable number of those attending, especially given the timing of events.
Gaming conventions are a big deal all over the world these days, with events held every year. Conventions have cropped up around video games, tabletop games, anime, and of course, sci-fi and fantasy themes, with some of the biggest game conventions regularly seeing attendance numbers in the hundreds of thousands. Those kinds of conditions can lead to some tightly-packed environments, which could potentially make a worrisome moment like this all the more scary.
Gen Con Gets Flooded Amid Tornado Warning
In Indiana, a convention originally established by Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax, Gen Con, suddenly faced bad weather intruding indoors. Though convention halls usually provide plenty of protection from the elements, something went wrong at the Indianapolis Convention Center, where the event is held, as the ceiling began to experience a considerable leak. On August 1, rain started pouring down through the ceiling, with one in attendance calling it a “deluge.” Another, speaking with IndyStar, stated that the flooding went on for about 20 minutes, drenching numerous areas in the convention center as staff scrambled to clean up the mess. To make matters worse, a tornado warning was issued for the area shortly after the flooding began.
Fit the 9 games into the grid.
Game fans were urged to move away from windows and exterior rooms due to the tornado risk. Convention attendees in the neighboring Lucas Oil Stadium were also evacuated into tunnels between the stadium and convention for safety’s sake. Thankfully, no tornados impacted the immediate area the convention center was in, and no injuries have been reported. Nonetheless, the convention will likely be particularly memorable for those who were there. Thankfully, it seems that the remainder of Gen Con was held without any significant issues.
Guess the games from the emojis.
Guess the games from the emojis.
Easy (120s)Medium (90s)Hard (60s)
Although the convention turned out to be ok despite the concerning moments, some gaming gatherings have been canceled before they ever started due to dangers. For example, both HoYoverse and Nintendo have had their hands forced by threats, forcing them to cancel events. In HoYoverse’s case, a Genshin Impact event in South Korea had to be canceled due to a bomb threat being made, which turned out to be false. On the other hand, the Nintendo Live Tokyo 2024 event was canceled when threats were made towards guests and staffers. In that case, a perpetrator was arrested and ultimately sentenced to a year in prison and four years of probation.
Gen Con has been running for decades, and it’s highly unlikely that this moment will cause any significant problems for the event in the future. The convention regularly attracts crowds of around 70,000 people, and is important to the area, as the Indiana Convention Center was reportedly expanded in part to accommodate the increasing number of attendees back in 2011. With some luck, it’ll be patched up long before Gen Con returns to celebrate tabletop games.
