I took a look at the key dates for GenCon 2017, and I saw something interesting.

According to them, the badge pre-registration begins on January 29th. That's a Sunday.

In the past two years (the ones with the housing lottery), the pre-reg has been on a Friday, with hotel registration beginning on Sunday.

In the years before that (at least since 2011, when I started attending), badge pre-reg was also on Sunday. Meaning presumably the hotel registration will be on Tuesday again.

Makes me wonder if the pattern will continue and they might be getting rid of the housing lottery. Wishful thinking, maybe - but who knows?

All the dates announced so far are on a Sunday, just in an attempt to make things a little more standardized, that's all, there's nothing else to read into that.

Marian McBrine
Event Coordinator
Gen Con LLC

[This post has been removed]

Somebody on another thread noted that event registration starts on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, so before you make those camping trip plans, you might want to check on the Wi-Fi situation there...
 

As soon as we have the housing date firmed down and ready for release, it'll be on the website, in the newsletter, and posted here.  :)

Marian McBrine
Event Coordinator 
Gen Con LLC

I'm new to this what is hotel lottery???

Gen Con has a housing block of hotel rooms available at a negotiated rate. The supply of nearby rooms is in high demand and low supply, so a lottery is held to determine who gets to book rooms first. Many people book rooms outside of the housing block at higher rates.
 

Hmmmm.  If the Housing Lottery did get moved a week out to February 5th, that would be Super Bowl Sunday.  Shouldn't conflict with the game, but for those who like to make it a day long party, they may need to start later.  Probably would impact more the Gen Con people and housing people who will need to work all day handling questions and complaints.

If I'm interpreting Gen Con statements correctly, it seems like registration and housing are going to open on the same day (Jan 29). Hopefully we get details from Gen Con soon.

That could be interesting.  Maybe you buy your badge first and then have an option to go into the hotel lottery waiting room with the lottery starting an hour or two later.  I guess I'm still assuming it will be a lottery.  While many people don't like the lottery (and generally I don't like them either), I have to admit their housing runs smoother than some non-lottery systems I've been part of.

Marian McBrine
Event Coordinator
Gen Con LLC

Ah, thanks for clarifying, Marian. I guess it's only returning VIGs who will have both badge and housing registration on the same day on January 29.

This is something I will be watching closely as well. Last year was our first year & we did not use the housing block. We are hopeful to stay downtown this year, but I have no experience with the housing block or interface. Any tips or insight to how the system works would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

There's a housing thread on the forums here that has a lot of helpful info. It's also a great place to score a room if you are not so fortunate on lottery day.

I'd say the best advice is to know where you'd prefer to stay, say your top 3-5 hotels. There is a great chart for comparison shopping on this site, found here: http://www.gencon.com/attend/faq#hotelregistration

The Facebook group is also a good source of information.

The real important information I guess I need to under what part of the page will I find the portal? Will it be a link on the main page, under a tab, hidden for the uneducated to find? As where do you find out your assigned purchase time? Is that on your profile page? It very much seems like time is not on your side, even with the lottery, so this information would be invaluable.

Thank you,

These videos are from a couple years ago but should still apply. I'm sure we'll soon be hearing if there are any process changes this year.

Gen Con Housing Short Overview

Gen Con Housing Walkthrough

I kept forgetting to watch them at home, as I check the forums at work, but they block youtube. Is there a different link perhaps?

Looks like Gen Con deleted them since I posted. Hopefully that means they're making new videos this year.

Thank you for trying to help. I do appreciate it.