At 15 minutes the double double embassy suites were gone but there were still king suites available. Everything else was still available. I had around 10 minutes last year and the embassy double doubles were gone. My guess is there are very few of those rooms in the housing block, most are probably in the VIG block or reserved for gm's and volunteers. 

just finished ours at 30 mins. JW was still available downtown, as well as some others

I can guarentee there are people abusing the loophole right now.

At 15 minutes the double double embassy suites were gone but there were still king suites available. Everything else was still available. I had around 10 minutes last year and the embassy double doubles were gone. My guess is there are very few of those rooms in the housing block, most are probably in the VIG block or reserved for gm's and volunteers. 

No, that was fixed.

My wife and I bought our badges around 10-11pm friday night (eastern).  I got 15 minutes and she got 2:45.  We were maybe thinking that the customer number of our account had something to do with it (just speculating since we only know our own numbers)  Mine is in the middle triple digits and hers is over 2000.  Other than that, based on our evidence, we cannot find a pattern.  Last year I got about 45 minutes and she got over 2:30.

Anyway, we got our king room at the Westin.

Good luck everyone!!!

3 of us had badges this year, we got 2 hours 30 mins, 9 minutes, and instant access so we where lucky.  We got our first choice so thats great.  Last year we where all 2 hours plus, got shut out of downtown and ended up not going.    Feeling really good right now can't wait for GenCon 2016

The Westin was there when we seacrhed, but taken out from under us by the time we tried to check out.

We got the Omni instead. Omni is still there, Le Meridien is there for 2 people. 

Also, Conrad, Hilton Garden Inn, Home2Suites and Sheraton.

My group has 1:08, 2pm, 2:55, and 3:20 times (not current countdown, actual time). Hoping to still sneak in to downtown at 1:08. They were gone about 1:20 last year with the line cut issue, so "you're telling there's a chance!"

1:08 bought badge Friday night, 3:20 bought badge Sat afternoon, other 2 bought badge Saturday evening. There is some more data for you, but the randomness of it shows IMO.

Even if they do "fix" it, there's no way to prevent a group of family members/friends from doing the same thing, although there might be a limit as to how many rooms any particular person can get at once.
 

some downtown are still left at this point

I only made mention of ID number because a lot of people were talking about how the times were handed out and that was not mentioned.  After thinking about it I should have not even mentioned it.

I do think that it is completely random and here is why:

1) They said it was random.  If we are not willing to trust what they say, why the hell would we give them our money to attend the convention?
2) It is SO much easier to code a straight random process than to take into account variables such as when you bought your badge, how long you have attended, ID number, etc. 
3) If it is NOT random and PROOF got out, it would be devastating to attendance.  Trust would be lost and attendance would drop.

As to the times that I got, I can only chalk it up to karma or luck.

Just booked a king at Hyatt Regency. Crown Plaza was also still available, that I noticed.

Badge purchasers are allowed to book one hotel room for every 1-2 badges purchased.

• 1-2 badges = 1 room
  
• 3-4 badges = 2 rooms
  
• 5-6 badges = 3 rooms
  

So the theory is to game the system: buy LOTS of badges, keep the one that gets a good hotel lottery draw, and refund the others, on the principle that if you buy, say, 10 of them, that $90 in refund fees is cheaper than uber/cabs/parking/etc.