Gen Con 2016 has come and gone. Every year brings with it the opportunity for us to really connect with passionate gamers, but this year was truly special. We had a fantastic slate of games to share, with demos of new and returning titles like Tapple®, Tapple® 10, Lift It!™ Deluxe, and Nefarious™.

But we were most excited to show off two of our absolute favorites of 2016.

Bringing the Magic

Our decision to bring the magic of our cooperative deck-building game, HARRY POTTER ™: HOGWARTS™ BATTLE, to Indy was one we agonized over. The game was ready, but the reality of how games are created and manufactured meant we knew that it was a big ask to get copies of the game to demo, let alone any to sell. With the game not hitting shelves until October, we took a risk making the game such a big part of our Gen Con booth.

In the end we made the call to make the game our centerpiece. This meant recreating the Great Hall from Hogwarts castle in order to really immerse players in the wizarding world during their battle to keep the school safe as Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Ron.

Everything was crafted to make our guests feel like they’d stepped into the heart of the castle—the flooring, our backdrop, candlelit atmosphere, and enchanting music.

Exploring the Wizarding World

With the stage properly set, the demos went very well. We had hundreds of players moving through the booth each day, and pretty much everyone who played came away with a magical feeling. After ensuring that we had enough copies to demo the game, we were able to get 200 copies and sold 50 each day. (It was something of a minor miracle that we managed even that many.) This, of course, turned out to be the biggest problem of the whole convention—demand for copies was higher that we’d even dreamed possible. It’s a nice problem to have, but we sure wish we’d had a lot more copies to go around.

The silver lining here is that the game is coming out in October, and we’re making sure that we get enough copies out to our retailers to deal with the demand. The response we had to HARRY POTTER™: HOGWARTS™ BATTLE was amazing, and we’re all looking forward to seeing copies on store shelves (for at least a few days) as we move into the holiday season.

Boldly Going

Our other big featured game was Star Trek™ Panic®. With the 50th anniversary of the franchise being marked September 8th, we wanted to be sure we shared this amazing adaptation of Fireside Games’ Castle Panic ®with as many people as possible.

The opportunity to demo a game with the Star Trek™ license just a month before the 50th anniversary was truly special. With its core of cooperative gameplay, Star Trek™ Panic® gives players the experience of being a crewmember on the U.S.S. Enterprise, charged with a mission from Star Trek™: The Original Series.

Planning Ahead

Gen Con 2016 was truly incredible. It gave us the chance to show off more of our great games, and to meet so many gamers as passionate about tabletop as we are. We’re all pretty much recovered from the convention now, but no sooner do you wrap things up than you begin to look to the future. We’re driving towards a fantastic Gen Con 2017, with some amazing products we can’t wait to give as many people as we can the chance to play and buy next year in Indy!

About the Author:

Jake Davis splits his time between being the Marketing and Events Coordinator at USAopoly with his other passions: cooking crazy vegan dishes, hanging out at the beach, and getting his friends to play more board games.