I was lucky enough to have access to a few of these in Seattle at the old WotC store on the Ave--went there with a few friends and had a blast.  I hope, when they eventually become impossible to maintain, that someone is able to retrofit them with new tech to keep them going (which, IMO, would be the most BT thing ever). 

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I hope the pods return!  Red Planet!

If you haven't tried the Pods, you absolutely should.  Will you likely suck the first few times?  Oh yes.  Will there...always...be someone better than you?  Oh yes.  Will you have tons and tons of fun even if you come in dead last and the people watching you outside see you blow up over and over.. Oh yes.

Seriously, they are a ton of fun and no amount of dying makes them unfun...

While the endorsement is appreciated, I'm sure, they won't actually be present this year.

Correct, they are not at the convention this year.

-
Derek Guder
Director of Events
Gen Con LLC

Reading Facebook & threads. The stated reason for Battle tech Pods no show was the higher cost of transportation, fuel, labor... These units are around 800 pounds each with a footprint of around 4'X7'X7'. They were not originally designed to be mobile. Frames of wood with ridged hard wiring high-tech in 1990. 
There is an independent Houston, Texas Battletech Pod group with a home base and support group that did make it to conventions. During COVID, they worked with the State Health Department and established an acceptable sanitation, inspection protocol. 
I was glad to see this progress given the nature of an enclosed structure with many touchable buttons, joysticks. 
Wiki and other sites Show a very clear trend, even before COVID, of over a dozen public Battletech sites dropping to the single Houston site. Even the Houston location has lesser hours of operations. I am planning to visit it during a business trip. 
Given the trend, its my opinion future appearances outside of Houston would be rare. 
As Bob Hope sang, Thanks For The Memorie