We live locally & I would like to take a group of 4 10 year old boys on Sunday for a few hours but not having been there before, I'm not really sure what to expect & what they might like to do for part of a day. I see an open console gaming ticketed event but am not sure if it will just be a zoo in there & they'll barely get to play anything if we don't have a lot of time? Also is the exhibit hall mostly just walking around & looking or do they get to play games & interact with things (again, is this super crowded so it would be a lot of waiting around?)
What else can kids this age do on Sunday? I saw mention of something with balloons at noon but am not quite sure what that is.
(I did see a post a few down with links to kid activities for sunday but I don't think most would appeal to 10 year old boys who are not into craft type activities)
Thanks for any tips!
There are lots of Sunday events you can sign up for if you're kiddos have a Day Badge.
There will be a lot of demos they can try in the Exhibit Hall - waits will vary but Sunday things are winding down so waits are likely to be less.
Personally, coming to Gen Con to play video games seems kinda crazy to me - never done it so cant comment on crowds. My impression has been that video games become "filler' activity when people dont have other events to attend.
Are they into boardgames? Starting to express interest in D&D thanks to Stranger Things? Easier to make recommendations if we know what kind of activities they might be into...
Check this event out
Lisa, if you show up with 10-year old boys, you will find no end of things to see and do. I could only dream of attending Gen Con as a 10-year old boy in New York and now don't miss it as an adult.
_____________________________________ Alec Usticke, Fans of Gen Con Facebook Group
Just be aware that Gen Con shuts down at 4pm on Sunday; not just the exhibit hall closes at 4, but all scheduled events end as well.
So get there early if you want to see & do stuff. If you need to pick up badges or event tickets at will-call, plan to stand in a line (last year the Sunday morning line was not quite out-the-door, but was still fairly long). Since you're local to Indy, you might want to pick your packet up on Wed-Sat. night (will-call opens at noon Wednesday, and is open 24 hrs until Sunday @ 4pm), when the will-call line is shorter.
Thanks so much all! This is great info!!! Really appreciate the tip about picking up badges earlier in the week- i will make sure to do that one day during/after work to avoid the line for sure!!!! (would lunchtime be a bad time to run over & grab them?). My plan was to try to get there around or just before lunchtime and spend a few hours- depending on how into it they are, or not... of course then there is the parking situation....???
This is in lieu of a traditional bday party for my son so I am just worried the kids will be bored waiting around a lot (or walking around a lot) and don't want disappointment since I have zero idea how any of it works. I do think some like board games but not sure if all do and I know for a fact they all like videogames- I was thinking that one event has Atari & alot of older games which might be fun for them to check out...?? Of course I prefer board games so that is what I'd want to be checking out but have to see what they want to do...hoping I don't regret giving this a shot ;).
The event linked above sounded fun but I was concerned about the description saying no reading was necessary for an adventure just your size...that to me says it is really for much younger kids?? It's hard to tell from the different descriptions what exactly is being done.
Last thing this iis probably really dumb but whats the difference between a badge & a wristband? I thought a badge was essentially your pass to a specific day, and then you get tickets for events. What's a wristband?
Ah...thanks. I might be alone but I find the website & scheduling to be really hard to follow (like how do you search the event calendar by day? Scrolling down through the previous days to get to Sunday makes me crazy- I tried keyword Sunday but it pulled up tons of stuff on other days too...). Since Sunday's pretty affordable I'm thinking badges for them is the way to go then...
Oh geez. thanks. I saw the 'search settings' and assumed it was the only filtering option beyond keyword even though that made no sense. Definitely brings up a lot more than keyword Sunday :). ha.
As far as wristbands, if all 4 kids are at least 10 years old, you will need badges for them. Wristbands are for kids younger than 10 attending for free.
Noon is not usually a great time for will-call; it's not as bad as in the mornings, but it's still fairly crowded. After 9pm is usually quiet. 3am is best (c'mon, you're local, sleep is overrated) :-)
If you're local, you might be better getting a ride or Lyft/Uber than dealing with parking and then herding all the kids to the ICC. I think there is parking at the mall next door, and there are some lots near LOS.