Tornado Warning, Card Towers, And Record Crowds Made GenCon 2026 Unforgettable

The biggest four days in board gaming, GenCon, have wrapped up, and it was another record-setting year. GenCon saw a sold-out, record-breaking crowd of over 74,000 people attend and had close to 800 vendors showcasing new games, exclusive offerings, and other game-related gear. The annual event is held at the Indianapolis Convention Center every summer.

Paul Habstritt, WJON

What were some of the highlights from GenCon this year?

A major storm system moved through the Indianapolis area on Saturday, the third day of the convention. The system brought heavy rain, a tornado warning, and caused leaks inside the Indiana Convention Center where GenCon is held.

The Dice Tower's Camilla Cleghorn was in the vendor room at the time of the tornado warning and says she has never seen anything like that storm in all the years she has been going to the convention:

She says convention personnel did a great job of handling the entire storm situation and all the fans remained calm too:

GenCon offered close to 28,000 events and activities over the four-day weekend event, including tournaments, general gaming, artist and author appearances, musical performances, and film screenings.

Paul Habstritt, WJON

The giant "CardHalla" was back, where people use donated TCG, CCG, and playing cards to build giant card houses, towers, and structures, which are then knocked down for charity on Saturday. Cleghorn says one new thing at GenCon in 2026 really stood out for her:

She says the "Mystery Goats" by Allplay for their "Mountain Goats" games were a fun surprise and "Shelfy" by Brotherwise Games was a hot new collectible people were attracted to.

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What were some game publishers showing off?

Ravensburger Games saw long lines at its booth every day with people vying to pick up the latest in the Disney Villainous and Lorcana lines. Public Relations Manager Amiekay Richcrick sat down with Table Talk, WJON's show about board games, to discuss what they were doing:

Labyrinth Chronicles, PHOTO by Paul Habstritt, WJON

Ravensburger was also showing off two games in celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the hit family game Labyrinth. Labyrinth Chronicles will hit store shelves this fall. The mash-up game Carcassonne Labyrinth has a scheduled release in quarter one in 2027. We were able to chat with Brenna Newton, one of the minds behind both games, to get some additional details about them:

Carcassonne Labyrinth, PHOTO by Paul Habstritt, WJON

Other exciting activities at GenCon 2026 included the drone light show over Victory Field on Saturday, the Dungeons & Dragons takeover of the Indiana Repertory Theater, and a Lord of the Rings "Hobbiton Summer Festival" in Lucas Oil Stadium.

GenCon will be back on August 5-8 in 2027 for its 60th Anniversary.  It will feature an additional 143,500 square feet of gaming fun with the convention center expansion.

You can check out more fun board game conversations like the ones from the audio clips above by tuning into Table Talk every other Saturday on WJON.  Table Talk's next show is on August 22nd.

Paul Habstritt, WJON